• Amanda Gorman is ending her extraordinary year on a hopeful note. The 23-year-old poet, whose reading of her own "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration made her an international sensation, released a new work Wednesday to mark the end of 2021. "New Day's Lyric" is a five-stanza, 48-line resolution with themes of struggle and healing known to admirers of "The Hill We Climb" and of her bestselling collection "Call Us What We Carry," which came out in early December:
"What was cursed, we will cure.
What was plagued, we will prove pure.
Where we tend to argue, we will try to agree,
Those fortunes we forswore, now the future we foresee,
Where we weren't aware, we're now awake;
Those moments we missed
Are now these moments we make,
The moments we meet,
And our hearts, once all together beaten,
Now all together beat."
Poets rarely enjoy the kind of attention Gorman received in 2021, but in an email, she reflected less on her own success than on the state of the country. Gorman wrote that the "chaos and instability" of the past year had made her reject the idea of going "back to normal" and instead fight to "move beyond it." Gorman offered an alliterative response when asked what inspired "New Day's Lyric," telling the Associated Press that she "wanted to write a lyric to honor the hardships, hurt, hope and healing of 2021 while also hearkening the potential of 2022."
• Drake has showed his appreciation for late fashion designer Virgil Abloh with some new body art. The chart-topping hip-hop star remembered his close friend with a tattoo less than a month following his passing. Tattoo artist Ganga posted a photo to Instagram displaying his design on the "God's Plan" lyricist's arm. The body ink creation shows the beloved Louis Vuitton artistic director from behind, throwing a paper airplane. "A remembrance of the great Virgil Abloh done on Drake," the caption reads. On Nov. 28, when Abloh died, Drake also paid tribute with a photo of the two of them, writing, "My plan is to touch the sky 1000 more times for you ... love you eternally brother thank you for everything." The four-time Grammy-winning rapper and cannabis entrepreneur attended the hometown memorial service for the Chicago native Dec. 6, alongside several other celebrities, including Kanye "Ye" West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Lauryn Hill and Frank Ocean. Abloh, who was 41, died after a private two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. Renowned as the founder of the Off-White streetwear fashion brand, the Illinois Institute of Technology alumnus was the first Black person to serve as artistic director for the French luxury fashion brand.
Drake performs at Philips Arena on Thursday, August 25, 2016, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)