like i deserve it ♪ ♪ never wanna act like it's a given i'm forgiven i'm forgiven ♪ ♪ and it feels so good i'm forgiven i'm forgiven and it feels so good ♪ ♪ oh, look ♪ oh, look ♪ oh, look ♪ i see the look on the crowd's faces they wanna annoy and destroy our love ♪

♪ we shouldn't give em the satisfaction they can't deny the attraction ♪ ♪ we're forgiven we're forgiven and it feels so good we're forgiven ♪ ♪ we're forgiven and it feels so good we're forgiven we're forgiven ♪ ♪ and it feels so good i'm getting back in your good graces i'm getting back ♪ ♪ on your good side again [ cheers and applause ]

tonight on "nightline" -- frozen usa. a state of emergency declared across the country tonight as temperatures plummet to record lows. in chicago this happens when you open a window. mere minutes outside can be deadly. hospitals wait for victims. and the worst may be yet to come. you call this snaft it may not be such a crazy beautiful life for "tick-tock" singer kesha as she checks into a clinic for an eating disorder. did her music producer pack on too much pressure? and super ad wars. ♪ old spice

old spice kicks off 2014 with an eye-catching new ad campaign. ♪ while last year's super bowl giants like budweiser gear up for the priciest season ever. but do they actually work? ♪ will a landslide bring it down ♪ >> keep it right here, america. "nightline" is back in just 60 second

good evening and thanks for joining us. at least 14 people are dead so far. schools closed across the country. 4,400 flights canceled. many businesses at a standstill. all the result of a pool of cold air known as a polar vortex, bringing with it the coldest chill in decades.

abc's gia benitez is out in the frozen zone where fire departments, hospitals, and the ships that carry our precious goods are struggling to survive the cold. >> reporter: michigan's upper peninsula. a lifeline to a frozen nation. here the extreme chill could have disastrous results. the major shipping routes separating the u.s. and canada is where heating oil, coal, and so much else must pass. and there are now just precious days left to get the big ships through. a race against time. >> this is the kind of stuff that we're breaking through right now. that ice is a foot thick. >> reporter: and that's just very difficult ice to break through because when it knits together it knits together stronger than it did before. >> my name is lieutenant commander john henry. currently on coast guard cutter bristol bay heading down down in the st. marie's river system. >> reporter: one of the cutters smashing through these waters around the clock. >> there's no way you can stop in this sound.

icebreaking is a very loud job. if you get a strong wind it will blow the track that you've spent so much time building. it will just blow it out of the channel. and then you're left with brand new plates trying to work through stuff like this on the side and creating a brand new track. >> reporter: hundreds of miles south where the cargo is crucial chicago is bracing for the lowest temperatures on record. >> it's minus 13 at o'hare right now. minus 11 at the lakefront. wind chill minus 40 below. >> reporter: our day starts on the city streets, where the deep freeze is causing a nightmare on the roads. aaa reporting thousands of calls for help. some for collisions like we saw this weekend in colorado. but about a third for car battery failures. so we hit the road with a pro. >> all right. so let's get out there. >> reporter: tow truck driver james rogers. >> fluids freeze. it's just hard to maintain a car in this type of weather. >> everything just freezes in the car. >> frozen, cold.

could be for the battery, not getting the spark from your starter. a lot of people are getting stuck. >> how many cars do you think you've done in the past week? >> 60, 70 cars. >> and just last night? >> 25, 30 people. it's just so cold that there's barely any guys on the street helping out. >> reporter: within ten minutes at 11:00 a.m. a driver waves us down. >> are you guys a towing company? >> yes, sir, towing. >> can you open cars? >> reporter: he had just helped another driver get out of the snow and got locked out of his own car. >> you think your handle got frozen and it just snapped. >> reporter: this winter freeze falling hard on some of chicago's most vulnerable. >> stay warm and stay safe, huh? >> i'm just going to lift this up, okay? >> reporter: at cook county hospital doctors are bracing for patients suffering from exposure. >> how are your feet feeling right now? are they better? >> yeah. >> not only are we experiencing problems with cold injury and direct impact to the skin, but

everything tends to get worse. people have lack of access to their medicines. they can't get to their appointments. so their problems that they already had are going to be getting worse. >> reporter: miguel ganis, a homeless man, came in with swollen feet. >> i'm very worried it could be frostbite. >> reporter: it turns out miguel also has pneumonia. >> absolutely. this brutally cold weather attributed to his illnesses getting worse. >> reporter: but even safely inside his home, another chicagoan shows the world what it was like outside his window. >> right now it's 20 below, which is the coldest it's been in about 20 years with the wind chill down to around 50 below. >> reporter: in minneapolis schools are closed today and tomorrow, but they're ready for anything at fire house 8. >> we're engine 8. we're in the first district. >> today we expect to see a lot of frostbite. probably the biggest thing we'll see. also frozen pipes are big on a day that's extremely cold like

this. >> reporter: just before 1:00 p.m. a call comes in. >> went on a medical run. possible heart attack. [ siren ] >> reporter: a 53-year-old complaining of heart trouble. >> right in here. okay? bring the lady inside here. come on in here. we'll get you warm until an ambulance comes. all right? >> medication? >> penicillin. >> reporter: they keep him warm in the fire truck until an ambulance arrives to take him to the hospital. >> the guy was out walking around, possibly homeless. and we took care of him. high blood pressure. high heart rate. got him on some o2. and got him out of the cold. >> reporter: after the call they head back to the fire house and ready for any other emergencies that cold weather might bring. >> the weather was so harsh it even created a water spout out on lake superior. with that great lake behind it, the american mariner now hoping to push into the waters of the

huron. >> you said the american mariner was coming through at 18:30. oh, this will be interesting. >> reporter: the "mariner" is a giant ship, more than two football fields long and able to carry 37,000 tons. tonight she's trying to get to indiana. >> the biggest cargo for these lakers are iron ore, coal, heating owl, and grain. and they pretty much come and service all the great lakes. i mean come through the sault locks and headed down toward either lake erie or lake michigan. >> reporter: but the "mariner" has had trouble in these waters before. running aground, bringing shipping here to a halt before she was towed away. and that was in good weather. >> just to get an idea of how close this actually is, about 80 yards off on our port side, our left side over here is six foot of water. there's not a lot of room to work with here. >> reporter: with sunset less than two hours away, will it be safe? >> one of the biggest parts of being in this job is having to make that call.

>> this is news radio 620, wtmj. >> at 2:01 it's 13 degrees below zero. >> reporter: in milwaukee we meet up with police officers from a special unit prowling the streets to save the especially vulnerable homeless. >> it's extremely cold, and people could get frostbite, and they could eventually die out here. >> you want to go somewhere right now warm.library's open t 6:00. >> it's nice to know that there is somebody out there looking out for the people that are like myself. >> put these on, man. >> we'll look for you later on tonight. okay? >> okay, then. >> all right, eddie. stay warm. >> okay. >> reporter: back here in chicago the city hit a new record low of 15 degrees below zero at o'hare international airport. the cancellation of more than 1,600 flights left thousands of passengers stranded, causing long lines that made travelers appear, well, frozen. >> i think it's about 20 or 30 below zero. >> reporter: lost luggage piled

up. and the frustration piled on. so what's behind this cold spell? some scientists say it's actually tied into global warming. >> the sea ice in the arctic is changing. and that's changing the temperature difference, which changes the patterns of weather we see here. it's just a general disruption of the rhythm and patterns of the chaos that is our weather. >> reporter: back on the river connecting lake superior and huron the coast guard is running into some of the toughest ice they've seen all day. >> and this is one of the things that i wish that the camera could capture, is the sensation that you're feeling right now is the entire ship is just shaking as she tries to cut through this cuff refrozen ice. and there she comes. >> reporter: and now lieutenant commander henry and his bosses have a decision to make. is it safe enough for the "american mariner" to pass? >> by the time they get down here, it will be dark trying to go through. i wouldn't feel comfortable trying to work that right now.

>> that definitely will do. thanks, sir. >> the plan hot off the presses, literally the phone call just came through. the american mariner will be holding through the night and doing the transit first thing in the morning. with a fresh set of eyes at sunrise we can do the transit down the tighter parts of the river. it's going to get cold. it's going to get uncomfortable. the ice is going to freeze. but that's what we were built for. that's why we're out here. >> reporter: and with that the "bristol bay" and her crew head out again, ready to face a winter that's already smashing through the record books. for "nightline" i'm gio benitez in chicago. >> it is frigid out there. thank you, gio. next, why did "dirty love" singer kesha check into a clinic for an eating disorder? ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] your eyes. even at a distance of 10 miles...

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this weekend pop star kesha shocked her fans with an announcement. she was checking herself into a clinic for an eating disorder. millions of americans can identify with body image issues. but for kesha a life in the public eye may have made things worse. with many making comments about her body. here's my "nightline" co-anchor cynthia mcfadden. ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh >> reporter: she's pop music's tough girl. sexy girl. skinny girl. and she's burning up billboard's top 100 with her new single "timber." ♪ it's going down ♪ i'm yelling timber ♪

now 26, kesha's had ten chart-topping singles in just three years, including "ti "tik tok." ♪ brush my teeth with a bottle of jack ♪ >> she showed off her good girl party time credentials. >> life on the road can get pretty craze xwrip. >> reporter: on the mtv reality show "kesha my crazy beautiful life." you'd imagine she's the most confident girl in the world, right? you'd have to be to pull off "we are who we are." ♪ hot and dangerous ♪ if you're one of us then roll with us ♪ >> reporter: but over the weekend she made headlines for a different reason. the tough sexy skinny girl doesn't feel that way. writing on her facebook page, "i'm a crusader for being yourself and loving yourself but found it hard to practice. i'll be unavailable for the next 30 days, seeking treatment for my eating disorder. to learn to love myself again exactly as i am." the post has garnered tens of thousands of likes.

publicly blasted in the tabloids after these photos of her on the beach came to light. she told "self" magazine last summer the criticism hurt. "i've had to endure so many people telling me no, you can't do that. no, you're not pretty enough. no, you're not skinny enough." >> it's safer on a scale because it's a number. >> reporter: while it seemed she was telling herself all the right things -- >> i just try to keep a balance in my life. >> reporter: -- it just wasn't enough. one of the problems, the criticism was reportedly coming from at least one of those closest to her. music producer dr. luke. in here together in 2011 in a "nightline" profile. >> we kind of developed this sound together. his sense of melody is just -- it's like a gift from god. it's bizarre. everything that comes out of his mouth is incredible. and it's so catchy and hooky. >> when it's right, it's perfect. >> reporter: but over the weekend tmz reported that everything that came out of his mouth might not have been.

dr. luke allegedly told kesha she was fat, even going so far as saying she looked like a refrigerator. he did not respond to our request for a comment today. kesha is not alone in her struggle. >> there are 24 million people in the united states alone that have eating disorders. >> reporter: kesha's celebrity only makes the issue worse. >> it's a very, very complex disorder. a lot of people with eating disorders have really low self-esteem. they have a lot of difficulty loving themselves. the pressure of being in the world that she's in just hikes it up much higher. >> reporter: kesha is reportedly at timberline knolls outside of chicago, the very same place demi lovato went for help. ♪ i think i'd have a heart attack ♪ demi, famous for hits luke "heart attack" -- ♪ you can take everything i have ♪ -- and "skyscraper" has also

struggled with the pressures to be perfect in the spotlight. >> hi, i'm sunny. >> reporter: a teen star on the disney channel after the second season of "sunny with a chance," she decided to get help. abc's robin roberts talked to her about it. >> i was bullied and a few months later i developed an eating disorder, and that's kind of what i've been dealing with ever since. >> reporter: her life in the limelight only seemed to make things worse. >> i was performing concerts on an empty stomach. i was losing my voice from purging. and i literally was so emotionally whacked out that i took it out on someone that meant a lot to me. >> reporter: after three months she came out feeling stronger, recording her third album. her music reflecting her journey. >> what was the darkest point for you? >> my darkest period was going into treatment for that first 48 hours and not having any

communication with the outside world. even letting some people know that i was in there. i couldn't. i couldn't talk to anyone. i was just kind of shocked to be in such a different environment. >> reporter: as for kesha, seeking help and doing it publicly is just the beginning of healing. ♪ let's hope 30 days in treatment will put this young woman back on stage, strong, sexy, and healthy. for "nightline" i'm cynthia mcfadden in new york. >> are you inspired by kesha's confession? tweet us @nightline. next -- remember kate upt upton's dream girl in this mercedes commercial from last year's super bowl? we do. now the race for ad space is beginning earlier than ever. let the super ads begin. every food is finger food.tle g, so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs.

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if you're one of those people who only watch the super bowl for the ads, prepare to start rooting for your favorites a little early this year on tonight's "feed frenzy."

the nfl playoffs have barely begun, but super bowl ad mania is already under way. old spice out of the gate already, generating ad buzz weeks ahead of super bowl sunday. their latest campaign, mom songs, debuted this past weekend. ♪ old spice ♪ take a look what you've done ♪ you've made a sexy man right out of my son ♪ >> from the beach -- ♪ old spice >> to the trees. ♪ old spice >> there's no escaping these emotional moms. who just can't let go. it's a promising start. and it better be. prices for the ads that run during the big game are said to be higher than ever before at $4 million for 30 seconds. maybe that's why old spice got a jumpstart, so we and other media can add to the value. big dogs like budweiser not quite out of the gate yet for

2014. they stole the show last year with this heartwarming horse tale. ♪ children get older ♪ now i'm getting older too >> while doritos went the funny route, bringing us the story of a goat with a chip on his shoulder. and of course no super bowl would be complete without an appearance from the e-trade baby. >> if you're still bent on blowing this fat stack of cash, there's a couple ways you could do it. ♪ >> let the super ad wars begin. now, whether those pricey spots do anything to boost sales, that's another question. thanks for watching abc news. i'll see you on "good morning america" tomorrow. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com. good night. >> every day more americans choose abc