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First Look: will.i.am, ‘It’s A New Day’

"And they said no, we can't/And we said yes, we can"
Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am debuted his new Obama Victory Song music video It’s A New Day on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday afternoon (which is a follow-up of sorts to his earlier Obama Campaign Songs Yes, We Can and We Are The Ones). Here is the music video in full and some information about the song and it’s debut on Oprah’s show:


Now that Barack Obama has won the election, his longtime supporter Will.I.Am is premiering the video for his new song “It’s a New Day.” The Black Eyed Pea spent some time in a New York City studio recording his third ode to the president-elect. Will stopped by “Oprah” on Friday to debut the new celeb-filled video for the track, and is also posting the clip to the site Dipdive. The video flashes pictures of Obama on election night and crowds celebrating the Illinois senator’s victory, alongside images of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman. And it wouldn’t be a Will.I.Am video without some celebrity appearances. This time around, he’s rounded up his bandmate Fergie, as well as actors Olivia Wilde, Jonathan Schaech and Kerry Washington. “It was a beautiful thing,” he told Oprah of spending election night in Chicago. He also couldn’t find the words to describe how excited he is for Obama’s win. “I can’t really explain it,” he said. “I think of my grandma. I think of all the people who paved the way for that moment … like the invisibles who pushed the movement forward.” When he released his first song about the then presidential hopeful, “Yes We Can,” Will gathered celebrity friends including John Legend, Scarlett Johansson and Common for the video. The next song, “We Are the Ones,” also had a star-filled video, this one featuring George Lopez and Jessica Alba.

will.i.am has been such a great proponent of the Obama for President movement that this third victory song is a very fitting way to wrap up his campaign for now President-elect Barack Obama. It really does feel like we are in a “new day” here in the US — this music video really captures that feeling, I think. I know that I am very much looking forward to the next four, hopefully eight years under Barack Obama’s leadership. It’s a new day, indeed.

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‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ Kicks Off Its 23rd Season

... with 150 US Olympic Athletes
Thursday, September 4th, 2008

Oprah Winfrey taped the 23rd season premiere of her daytime talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago, IL yesterday. For the momentous event, Oprah invited 150 US Olympic athletes who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China to help kick off this new season of her show:


Thousands of spectators cheered Olympic medalists Michael Phelps, Dara Torres and Kobe Bryant on Wednesday as the city of Chicago got a high-profile boost to its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Oprah Winfrey was taping the season premiere for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at a downtown park, and she invited 150 U.S. Olympic athletes to join her. The athletes were introduced under a shower of red, white and blue confetti. Winfrey intends the show to be both a welcome home for athletes who competed in Beijing and also a chance to showcase Chicago as the city bids for the 2016 Games, said Harpo Productions … The 23rd season premiere of Winfrey’s talk show will air Monday. Chicago is a finalist for the 2016 Games along with Tokyo; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Madrid, Spain. The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2016 host next year.

People.com has some scoop on what will transpire in next Monday’s season premiere ep:

Even face-to-face with Oprah Winfrey, Michael Phelps remains mum on the topic of his private life. But in terms of Olympic-sized revelations, Nastasia Liukin admits she gained inspiration from The Secret, while Kobe Bryant confessed to his surprise at finding he has so many fans in China … “It’s good to be back on American soil,” said Phelps, 23, grinning shyly and wearing only one of the eight gold medals he took home for swimming. Asking the most pressing question, “Are you single?,” Winfrey was told by Phelps, “I try to keep my private life private.” Bryant, joined by others on the winning men’s basketball team, said the players made a conscious effort to bring back gold and remedy what had become the sullied reputation of American players. “We made it a personal challenge. It was a priority” to take arrogance out of the game, he told Winfrey. In response to all the attention he received from adoring Chinese fans, Bryant, 30, admitted, “It caught me off guard” … Liukin, 18, cited the inspiration she received from The Secret, a self-help book popularized on Winfrey’s show. Recalling her pre-China prep, “I said, ‘I guess I should read it, Oprah read it,’ ” said the winning athlete. As for Torres – at 41, the winner of three silver medals in Beijing – the swimmer and mother of a 2-year-old said age shouldn’t limit one’s dreams. “All the mothers out there are my role models,” she said.

Oprah always does things in a big way, none of this surprises me at all. I do think it’s brilliant that she is using the fame of her show to help Chicago’s Olympic bid. I would love it if Chi-town won the the 2016 Olympics … if so, I’d make sure to attend some portion of the games, Chicago is so close to Detroit. I don’t make it a habit to watch The Oprah Winfrey Show (like my BFF Sarah does) but I’ll be watching this one. It looks too good to miss.

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