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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN New Year's Eve Live. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 31, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Have you heard that? Oh, my god, people are getting excited.
ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: This is the moment.
COATES: This is a Big Ben, is it, that's going on. Is that Big Ben that does the times?
SOARES: Yeah.
COATES: Oh, my goodness. Look at this. It's coming. How much time do we have?
COATES & SOARES: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!
SOARES: Happy New Year from London.
COATES: Happy New Year.
(MUSIC)
(OK GO PERFORMING "HERE IT GOES AGAIN")
(MUSIC)
(OF MONSTERS & MEN PERFORMING "ORDINARY CREATURE")
(MUSIC)
[19:12:39]
COATES: That was amazing. That was unbelievable.
SOARES: That was absolutely electric. The last few minutes you felt. You felt your tummy rumble, didn't you?
COATES: I did. My heart was just --
SOARES: It's just
COATES: I'm glad to be with you.
SOARES: Happy New Year, my darling. COATES: Happy New Year. We just love you. Happy New Year.
SOARES: Are we going to hear "Auld Lang Syne"? This is perfect, right, because Max knows all the words, I'm sure.
COATES: It's time for Max Foster in Edinburgh, Scotland.
SOARES: Happy New Year, Max.
COATES: Happy New Year, America.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the home of Hogmanay, the countdown to the spectacular fireworks at the one and only Edinburgh Castle.
(CHEERING)
(MUSIC)
COATES: I have a feeling that 2026 is going to be a very, very good year.
Lynda Kinkade is live at the Anzie Blue.
SOARES: She's got a dancing shoes on.
COATES: She is -- boots on the ground.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nashville, Tennessee. The party is happening here. We have the one and only Chris Isaak about to perform.
CHRIS ISAAK, SINGER: I'm -- I'm ready.
KINKADE: He is well and truly ready.
[19:15:00]
Jack's ready, his dog. And we're going to take it away very shortly. We'll come back to you soon.
ISAAK: I'll be here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN's NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE 2026 has just begun here in Paris. In fact, the cleanup crews are already working on the chance to get things ready for the next day.
But the party is still underway. And so much of the world, including where Lynda Kinkade is right now at the Anzie Blue in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lynda, you've got a special guest. You are ready to sing something with. Is that right?
KINKADE: I mean, can I sing with you? Maybe. Just maybe. ISAAK: Yes, you can sing.
KINKADE: I am with the legendary, the one and only Chris Isaak.
[19:20:03]
Give it up for Chris.
ISAAK: Thank you.
KINKADE: Happy New Year, Chris.
ISAAK: Thank you. Happy New Year.
KINKADE: We are in a place that lives and breathes music, am I right? Nashville.
ISAAK: You know, we're in a honkytonk. And that's what I like to be. That's where I'm comfortable. These clothes don't go anywhere else.
KINKADE: I love that we got the same memo. We're in the sparkles.
ISAAK: You know, we were all dressed up and we said, no, we're going to tone it down for the show. I think it was good.
KINKADE: I think -- I think we made the right call. Am I right?
(CHEERS)
KINKADE: All right, take it away. Chris Isaak with "Wicked Game".
(CHRIS ISAAK PERFORMING "WICKED GAME")
ISAAK: Happy New Year, everybody! Let's hear it for Leszczynski.
SANCHEZ: What a way to ring in the New Year with Chris Isaak. And those high notes. I didn't realize he could still hit those high notes. That was an incredible performance. Live in Nashville, Tennessee.
One of the most heart wrenching songs of all time to kick off 2026. What a performance. Still so much more to come.
Let's take you back to Ground Zero, where I believe we've got Omar Jimenez right now, and, Omar, last year you were on the keys yourself. You're sitting next to the legend Morgan Freeman. What can we expect tonight?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's right here, yeah.
[19:25:02]
Yeah. Look, I'm not going to be up there tonight, unfortunately. But also, fortunately for everybody, the person that is going to be up there tonight is dressed perfectly.
MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: And it was fortunate for everybody.
JIMENEZ: Yeah. You know we figured it out. We worked our way through really quickly. What are we about to see from you in a few minutes here?
FREEMAN: Well, you're about to see me sing.
JIMENEZ: You've heard the voice, but have you heard the voice like this on stage? You're going to find out in a few minutes. So will all of we. I'll be watching from the audience.
FREEMAN: Don't forget, I'm in show business.
JIMENEZ: He can turn it on and off whenever he wants.
FREEMAN: Sing, dance, tell funny stories. That's me.
JIMENEZ: Much more after the break, guys.
FREEMAN: Okay?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:30:06]
SANCHEZ: Back out on CNN's happy New Year's Eve 2026. We want to go straight to Omar Jimenez, who's in Clarksdale, Mississippi, from the Ground Zero Blues Club, led by none other than the voice of God himself, Morgan Freeman.
And I understand, Omar, that Mr. Freeman is about to take the stage.
JIMENEZ: Look, that's what he told me. I see him on the side of the stage now. Actually, he's seated on stage now, and so I think it's safe to say it's about to happen. So I'm just going to toss it over to the stage and we're going to -- we're going to get it going. We're going to get it going.
Here we go. This is happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is everybody having a great time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. How about a little sing along? Are you up for sing along?
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We got a great band. We got a guy with a shiny coat on here with a lot of bling. We got this guy that's going to tickle the ivories.
So this requires a lot of audience participation. And it's time to rock it again. Enjoy.
(MORGAN FREEMAN AND DANNY ABRAHAM SINGING "BRING IT ON HOME TO ME")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was for Morgan Freeman.
FREEMAN: Not bad for amateurs. What do you say? Huh? Huh? All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, let's try another one. You want to do another one for me?
FREEMAN: Yeah. Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. You know, I believe you had a movie close to that.
FREEMAN: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was that? What was the name of the movie?
FREEMAN: The movie was called "Lean On Me".
(MORGAN FREEMAN AND DANNY ABRAHAM SINGING "LEAN ON ME")
[19:38:14]
SANCHEZ: Not bad for a pack of amateurs, he says. I'm not sure Morgan Freeman and company qualify as a pack of amateurs.
Sounds you will only here on CNN live from the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Morgan Freeman breaking it down with a backing band in the birthplace of the blues. Quite a performance there.
Let's actually head now to Brazil, to Rio with Julia Vargas Jones.
If you weren't tuned in earlier, I have to tell you, Julia was putting on a twerking demonstration in the middle of the street that had people literally stopping behind her and her crew videoing them. I wonder what you have going on right now, Julia, what is happening behind you?
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we are here at the party. I mentioned to you earlier that Rio just broke a record for the largest New Year's Eve celebration of any city in the world. Move over Times Square. This is the place to be. This is this celebration.
Thousands of people right here, just where we are. It stretches all over Copacabana Beach. They're waiting for shows to start. We just watched an awesome show by one of the most incredible musicians in Brazil. You maybe never heard of him? Gilberto. He is one of my favorites.
The energy here is impeccable. I may have to put some of those moves that I learned earlier to use here, but that may have to be off camera. We'll have to think about that later.
All of this if I can. I know this is really loud. Over to my left, that's the ocean. Over to my right, the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro. And over here, it's like just one of the most beautiful crowds that I've seen ever.
[19:40:00]
Perhaps just feeding off of the energy of each other.
You know, a lot of people wear white here in Brazil during New Year's Eve because they really believe that the color that you're wearing at exactly midnight is going to determine your luck for the rest of the year.
White means renewal. It means starting fresh, a new and calmer year for all of us. That is what I'm wishing for myself, for you, for everybody at CNN.
We're still a few hours to go here. There's a lot of partying that we got to fit in before we see the fireworks show. Its going to be around 12 minutes, 19 different barges are already out there in the ocean, in position for that show to start in just a few hours, but until then, we're going to have to keep the party going without you, Boris.
I think we're going to go to a break. We're going to be back very soon with more special coverage of CNN's New Year's Eve.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:23]
SANCHEZ: We are back out live in Paris for CNN'S NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE.
Sandy, quite an evening. And it's starting to get really chilly.
SANDY HERIBERT, TV HOST: Yes, yes.
SANCHEZ: My electric underwear has stopped working. The battery ran out. Fortunately, it didn't catch fire, but it is icy out here, and I'm happy to report that you got the -- you're the queen.
HERIBERT: Yes. The charm.
SANCHEZ: In the special cake.
HERIBERT: I was the lucky one, in my cake. So this is a fib (ph). Fib in French. Fib.
And I get to be the queen. And I can choose my king. And --
SANCHEZ: There you go.
HERIBERT: And, obviously, I'm going to choose you, Boris.
SANCHEZ: And Sandy was just telling me off camera, you got this directly from the Louvre, right, earlier this year?
HERIBERT: No, not on air. Come on.
SANCHEZ: We're not -- we're not reporting that on air. Actually, I think we do have some royalty with us over in London,
where Laura and Isa are. Is Isa doing what I think she's doing? Oh my goodness. Oh my god, look at that.
HERIBERT: Beautiful girl.
SANCHEZ: Look at that.
SOARES: I have news for you.
COATES: I'm sorry.
Did someone say the queen? Did you mean Queen Charlotte?
SOARES: She's right here, Boris. You've got your crown. But look at the queen. You know, we were going to end how we started. We're going to go big, right? Go big or go home. Look at this.
Look at her tie.
COATES: Go big or go palace.
SOARES: Go palace! There we go.
She's going to walk all the way to the hotel like this. I know.
COATES: Look, just --
SOARES: You can't get --
COATES: Know when people think I am worrying about things, this is 2026 unbothered. This is the new vibe.
SOARES: Yeah, totally. I love your whole -- I mean --
COATES: I mean, do you see this?
SOARES: I don't know what you've got in this.
COATES: I don't know what I've got in it. This is truly unbothered. I really can't turn around.
SOARES: This is warm, isn't it?
COATES: Well, I don't know how women of this era did it. I mean but --
SOARES: Bridgerton.
COATES: I'm actually liking it.
SOARES: If you need just an extra queen for Bridgerton.
COATES: Are you watching? I will, I will join.
SOARES: Yeah. COATES: I will join.
SANCHEZ: The balance and coordination to keep that on, that towering. -- that is impressive. You ladies look lovely.
And, Laura, I wish you would do your show like that. I would pay for you to do your show like that at least one night.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Let's go to Victor Blackwell, who's live in Times Square. He's had some wardrobe changes himself tonight.
Let's see what Victor is up to now -- Victor. There it is.
HERIBERT: Ooh. Another pair of glasses.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, you -- Boris, you've been talking about those electric underwear for hours. I'm in charging mine overnight. You need to step your game up and get yourself some battery-operated socks. That's the game changer. Get some battery- operated socks.
SANCHEZ: I got them on.
BLACKWELL: I'm here at the center --
SANCHEZ: We've been out here for hours.
BLACKWELL: You got them on? Good, good, good. I'm in the center of the party here in Times Square. I've been talking to some folks. Listen, we're hours away from a brand new year. It's a time to refocus. It's a time to reassess and maybe make some New Year's resolutions.
So let's go around and see if people have some resolutions. What's your name? Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Rachel Kim (ph) and I'm from South Korea.
BLACKWELL: And do you have a New Year's resolution?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, of course. I wish finishing my exchange program in you as well and start getting ready for my CPA exam in Korea.
BLACKWELL: Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Zhiyun (ph) and I'm from Korea. I'm South Korea and my resolution is to graduate successfully.
(CHEERING)
BLACKWELL: How about your name? What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I'm Rada (ph) and I'm from India. And my New Year's resolution is to study more and focus more on studies. Yeah.
BLACKWELL: That's a good one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
BLACKWELL: How about you? What's your name? Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Noah. I'm from Bel Air, Maryland, and my New Years' resolution is to live a life that glorifies God.
BLACKWELL: Amen. Amen.
All right. How about you? What's your name? And where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm Vanessa from Canada and currently thriving in Miami, Florida.
BLACKWELL: Excellent. What's your New Year's resolution?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My New Year's resolution is to get amazing grades in my doctorate in law at Florida International University.
BLACKWELL: Good luck. Good luck.
How about you? What's your name? Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Thomas. I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
BLACKWELL: Excellent. What's your New Year's resolution?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I got to get my money up this year. Yeah.
BLACKWELL: Get your money up. How about getting this money up?
All right, how about you? Give me your name. Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, I'm Marianthi (ph). I'm Greek American, living in London.
BLACKWELL: And what's your New Year's resolution?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hoping I can travel at least one new place this year. And who knows, maybe it'll be a warm destination for New Year's.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, okay. Because you're not warm today, 22 degrees.
All right, so now it's time to go to another performance here, and let's have -- we have someone here.
[19:50:00]
Give me your name and where you're from.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Minas Live (ph) from Dallas, Texas. BLACKWELL: All right. I need you to read this for me as we go to this
next performance. Are you ready?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once again, from the Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce. Here's Flo Rida performing "My House".
(FLO RIDA PERFORMING "MY HOUSE")
COATES: Oh my gosh, this has been an absolute blast. Can you believe it? And by the way, this had gloves the whole time. This had gloves.
SOARES: You should know, Queen.
COATES: Okay, Queen. I didn't realize. Let me ask you all a question, because it's almost time for us to go and bring it to Times Square. And Anderson and Andy, I got to know we're exiting 2025. We entered 2026. What is your exit music?
SOARES: We were just talking about this. This is a hard one.
COATES: It's a hard one.
SOARES: I was going to say, a good one, Bad bunny. Any Bad Bunny. Right now.
COATES: I'm going to say anything by Rihanna. We've got two Super Bowl people. How about you guys? Boris, what are you thinking?
SANCHEZ: Sandy, an exit song for 2025. A song that you would like to walk out to. Isa picked Bad Bunny. Laura picked Rihanna. What would you pick?
HERIBERT: I'd like to pick "Frozen".
SANCHEZ: "Frozen"? Yes.
HERIBERT: That was a big hit. It's been ten years. "Frozen" is beautiful. Let it snow.
SANCHEZ: Royals. "Royals" by Lorde. Since we're wearing this crown and there's still some jewelry out there, maybe somewhere in France, maybe somewhere else, we're going to -- we're going to dig into that. I think it's a good way to start 2026.
Yes. Look at that. There's royalty right there on your screen right now.
COATES: I like the whole vibe, but I really at some point, though, I'd like us to put in some sort of CNN shrine, the John Berman sequin cardigan.
SOARES: Yes.
COATES: That I think needs to come in any exit song, right?
SOARES: I think -- COATES: Has to be.
SOARES: And the crown --
COATES: The crowns, everything. I loved, it was so much fun. Wasn't this, the fireworks.
SOARES: Sequin beanie as well for?
COATES: Oh, we didn't want you to bedazzle more, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Sequin.
COATES: 2026 is your year.
SANCHEZ: Sequin is --
COATES: Bedazzled is your wedding gift.
SANCHEZ: Sequin is so in right now. John Berman set the tone with that disco ball looking thing he had earlier here. Sandy is rocking it as well. Isa had it on earlier at a sequin vest.
I think 2026 is the year of sequin. By the way, we got to give a shout out to Publicis who let us on their terrace to give you this incredible view of the Arc de Triomphe and obviously the fireworks behind us.
You also had some spectacular fireworks behind you with the London Eye, some fantastic scenery. So we got to thank our friends for hooking us up, right, Laura?
COATES: Yes, we had so much fun. Thank you to all of the great cities we visited.
SOARES: Thank you for watching, everyone.
COATES: We got to be around the world.
And now, right to New York. Don't go anywhere, anyone. "NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE WITH ANDERSON COOPER AND ANDY COHEN" is next after a short break. Happy New Year.
SOARES: Happy New Year from London.
