PEOPLE
Taylor Swift has Grammys galore and now she has a new title — “doctor.”
The superstar received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from New York University on Wednesday, blowing kisses as the crowd roared when she walked toward the stage at a packed Yankee Stadium.
Sporting her signature red lipstick and newly awarded honorary robe, Swift joked to the thousands of graduates assembled: “I’m 90% sure the main reason I’m here is because I have a song called 22.
“I never got to have a normal college experience per se. I went to public high school until 10th grade and then finished my education doing home school work on the floor of airport terminals,” Swift said in her commencement speech.
The singer-songwriter, producer and director said that she began her music career at 15, touring different radio stations across the country. She went on to sell more than 100 million albums and won album of the year at the 2021 Grammys for her album “folkore,” making her the first person to win the category three times. Her previous wins came in 2010 for “Fearless" and 2016 for “1989.”
Swift shared advice with the class of 2022 but offered the warning that, “I in no way feel qualified to tell you what to do. You've worked and struggled and sacrificed and studied and dreamed your way here today. I won't tell you what to do because nobody likes that, but I will however give you life hacks for when I was starting out my dreams as a career.
“Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth,” she said.
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CANNES, France — Tom Cruise mania descended Wednesday in Cannes where the actor made a whirlwind appearance at the film festival, walking the red carpet, receiving a surprise Palme d'Or and watching a squadron of French fighter jets fly over the European premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Cannes pulled out all the stops to fete the 59-year-old star, paying tribute to Cruise with not just a rare interview on stage and a red-carpet premiere featuring a flyby of jets trailing colored smoke, but with the unexpected presentation of an honorary Palme d'Or. Festival president Pierre Lescure announced the award — about 15 honorary Palmes have been given before — on stage just before the screening was to begin. Cruise clutched Cannes' top prize while the audience gave the actor a standing ovation.
Cruise brought a palpable buzz to the Croisette, where throngs gathered around the Palais des Festivals shouting “Tom!” to try to get a glimpse of the 59-year-old star. “Great Balls of Fire” blared on the carpet.
Cruise hadn't been to the festival in three decades. But with plenty of media disruption challenging the theatrical experience, Cannes and Cruise exuded the vibe of long-last pals. “He is devoted to cinema,” declared artistic director Thierry Fremaux. Cruise's enthusiastic welcome smacked in some ways of an action hero's reception, here to save the day.
“I make movies for the big screen,” Cruise said to applause in an interview on stage at Cannes' Debussy Theatre.
The European premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick,” directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, brought out what's likely to be among the most star-studded red carpets of the Cannes Film Festival, which opened Tuesday and runs through May 28.
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A new posthumous profile of Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters' drummer who died in March, examines his final months on the road with the legendary rock band. And it isn't sitting well with his former bandmates and some of his friends who were interviewed for the story.
Speaking to Rolling Stone for a piece published Monday, several of Hawkins' friends said the late musician complained of tour-related exhaustion as the band hit the road following an 18-month, pandemic-induced hiatus.
Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron said his friend Hawkins feared the physical toll of playing nearly three hours of high-octane music each night as he approached age 50.
"He had a heart-to-heart with Dave (Grohl) and, yeah, he told me that he 'couldn't (expletive) do it anymore' — those were his words," Cameron told the magazine. "So I guess they did come to some understanding, but it just seems like the touring schedule got even crazier after that."
Several hours after the story was published, however, Cameron said his words were misrepresented and apologized for any harm he might have caused.
"When I agreed to take part in the Rolling Stone article about Taylor, I assumed it would be a celebration of his life and work," he wrote on Instagram Tuesday. "My quotes were taken out of context and shaped into a narrative I had never intended."
"Taylor was a dear friend, and a next level artist," he added. "I have only the deepest love and respect for Taylor, Dave and the Foo Fighters families. I am truly sorry to have taken part in this interview and I apologize that my participation may have caused harm to those for whom I have only the deepest respect and admiration."
From combined wire services
