Un troisième somptueux album pour Billie Eilish, qui ose toutes les instructions, mais offre un objet musical tout aussi audacieux que cohérent

Billie Eilish est en constante réflexion. Sur ce qu’elle est, ce qu’elle représente, ce que le monde exige d’elle et ce qu’elle est désormais prête à donner à ceux qui l’observent comme à ceux et celles qu’elle aime. Exprimant ses états d’âme sur des productions complexes et osées, à l’aide de textes limpides et téméraires, l’artiste de 22 ans fait la preuve sur Hit Me Onerous and Delicate qu’elle est l’une de celles dont la pop a le plus besoin.

« I may eat that lady for lunch », chante-t-elle pour amorcer Lunch, seconde pièce de Hit Me Onerous and Delicate, sur laquelle elle vénère une fille qu’elle désire ardemment, sur une franche rythmique pop marquée par le drumpad. C’est résolument queer et enjoyable. C’est le plus gros banger de l’album. On rencontre une Billie Eilish que l’on ne connaissait pas encore et que l’on proceed de découvrir pendant 10 chansons, pour 45 minutes d’écoute. Si elle n’avait jamais vraiment puisé dans la sexualité pour ses textes (elle a commencé si jeune, 16 ans à peine, et a souvent dénoncé l’hypersexualisation de son corps), elle se réapproprie le thème sans ambages. Elle racontait d’ailleurs dans une uncommon entrevue, auprès du Rolling Stone, que cette chanson l’a aidée à mieux comprendre son identité queer.

Et alors que la magnifique chanson d’ouverture Skinny, très aérienne et délicate, débutait sur une mélodie de guitare pour faire place à une conclusion vertigineuse conduite par un ensemble de cordes, les dernières secondes de Lunch mènent plutôt à une métamorphose vers des accents technos et dansants. Chihiro (depuis son premier album, Eilish dit être inspirée par le movie Le voyage de Chihiro, de Hayao Miyazaki), plutôt lo-fi, vient ensuite nous ravir totalement grâce à son chorus envoûtant. À mi-chemin, les synthétiseurs s’embarquent dans une envolée passagère à donner des frissons.

Mais rien ne surprend (et ne plaît) plus que l’audacieuse volte-face sur la pièce L’amour de ma vie (Eilish ne chante pas en français, mais prononce les mots une fois) : elle débute sur un groove entraînant aux douces voix empilées et qui tout à coup devient hyper pop et dansante, emprunte les synthétiseurs des années 1980 et travaille la voix avec un vocodeur pour la rendre la plus synthétique doable. Bref, Billie Eilish va dans tous les sens.

Fantastique Finneas

À mi-chemin dans notre première écoute de Hit Me Onerous and Delicate, une réflexion claire nous est venue : Billie Eilish et son frère Finneas (coauteur et réalisateur de l’album) font ce qu’ils veulent, et ils le font si bien qu’on est à la fois surpris et subjugués. S’ils estiment qu’une chanson mérite de changer complètement d’humeur à mi-chemin, ils se le permettront. S’ils souhaitent que la easy guitare acoustique et la voix vaporeuse de la splendide The Best (dont la montée dramatique est une des plus belles choses sur cet album) précèdent les airs pop inspirés d’une ritournelle parisienne (une tonalité d’accordéon en prime), ils le feront. Tout est permis quand on a autant de expertise. Automobile toutes les avenues dans lesquelles le duo de créateurs s’est engagé ont mené à l’excellence. Un level commun se dégage toutefois : si son troisième album ne manque pas de ce caractère lugubre qu’elle affectionne, Billie Eilish suggest une œuvre bien plus lumineuse que ses précédentes.

De nouveau, Finneas réalise un travail d’orfèvre à la composition et à la réalisation. Ses productions sont si élaborées qu’il nous a dans certains cas fallu de multiples écoutes pour saisir les subtiles couches de mouvements qu’il a insufflées ici ou la method de boucle qu’il a utilisée là pour générer de la rigidity.

Wildflower, sur laquelle Billie Eilish dit « I see her behind my thoughts on a regular basis/Like a Fever/Like I’m burning alive/Like a Signal », est une autre ardente déclaration d’amour et de désir. Les devices (simples guitares et batteries) se font plus rock sur cette émouvante ballade, un autre changement de cap qui s’inscrit parfaitement dans l’ensemble malgré son unicité.

Une voix comme nulle autre

Quelle que soit la façon dont Billie Eilish décide de présenter sa voix, elle le fait avec une adresse chaque fois renversante. Elle maîtrise tant l’extrême aigu que le grave, elle peut rendre sa voix aérienne comme elle peut la rendre tranchante. Fidèles à l’esthétique qu’on leur connaît, Eilish et Finneas ont plongé le chant de la première dans une brume épaisse et ravissante, plusieurs productions donnant l’impression de flotter dans le brouillard. Mais à plusieurs reprises, il a plutôt été décidé de garder un espace limpide dans lequel les mots chantés par Billie Eilish sont plus intelligibles que jamais (Birds of a Feather en est un bon exemple). Plus encore, elle déploie son instrument comme rarement auparavant, se permet des prouesses qui n’ont rien à voir avec la justesse éthérée qui fait sa marque, mais qui proposent plutôt une interprétation mature, à gorge ouverte et tout en drive, sans jamais manquer de délicatesse. C’est un autre exploit vocal de la half de Billie Eilish, d’un bout à l’autre de ce nouvel album.

Billie Eilish s’en est tenue à dix chansons et on l’en remercie. Chaque pièce à sa place. Rien ne déborde. Elle se permet des folies (L’amour de ma vie, Blue, The Best, Bittersuite – pensez avalanche de synthétiseurs, puis pulsations hip-hop, puis bossa nova, dans une même chanson), mais ne complexifie pas ce qui peut rester easy et agréable (la presque R & B Chihiro, la très pop Birds of a Feather).

Hit Me Onerous and Delicate est une écoute prodigieusement stimulante. Une écoute qui nous révèle, en plus des confessions personnelles plus franches que jamais de l’artiste, que la musique de Billie Eilish (et de Finneas, ne l’oublions pas) est de plus en plus avant-gardiste, sans limites et, tout simplement… épatante.

La tournée mondiale Hit Me Onerous and Delicate de Billie Eilish sera lancée le 29 septembre prochain au Centre Vidéotron de Québec.

Pop

Hit Me Onerous And Delicate

Billie Eilish

Darkroom / Interscope

9/10

Earlier this yr, the singer and songwriter Billie Eilish, who’s twenty-two, turned the youngest two-time Oscar winner in historical past, amassing the Finest Authentic Tune award for “What Was I Made For?,” a fragile existential ballad that she co-wrote for the movie “Barbie.” (She additionally received in 2022, for “No Time to Die,” a moody and portentous Bond theme.) By the way, Eilish can be the youngest particular person ever to have a clear sweep of all 4 of the principle Grammy classes (Finest New Artist, Report of the 12 months, Tune of the 12 months, and Album of the 12 months), which she achieved in 2020, for her début LP, “When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go?” At that yr’s ceremony, moments earlier than Album of the 12 months was introduced, Eilish could be seen mouthing, “Please don’t be me”; onstage, standing alongside her brother Finneas O’Connell, who can be her co-writer and producer, she appeared bewildered, if not mortified. “We wrote an album about melancholy, and suicidal ideas, and local weather change,” O’Connell informed the gang. “We rise up right here confused and grateful.” It’s each heartening and barely mystifying that Eilish, who writes sombre, idiosyncratic, goth-tinged electro-pop about her loneliness and tedium, has change into such a lodestone for business accolades. “Man am I the best / God I hate it,” Eilish sings on “The Best,” a forlorn, walloping tune from her compact however highly effective new album, “Hit Me Laborious and Delicate,” which was simply launched.

Eilish is thought for taking her time in a tune, generally crawling by means of a melody as if it have been a bowl of molasses, and she or he usually chooses to sing in a whisper, letting a be aware dangle within the air earlier than it dissipates totally. Her vocal model jogs my memory of an evanescing cloud of smoke after somebody blows out a cluster of birthday candles—lovely, fleeting, a bit of bit haunted. But, on “The Best,” Eilish belts and bellows. “I waited / And waited,” she wails, her voice getting larger and larger. It’s uncommon to seek out Eilish in bloodletting mode, however fury and loudness go well with her, too. Lyrically, a lot of “Hit Me Laborious and Delicate” is about wanting a relationship however failing, in some elementary and inescapable means, to maintain closeness with one other particular person. It’s an fascinating downside: wanting one thing, but in addition realizing you might be incapable of getting it. The twists and turns of Eilish’s emotional journey are mirrored and amplified by O’Connell’s manufacturing; these songs are vulnerable to sudden adjustments and reinventions, ups and downs. Sooner, slower, shut, far, right here, gone. “L’Amour de Ma Vie,” a brand new tune a couple of soured relationship—“You have been so mediocre,” Eilish sings—shifts from a lovelorn, jazz-inflected torch tune right into a pulsing membership banger, chilly and threatening. In much less assured palms, that transformation could be disorienting, however Eilish and O’Connell are masterly at discovering the connective tissue between disparate emotions and sounds. Why can’t a love tune be light and aggressive, grounded and spectral? Isn’t love?

From the beginning of her profession, Eilish has by no means been notably comfy with superstar, and at instances she has appeared viscerally repelled by it; the nervousness and paranoia introduced on by world fame are one other theme right here, and are maybe straight accountable for Eilish’s romantic angst. On “Skinny,” the craving ballad that opens the album, she displays on coming of age beneath the scrutiny of strangers. “Folks say I look pleased / Simply because I acquired skinny / However the previous me remains to be me and possibly the actual me / And I feel she’s fairly,” Eilish sings, her voice feathery and resigned. (“The Web is hungry for the meanest type of humorous / And anyone’s gotta feed it,” she factors out.) “Skinny” is a beautiful tune, wounded and fragile, with a whiff of Lilith Honest folksiness. It ends with a mournful string determine by the Attacca Quartet, the one different musicians featured on the album in addition to Eilish, O’Connell, and Eilish’s tour drummer, Andrew Marshall.

Eilish writes usually about management, an concept that manifests in pictures of closed doorways and lyrics about feeling caged. (The quilt artwork incorporates a {photograph} of Eilish sinking right into a deep-blue abyss, slightly below a white door.) “Once I step off the stage I’m a chicken in a cage / I’m a canine in a canine pound,” she sings, on “Skinny.” On “Chihiro,” she is imploring: “Open up the door / Are you able to open up the door?” On “Blue,” which closes the album, she returns to each pictures:

Don’t know what’s in retailer
Open up the door
The again of my thoughts
I’m nonetheless abroad
A chicken in a cage

Claustrophobia, darkness, concern—these are all concepts that Eilish and O’Connell luxuriated in on “When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go?,” however right here they really feel deeper, broader, and extra dramatic. Partway by means of “Blue,” Eilish begins chanting, her voice so flat and filtered that initially I believed it could be O’Connell. For Eilish, fame and melancholy are entangled, heavy predicaments to endure and, she hopes, survive:

And I might say the identical ’bout you
Born innocent grew up well-known too
Only a child born blue now

Musically, “Hit Me Laborious and Delicate” lands someplace between “When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go?” and Eilish’s second album, “Happier Than Ever,” from 2021. Lately, Eilish’s songwriting has felt extra indebted to jazz-adjacent pop singers akin to Peggy Lee and Amy Winehouse than to the spooky despondency of 9 Inch Nails. “Hit Me Laborious and Delicate” is mature and nuanced, and that feels acceptable—the religious distance between seventeen and twenty-two is huge—however I generally miss Eilish’s giddier and extra puerile aspect. Many listeners first got here to know Eilish by means of “Dangerous Man,” the fifth single from “When We All Fall Asleep, The place Do We Go?” It’s a humorous and ingenious monitor, that includes a campy synthesizer riff and a dramatic tempo change. What made “Dangerous Man” so intoxicating was the clever means it balanced youthful insouciance—that “Duh,” delivered on the finish of every refrain, was so completely saturated with teen-age disdain it felt like getting hit within the face with a water balloon—and a type of playful, empowered sensuality. Within the tune’s video, Eilish sports activities blue hair, and blood is smeared throughout her face; her eyes are vacant, unfeeling. However she additionally dances round like an infinite goof, carrying an outsized butter-yellow sweatsuit, and leads a gang of dudes down a suburban avenue from behind the wheel of a toy race automotive.

That individual mixture—“Dangerous Man” is equal elements severe and foolish—jogs my memory of a number of issues, however particularly of intercourse, which could be solemn, generally sacred, but in addition fully absurd. Eilish embraces her carnal appetites on “Lunch,” a brand new tune about pure animal lust:

I might eat that lady for lunch
Yeah she dances on my tongue
Tastes like she could be the one

For all of the hand-wringing concerning the lagging intercourse drive of youthful People, Eilish has been outspoken concerning the methods by which that form of bodily communion could be therapeutic. In a current interview with Rolling Stone, she endorsed the myriad advantages of masturbation—“Folks ought to be jerking it, man”—and of feminine sexual pleasure extra usually. “I feel it’s such a frowned-upon factor to speak about, and I feel that ought to change,” she stated. “You requested me what I do to decompress? That shit can actually, actually prevent generally, simply saying. Can’t suggest it extra, to be actual.” “Lunch” is a bizarre, pulsing monitor, vigorous and sexy. It’s additionally my favourite tune on the brand new album, partially as a result of Eilish sounds extremely free, which is to say, she feels like herself. ♦

MINNEAPOLIS — — Anthony Edwards flashed seven fingers to the roaring crowd as he walked off for a fourth-quarter timeout throughout a blowout by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He had that tenacious look of a famous person participant refusing to cede to the defending champs all night time.

Edwards scored 27 factors to tug the Timberwolves out of their mid-series hunch and ship a flawless 115-70 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday to power a Recreation 7 on this roller-coaster matchup.

Jaden McDaniels pitched in 21 factors and lockdown protection, and Mike Conley had 13 factors in his return from damage. Huge males Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Cities and Naz Reid mixed for 38 rebounds and a relentless effort to maintain NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to a comparatively quiet 22 factors.

The Wolves posted the most important profitable margin in a postseason sport since 2015, when Chicago beat Milwaukee by 54 factors in a first-round collection clincher, based on Sportradar.

“Guys simply believing in themselves,” Edwards stated. “I believe the final three video games we had been all down on ourselves.”

The decisive sport for a spot within the Western Convention finals is in Denver on Sunday night time. Simply as Edwards promised the locker room staffer at Ball Area after the Wolves misplaced in Recreation 5.

Jamal Murray struggled once more with 10 factors on 4-for-18 taking pictures whereas battling a sore elbow for the Nuggets, whose bench was outscored 36-9 — and 7 of these factors got here within the ultimate 5 minutes. The Wolves reserves led a 24-0 run within the fourth quarter on the way in which to a staggering 50-point lead, a becoming follow-up to the 20-0 surge the starters led within the opening body.

“We talked lots in the present day nearly getting our edge again, our swagger, enjoying a little bit extra free and straightforward,” coach Chris Finch stated. “It simply felt like we hadn’t had our greatest effort on either side of the ball but.”

No defending NBA champion had ever misplaced within the playoffs by greater than 36 factors till this flop by the Nuggets, who had been outrebounded 62-43.

“That to me speaks volumes in regards to the sport and our strategy,” Denver coach Mike Malone stated.

Aaron Gordon had 12 factors and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who completed simply 7 for 36 from 3-point vary and trailed by no less than 17 factors for the final 31 minutes of the sport.

For the Wolves, offense from McDaniels is often a bonus, however he can’t be as quiet as he was over the primary 5 video games with a complete of 35 factors. He was everywhere in the courtroom this time, going 3 of 5 from deep and mixing in some well-timed dunks to ignite the group.

Edwards, whose 44-point efficiency was finally wasted in a Recreation 4 loss the final time he performed at Goal Middle, had 9 factors within the 20-0 spurt and wanted solely 9 photographs from the ground to get 19 factors within the first half.

“Simply shoot it each probability I get, as a result of final sport they took the ball out of my palms,” Edwards stated.

Within the third quarter, he turned a steal into a quick break earlier than utilizing two crossover dribbles to get Michael Porter Jr. within the air and blow by him for a dunk. A couple of minutes later, he drove previous Porter to attract a foul and landed onerous on his again. The Wolves known as timeout to offer Edwards extra time to catch his breath, and when he walked again on the courtroom with out lacking time the “MVP!” chants fired up.

The Wolves had been steadily in disarray on offense throughout Recreation 5 in Denver whereas Conley sat out with proper leg soreness, and the 17-year veteran level guard clearly helped preserve the half-court units crisp and arranged in his return.

“It was a no brainer. I used to be going to attempt to discover a manner,” Conley stated. “We’re simply higher after we’re a whole group.”

The Wolves held the Nuggets to 14 factors within the first quarter, tied for the second-lowest whole within the league this postseason behind Miami (12 factors) in a Recreation 3 loss to Boston within the first spherical.

Murray had a satan of a time doing something productive in opposition to McDaniels, Edwards and the remainder of the NBA-leading protection that snapped to life after revealing some sizeable cracks during the last three video games.

Murray, who had a 3-for-18 clunker in Recreation 2, tried all the pieces from leaners, fadeaways and spot-up 3-pointers. He even air-balled a finger roll from the baseline, then obtained backed down in a foul matchup by Naz Reid within the publish on the next possession for a flip-in that put the Wolves up 43-24.

McDaniels tipped in a missed 3-pointer by Reid on the halftime buzzer to make it 59-40, a pointy distinction from the 55-foot swish Murray had on the finish of the second quarter in Recreation 3 to cap an 8-0 run over 20 pivotal seconds of that contest.

“Talking from expertise,” Murray stated, “Recreation 6 is all the time the toughest.”

——

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

UPDATE: Energy has been restored to the shoppers at 100 Mile Home and Canim Lake.

Two energy outages are affecting 300 prospects in 100 Mile Home and Canim Lake.

The primary outage began at Could 16 at 9:44 a.m. and is affecting round 221 prospects in Mahood Falls, close to Wells Gray Provincial Park. BC Hydro says that the trigger was a “tree down throughout our wires” and that crews are on web site. BC Hydro estimates that energy shall be turned again on round 2 p.m. right this moment.

The second outage began on Could 15 at 12:43 p.m. east of the Gustafson Lake Forest Service Street on Exeter Station Street. Round 122 prospects are affected, with BC Hydro stating the trigger stays below investigation. BC Hydro has assigned a crew to repair the outage.

It’ll be an NBA Recreation 7 doubleheader to complete the weekend.

The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves will meet for his or her winner-take-all collection finale Sunday at 6 p.m. MT, the league introduced Friday night time. The sport at Ball Area in downtown Denver will probably be broadcast on TNT and accessible for streaming on Max.

The beginning time was depending on the results of Recreation 6 between the Knicks and Pacers. If the Knicks had completed off the Japanese Convention semifinal collection Friday with a 3-2 lead, Denver and Minnesota would have been within the afternoon TV slot Sunday. As a substitute, Knicks vs. Pacers at Madison Sq. Backyard takes that house, pushing the Western Convention conflict to the night.

This would be the Nuggets’ first elimination sport in additional than two calendar years and their first Recreation 7 because the bubble in 2020. Denver took a one-game lead over Minnesota for second place within the West on the final day of the common season to earn home-court benefit for this collection, together with its grand conclusion. The winner will advance to the Western Convention Finals to face both Dallas or Oklahoma Metropolis.

The visiting workforce received the primary 4 video games of the collection, with Denver erasing a 2-0 deficit. Since then, the Nuggets and Timberwolves have traded house wins. Minnesota staved off elimination Thursday at Goal Middle with a 115-70 blowout that holds the excellence of being the Nuggets’ worst playoff loss in franchise historical past by level margin.

Need extra Nuggets information? Join the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA evaluation.

Toronto metropolis councillor Jaye Robinson has died.

An announcement issued by her workplace stated Robinson died Thursday night time within the presence of her household.

Robinson was first elected in 2010 and represented Don Valley West for almost 14 years.

“Throughout her time at metropolis corridor, Jaye proudly served in key management roles, together with as chair of the Toronto Transit Fee and chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee,” the assertion stated.

“She was deeply devoted to the residents of Ward 15, a robust voice on metropolis council and a beloved mentor to her workforce. We’re honoured to have had the chance to work together with her.”

A celebration of life can be held, and extra data can be launched within the coming days, the assertion stated.

Earlier than she ran for workplace, Robinson was the director of particular occasions for the Metropolis of Toronto.

“Jaye was a devoted public servant who leaves a long-lasting legacy in Toronto, the town she beloved,” the assertion stated.

“She can be deeply missed by her many associates and colleagues at metropolis corridor.”

In 2019, Robinson stated she could be taking time away from metropolis corridor to give attention to her well being after being identified with breast most cancers, however a explanation for loss of life has not been revealed.

In an announcement posted to X, Mayor Olivia Chow stated flags at metropolis corridor and civic centres can be at half-mast, and the Toronto signal can be dimmed this night in honour of Robinson.

Condolence books can be positioned on the North York Civic Centre on Saturday, and at metropolis corridor on Tuesday.

“She was a devoted public servant who cared deeply about her constituents and Toronto. Her voice can be dearly missed,” Chow stated.

Chow’s predecessor, John Tory, stated in his personal assertion he knew Robinson for greater than 20 years and added that “she has been taken from us means too quickly.”

“She was a principled consultant who fought for the issues she believed in and extra importantly, fought exhausting for the individuals she represented at metropolis corridor,” Tory stated on X.

“And prior to now few years, she fought a decided battle in opposition to most cancers and did it with grace and dedication….

“It’s by no means too late to say thanks for a life nicely lived and (a) nice public service profession.”

Tory even have his condolences to Robinson’s household.

— with recordsdata from Aaron D’Andrea

&copy 2024 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.

Surveillance video obtained by CNN seems to indicate music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie in a 2016 lodge assault she detailed in a since-settled lawsuit that alleged the rapper bodily and sexually abused her for years.

CNN reported that the video was from an incident in March 2016. It captures a number of angles.

Cassie, 37, whose title is Casandra Ventura, alleged in a federal lawsuit in November that Combs raped and bodily abused her, together with punching, beating, kicking and stomping her over the course of their relationship. The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed. 

Representatives for Combs, 54, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Friday. He has beforehand denied the allegations, calling them sickening. Shortly after the settlement with Cassie, an lawyer for Combs stated the settlement was “under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing.”

Within the go well with, Cassie alleged Combs lured her into the connection from the time they started working collectively whereas she was a rising artist at Combs’ label. She stated within the go well with that the abuse lasted greater than a decade and accused Combs of controlling all facets of her life.

Since Cassie’s lawsuit, Combs has been accused in a collection of lawsuits from others of sexual and bodily abuse, gang rape and “critical criminal activity.” 

He’s a topic of a federal prison investigation and brokers searched his properties this spring.

Combs has denied all of the allegations and has vowed to clear his title.

In keeping with CNN, the video, captured in a lodge hallway, exhibits Combs in a towel with no shirt on. He walks up behind a girl close to an elevator after which grabs her and throws her to the bottom. The person recognized by CNN as Combs then seems to kick her twice. He then begins dragging the lady by her hooded sweatshirt whereas she is on the bottom.

The girl, in accordance with the video, picks up a telephone whereas Combs is out of the view of the digital camera. Combs then enters the video body and seems to shove the lady, who’s now not within the view of the digital camera.

Moments later, Combs, sitting in a chair, seems to select up an object and throw it. The video footage doesn’t have audio.

NBC Information has not independently verified the video.

“The gut-wrenching video has solely additional confirmed the disturbing and predatory conduct of Mr. Combs,” Douglas Wigdor, an lawyer for Cassie, stated Friday. “Phrases can’t specific the braveness and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has proven in coming ahead to carry this to mild.”

In her go well with, Cassie detailed an alleged assault that she stated occurred at a Los Angeles lodge in 2016 through which she suffered a “black eye” after Combs turned drunk and punched her within the face.

She stated that Combs then fell asleep however continued to be bodily violent when he awoke and Cassie tried to go away the lodge room, the lawsuit said.

“He adopted her into the hallway of the lodge whereas yelling at her. He grabbed at her, after which took glass vases within the hallway and threw them at her, inflicting glass to crash round them as she ran to the elevator to flee,” the go well with said.

She left the lodge however returned with plans of “apologizing for operating away from her abuser,” the lawsuit stated.

Lodge workers urged her to get again right into a cab and go to her condo, “suggesting that they’d seen the safety footage displaying Mr. Combs beating Ms. Ventura and throwing glass at her within the lodge hallway,” in accordance with the go well with.

In her go well with, Cassie alleged that Combs paid the lodge $50,000 to acquire footage of the hallway incident.

On Friday, IHG Resorts & Resorts stated that the lodge within the alleged incident is now not underneath IHG administration.

“IHG didn’t produce this footage, didn’t obtain cash for this footage, and doesn’t have entry to it,” it stated in an announcement.

A supply acquainted with the prison investigation involving Combs instructed NBC in March that three girls and a person had been interviewed by federal officers in Manhattan in relation to allegations of intercourse trafficking, sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of unlawful narcotics and firearms.

Since final fall, the rapper has been hit with 5 lawsuits in New York accusing him of sexual assault, sexual trafficking and interesting in different prison exercise.

He has settled the go well with with Cassie, however the different fits are pending. 

Attorneys for Combs have filed paperwork in courtroom in search of to dismiss a Jane Doe lawsuit and partially dismiss one other lady’s go well with.

In March, federal brokers searched the rapper’s properties in Los Angeles and Miami. Three sources acquainted with the matter instructed NBC Information that firearms have been discovered at his residences, however no extra particulars have been offered.

Dyer, one in all Combs’ attorneys, issued an announcement following the raids and stated that Combs “was by no means detained however spoke to and cooperated with authorities.” He described the raid as an ambush, saying there’s been a rush to judgment based mostly on “meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”

“There was no discovering of prison or civil legal responsibility with any of those allegations,” Dyer stated. “Mr. Combs is harmless and can proceed to struggle each single day to clear his title.”

On Thursday, a person who was arrested on drug costs whereas federal brokers performed the searches of Combs’ properties agreed to a plea deal.

Brendan Paul was with Combs as federal brokers searched the rapper’s airplane and was arrested on the Miami-Opa Locka Govt Airport on costs of possession of suspected cocaine and suspected marijuana sweet in March, in accordance with a police report.

“Brendan accepted the prosecutor’s provide to allow his entry into the diversion program which, after completion, the case in opposition to him might be dismissed in its entirety,” his lawyer, Brian Bieber, stated Thursday.

Toronto Coun. Jaye Robinson has died, her workplace mentioned in a press release Friday.

“We’re deeply saddened to announce that Councillor Jaye Robinson handed away final evening within the presence of her household,” the assertion mentioned. 

Robinson has represented the ward of Don Valley West since 2010.

“She was deeply devoted to the residents of Ward 15, a robust voice on metropolis council, and a beloved mentor to her workforce. We’re honoured to have had the chance to work together with her,” her workplace mentioned.

Robinson introduced in 2019 that she was present process remedy for breast most cancers and can be taking time away from work at Metropolis Corridor. She returned to work through the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, no explanation for loss of life has been introduced. She was 61 years previous.

She leaves behind her husband, three sons and a cocker spaniel, in response to her web site.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow mentioned Toronto flags would fly at half-mast, and condolence books can be arrange in Robinson’s reminiscence at North York Civic Centre on Saturday and at Metropolis Corridor on Tuesday. There might be a presentation in her honour at metropolis council’s assembly on Wednesday, Chow mentioned.

“As council members and as a mayor, we miss her work. We miss her ardour in serving her communities and her dedication to supporting the humanities and tradition of this metropolis,” Chow informed reporters, flanked by a number of of her council colleagues.

“She’s executed phenomenal work and he or she is simply actually cherished.”

Throughout her tenure as a councillor, Robinson served on the govt committees led by former mayors Rob Ford and John Tory. She additionally served phrases as chair of each the Toronto Transit Fee (TTC) and the general public works committee, in addition to on the board of the Artwork Gallery of Ontario, and for a time headed Imaginative and prescient Zero, town’s initiative to eradicate highway deaths.

Most lately, she led a workforce of councillors chargeable for town’s preparations to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

Earlier than operating for workplace, Robinson labored for town for greater than 20 years as a senior supervisor in financial growth, in response to her profile on town’s web site. She labored on initiatives together with Nuit Blanche, Summerlicious and Winterlicious.

Councillors, former colleagues share condolences

Toronto councillors, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and others who labored with Robinson reacted with disappointment to the information of her loss of life.

Former Mayor John Tory mentioned Robinson was a “principled consultant.”

She “fought for the issues she believed in and extra importantly fought arduous for the individuals she represented at Metropolis Corridor,” Tory mentioned in a press release posted to X, former generally known as Twitter.

Tory mentioned she battled her prognosis with “grace and willpower.”

“She has been taken away from us too quickly. It’s by no means too late to say thanks for a life nicely lived and nice public service profession,” he mentioned.

“On behalf of our group, I want my most heartfelt condolences to the household and mates of Councillor Jaye Robinson, and to the residents of Don Valley West,” Coun. Josh Matlow mentioned on X.

“We are going to all the time be thankful for her service, and fervour, for our metropolis. I’ll miss her.”

Coun. Paul Ainslie despatched prayers and condolences to Robinson’s household and mates, calling her a “robust advocate for her group.”

Coun. Brad Bradford mentioned Robinson was a “expensive colleague” from whom he discovered loads.

“We spent quite a lot of time talking on the telephone over the previous yr. She represented her constituents fiercely to the very finish, and her voice might be missed at Council and throughout our metropolis,” Bradford mentioned on X.

Ford mentioned he was devastated by the information.

“She was a devoted public servant who I used to be lucky to work with at Metropolis Corridor and who was dedicated to the individuals she served in Don Valley West,” Ford mentioned. “My ideas and prayers are together with her household and family members as they grieve this horrible loss.”

Former Toronto councillor and present MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam mentioned Robinson cared “a lot for her group.” 

“Her dedication to public service was clear in each assembly and interplay. She was keen about increase a Toronto for everybody and might be dearly missed,” Wong-Tam mentioned.

Fireplace Chief Matthew Pegg expressed “deepest condolences” on behalf of Toronto Fireplace Companies.

CNN
 — 

A 2016 surveillance video obtained completely by CNN exhibits Sean “Diddy” Combs seize, shove, drag and kick his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura throughout an altercation that matches allegations in a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura in November.

The footage, compiled from a number of digicam angles dated March 5, 2016, seems to point out the rapper, producer and enterprise mogul throughout an incident that, in response to Ventura’s criticism, occurred on the now-closed InterContinental Resort in Century Metropolis, Los Angeles. CNN verified the situation primarily based on publicly out there images of the previous resort’s inside.

Within the video, Ventura exits a resort room and walks to a financial institution of elevators. Combs, holding a towel round his waist, runs down a corridor after Ventura. He grabs her by the again of the neck and throws her to the ground. Nonetheless holding his towel closed with one hand, he then turns to kick her, the video exhibits.

As Ventura is on the bottom, Combs retrieves a handbag and suitcase from the ground close to the elevators. He turns round and kicks Ventura once more as she lies immobile on the ground. About 4 seconds transpire between the 2 kicks, in response to the video. He then briefly drags Ventura by her sweatshirt towards a room earlier than strolling away.

Ventura is then seen slowly standing up. She gathers gadgets from the ground and strikes to select up a telephone on the hallway wall close to the elevators. Combs, nonetheless in a towel and socks, returns. A mirror instantly throughout from the safety digicam exhibits Combs showing to shove Ventura.

Seconds later, he sits down on a chair, grabs an object off a desk and forcefully throws it towards Ventura. Combs is seen strolling away, then turns towards Ventura as soon as once more when an elevator door opens and somebody seems to exit.

Ventura, who reached an undisclosed settlement with Combs, declined to touch upon the video obtained by CNN.

Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, mentioned: “The gut-wrenching video has solely additional confirmed the disturbing and predatory conduct of Mr. Combs. Phrases can’t specific the braveness and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has proven in coming ahead to convey this to gentle.”

CNN has reached out to representatives for Combs for remark. Combs has beforehand denied Ventura’s allegations.

When contacted by CNN, a consultant for InterContinental Inns mentioned on Friday, “This resort is not underneath IHG administration, and we don’t have any entry to prior incident data or footage.”

Combs and Ventura, a mannequin and singer identified for songs like “Me & U,” have been in an off-and-on relationship from 2007 – 2018. The 2 have been photographed collectively on the Los Angeles premiere of the movie “A Excellent Match” on March 7, 2016.

In accordance with Ventura’s criticism, which cited the altercation as occurring “round March 2016,” Combs turned “extraordinarily intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura within the face, giving her a black eye.”

After Combs fell asleep, Ventura tried to go away the resort room, however he awoke and “adopted her into the hallway of the resort whereas yelling at her,” the criticism mentioned.

“He grabbed at her, after which took glass vases within the hallway and threw them at her, inflicting glass to crash round them as she ran to the elevator to flee,” the criticism alleged.

After Ventura received within the elevator, her criticism states that she took a cab to her condo.

“Upon realizing that her working away would trigger Mr. Combs to be even angrier along with her, and utterly caught in his vicious cycle of abuse, Ms. Ventura returned to the resort with the intention of apologizing for working away from her abuser,” the criticism claims. “When she returned, resort safety workers urged her to get again right into a cab and go to her condo, suggesting that they’d seen the safety footage exhibiting Mr. Combs beating Ms. Ventura and throwing glass at her within the resort hallway.”

The criticism alleges Combs paid the InterContinental Century Metropolis $50,000 for the hallway safety footage, one in all quite a lot of allegations made within the November lawsuit wherein Ventura claimed she was raped in 2018 and subjected to years of repeated bodily and different abuses by Combs.

Ventura, who was formally signed to Combs’ label, claimed in her go well with that he “exerted his energy and affect” over her all through the course of their skilled and romantic relationship. In accordance with the criticism, she was 19 once they met and Combs was 37, and their enterprise relationship lasted till 2019. It detailed claims that Combs was bodily violent towards Ventura and compelled her to interact in numerous intercourse acts with different males throughout that point.

Ben Brafman, an lawyer for Combs, mentioned in an announcement to CNN on the day it was filed, “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”

The go well with was resolved the next day.

“A call to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is on no account an admission of wrongdoing,” Brafman informed CNN in an announcement on the time. “Mr. Combs‘ determination to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any approach undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He’s completely satisfied they received to a mutual settlement and needs Ms. Ventura the very best.”

Particulars of the settlement weren’t disclosed.

Since November, Combs has confronted 5 different civil lawsuits accusing him of a spread of sexual misconduct and different criminal activity. He has denied the allegations, and the instances stay lively.

Authorities searched Combs’ properties in California and Florida in March as a part of a federal investigation carried out by a Division of Homeland Safety staff that handles human trafficking crimes, in response to a senior federal legislation enforcement official briefed on the investigation. The investigation stems from lots of the identical sexual assault allegations put forth within the civil lawsuits, in response to a second legislation enforcement supply aware of the searches.

Aaron Dyer, an lawyer for Combs, issued an announcement on the time, calling the searches a “gross overuse of military-level drive.”

“This unprecedented ambush – paired with a complicated, coordinated media presence – results in a untimely rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing greater than a witch hunt primarily based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,” he mentioned. “There was no discovering of legal or civil legal responsibility with any of those allegations. Mr. Combs is harmless and can proceed to battle each single day to clear his identify.”

Editor’s Be aware: For those who or somebody you understand is scuffling with intimate accomplice violence, there are sources out there, together with the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline.

A earlier model of this story misstated when the searches of Combs’ properties happened. They occurred in March.