Be the first to find out about GRAMMY nominees, winners, important news, and events. Privacy Policy
Panda Bear and producer Sonic Boom travel back in time, mixing the sleepy romanticism of '60s era oldies with modern musical dreamscapes. "We wanted to make something that had an encouraging spirit and uplifted people."
American art hit a reset in the mid-2000s, as musicians began to reinstitute experimentation and DIY ethos back into music. At the forefront of this artistic reformation was Animal Collective, a four-piece band whose jarring, melancholic sound collages were drenched in reverb.
Animal Collective took cues from psychedelia, freak folk, Beat poetry, and performance art, creating a new sound that embraced lo-fi production and sampling while resisting genre categorization. Their albums, notably 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, inspired the sound of indie rock for the next decade.
Animal Collective's Noah Lennox, also known as Panda Bear, has sustained a successful solo career pushing the AC's sampling, loops, and vocal harmonies into new places. On Aug. 12, Panda Bear released a new album in collaboration with longtime colleague Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember), a founding member of pioneering shoegaze band Spacemen 3 who shares Lennox's love of looping and samples.
On Reset, Lennox and Kember sample '60s and '70s pop songs, and doo-wop harmonies, to amplify lyrics about love, longing, and loneliness. The Troggs' " Give It to Me " features prominently on "Go On," while Randy & the Rainbows' " Denise " is the bedrock of "Edge of the Edge," and " Three Steps to Heaven " by Eddie Cochran is the basis of " Gettin’ to the Point ." The sleepy romanticism of these oldies created perfect fodder for the duo to sample for their own musical dreamscapes.
Lyrically, the two musicians used the pandemic to stay busy and build upon their shared musical interests. From their new homes in Portugal, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom produced an album of investigative, self-aware lyrics with buoyant, danceable beats. The blending of moods mirrors the anxiety and hopefulness we all had while locked in our homes during the global outbreak of Covid-19.
GRAMMY.com chatted with Lennox while he enjoyed an off day in Portland on tour. Lennox gave background on his easy, collaborative relationship with Kember, whether he will ever make a hip-hop album, and the surrealism of having a production credit on Beyoncé ’s " Lemonade ."
I know you and Peter Kember have been music pals since the Myspace days. What did you hope to accomplish on Reset together?
I can’t say that we set out for any big plan. It was the first lockdown wave in Portugal, and I found that working on music was the only way I could get my mind off the chaos and spiraling outside. So I leaned hard into work.
Pete had an idea for a while about using these sample loops from intros from songs to build songs out of. He sent me 30 or 40 of these things, and I would just run through them. Whichever one sparked an idea, I would start working on it. By the end of the day, I would have a blueprint of a song.
After I did four or five songs, I thought it would be cool if he sang lead on a few tracks. It grew from there. It wasn’t a plan. It was just something to do.
How did your prior relationship impact the collaborative process?
He and I had grown closer over time, both professionally and personally. So it seemed inevitable we would start making music together. The first thing we did was my album Tomboy , which he mixed.
On this one, I wanted to make it equal in terms of our input. We both had a really good time. I imagine we will make more like this.
How do you see the similarities and differences in your musical styles?
We have wildly different perspectives on how songs work or how arrangements and productions work. But there are important similarities that help us work easily together. Minimalism is one of them — we both like simple things and classic chord progressions.
As two musicians with a shared love of samples, what bands and influences did you want to mine on this project?
On this album, it’s harder to say. But on Person Pitch , which came out in 2007, mostly hip-hop stuff. Madlib, I was a really big fan of J Dilla too. Even the Dust Brothers, I loved how they sampled stuff. Public Enemy as well.
I’ve always noticed a hip-hop element to the sample-based songwriting of your career. How big of an influence is hip-hop?
I’m a huge fan of hip-hop. I have been since I was really young. It’s part of this trajectory of popular music that started with James Brown , where pop music became less about melody and more about rhythm. So these days, we talk about beats, and MCing is all about rhythm and rhyming. I dig it.
A lot of the early hip-hop they were using James Brown samples. There’s a really clear-cut line in that way. The SP-303, which I bought, I got because the producer Madlib said he made all of the album The Unseen by Quasimoto on it. If he made that whole album just on that, I wanted to see what I could do with it. So He directly inspired me to get the SP-303 [sampler], and that was what I made music off of for the next five years.
Have you ever thought about making a hip-hop record and collaborating with a lyricist?
I would love to! I feel like the results would be pretty weird. I would want to tweak the vocals a lot, like affecting or dropping out the vocals a bunch. I would like to do something with the rapper Navy Blue a lot. So many rappers, I think, are cool.
I feel like anything was possible once Animal Collective received a sample credit on Beyonce’s "6 Inch" record. How surreal was that?
That was a strange one. We were honored for sure. But it wasn't a proper sample. We heard the track, and we couldn’t hear it, but we were psyched all the same.
The video for "Edge of the Edge" is a hilarious critique of cell phone inundation. You are of the last generation not born with the internet as a cell phone baby. How present are these themes when making music?
It was definitely a big theme of the record. In terms of being an "online person" and how that’s affected us. While recognizing or wrestling with the power of it and recognizing how it's not so good for us. The song "Edge of the Edge" is the most explicit example of talking about that. It’s trying to grapple with social media, especially, and trying to be aware of the pitfalls of that stuff.
Some of the lyrics are melancholy, but the vibe feels very relaxed and leisurely, almost optimistic. How did you create that balance?
Well, it was dark times in the world. It’s still a dark time. A lot of the stuff that comes out of the songs comes from conversations Pete and I were having at that time. Both of us agreed that being negative and cynical about how bad things are, despite them being pretty bad, doesn't benefit anybody or help at all.
We wanted to make something that had an encouraging spirit and uplifted people. It was for us, making the thing. We thought, at best, it could be medicine.
Do you consider yourself an optimistic person?
Yes, generally. I am also a depressive. So it’s a weird juxtaposition I got going on.
There’s a looping effect in many songs on this album. It almost feels like these songs have no beginning or end, in the same way, dreams feel. Were you hoping to create an ouroboros feeling?
A lot of that decision making was Pete’s thing. But both of us [have] the idea of the fade-out suggests an infinite loop of the music. It continues in your brain even when the sound goes out. I like that sort of thing. I wouldn’t want every song to be that way, but it felt right with these songs.
The album’s title feels appropriate to our pandemic-riddled reality. So what do you hope the title evokes for listeners?
I don’t want to set expectations on what people want to feel. I certainly don't have any grand desires as far as somebody's experience with the thing. I’m happy if somebody listens to it and feels something or enjoys it in the moment. At a base level, I hope the music is some sort of communication and, as that, an embrace.
The Beach Boys comparisons have been run into the ground, but I’ve always wondered how conscious the evolution of their sound was.
I like the Beach Boys a lot, but there are a lot of other vocal groups I like too. It makes sense that the Beach Boys, being the most famous version of a pop vocal group, maybe the Four Tops , is a tough call is the touch point for that kind of music. But I wouldn’t cite them as the only vocal influence.
What in pop right now are you interested in?
I find it rewarding to keep tabs on what’s going on. Someone like Dua Lipa has a lot of songs I like. Justin Beiber had a couple of songs on the last record I dug. I think Rosalia is cool. Dua Lipa has that song, "Be the One," that I really like.
Do you ever see yourself collaborating with bigger pop acts on that scale?
I would love to do something like that. The one time I was lucky enough to do it was making stuff with Solange . That was the only brush with that sort of world I had. But I’m down.
How Hailee Steinfeld Is "Entering A New Space" & Paying Tribute To California With Her Next Project
(L - R): Machine Gun Kelly, Charli XCX, Saweetie, Earl Sweatshirt, Rosalía
(Source Photos L - R): Rich Fury/Getty Images for dcp; Jason Koerner/Getty Images; Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for iHeartRadio; Marc Grimwade/WireImage; Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
2022 has no shortage of new albums to keep your shuffle hard at work. GRAMMY.com compiled a list of 30 upcoming releases — from Kid Cudi, Earl Sweatshirt, Combo Chimbita, Dolly Parton, and Guns N' Roses — to keep you moving in the new year.
Editor's Note: This piece has been updated to reflect release dates and album titles announced after publishing.
While it may feel like there's not much to look forward to during yet another wave of COVID-19, music fans around the world are eagerly waiting to load their playlists with new releases as 2022 gets underway.
And there's certainly plenty to look forward to: Along with The Weeknd, who released his fifth studio album, Dawn FM, on Jan. 7, superstars like Machine Gun Kelly, Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton, Guns N' Roses, and Rosalía have all announced or teased albums coming this year.
The pandemic may have slowed things down, but there's no stopping artists in 2022. Keep an eye out for these 30 albums from ENHYPEN, Mitski, Saweetie, Bastille, and many more.
Only a year removed from his incendiary Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, the crowned pop prince of Canada returns with the semi-surprise Dawn FM, a hotly anticipated follow-up to his record-breaking 2020 release, After Hours (you know, the one with "Blinding Lights" and "Save Your Tears" on it).
As The Weeknd's album teasers promised, Dawn FM delivered sinister synthesizers, a vocal appearance from Jim Carrey, and old-man makeup that's arguably only slightly less distressing than his wax-faced After Hours persona.Max Martin is back (on lead single "Take My Breath"), and other guests include Tyler, the Creator and Oneohtrix Point Never.
As for what the three-time GRAMMY winner wants his listeners to take away from his latest work? "Picture the album being like the listener is dead," The Weeknd told Billboard. Capisce? — Brennan Carley
Seven-piece boy group ENHYPEN may still be relatively new to the K-pop scene (the band formed in 2020 on the Korean survival competition show "I-Land"), but they're already making moves to put themselves in the ranks of BTS and EXO. Their latest release, DIMENSION : ANSWER, marks the group's first studio repackage album, expanding on their 2021 debut set, DIMENSION : DILEMMA.
DIMENSION : ANSWER will feature three new tracks,: "Polaroid Love," "Outro : Day 2," and lead single "Blessed-Cursed." Fans got a first taste of the three B-sides thanks to an album preview the group released on Jan. 4, which teased a wide array of sounds: punchy pop-sprinkled production on "Polaroid Love," sultry R&B vocals with "Outro : Day 2," and guitar-heavy rock on "Blessed-Cursed." With such vast musical prowess, DIMENSION : ANSWER may just be the group's ticket to K-pop superstardom. — Taylor Weatherby
Read More: 5 Rising Korean Artists To Know Now: STAYC, ENHYPEN, ITZY, TOMORROW X TOGETHER & ATEEZ
Cordae set the bar high with his GRAMMY-nominated debut album The Lost Boy and emerged as one of the most exciting new talents of 2019, making his return to the game with his hotly anticipated second album.
The Maryland-raised rapper held fans over with his Just Until… EP last April before launching into his album rollout with the braggadocious hit, "Super" and a collaboration with Lil Wayne, "Sinister." The 24-year-old wordsmith — known for his reflective, carefully-crafted raps — said From a Bird's Eye View was inspired by "a life-changing trip to Africa, enduring the loss of a friend gone too soon and evolving as an artist and a man."
The album will also mark Cordae's first full-length effort since the official disbanding of his YBN collective in 2020. — Victoria Moorwood
Followers of experimental pop adventurers Animal Collective have waited six years for a new album following 2016's Painting With. At last, the four-piece will release Time Skiffs, an album full of otherworldly harmonies and mind-opening melodies.
Animal Collective has released two singles from the LP so far: the gently psychedelic "Prester John" and the equally trippy "Walker." The latter is a tribute to Scott Walker, the prolific singer-songwriter who died in 2019. Its beautifully intricate music video, directed by band member Dave Portner and his sister Abby, brings the Time Skiffs album cover to life in vivid detail. — Jack Tregoning
Like everything Y2K, pop-punk is making a comeback. And nearly 20 years since the release of her seminal pop-punk debut Let Go, Avril Lavigne brings back her pop-punk princess persona in all its glory — combat boots and all. In early November, the "Sk8r Boi" singer shared her the angsty anthem "Bite Me," first new single in over two years, featuring Travis Barker.
With the new music, Lavigne also shared she had signed to the drummer extraordinaire's label DTA Records. Her seventh studio album is set to be the artist's first LP since her more traditional pop LP Head Above Water in 2019. — I.K.
Like everyone else around the world, electronic shapeshifter Simon Green had a very unusual past two years. The British musician and DJ, better known as Bonobo, found himself grounded in his adopted home of Los Angeles, itching for new inspiration to get through the pandemic. His wanderings took him from a tent in the Californian desert to a new appreciation for modular synths back home in lockdown, all with a nervous eye on the precarious state of the world.
This activity fed into a flood of music which we'll soon hear on Bonobo's seventh studio album, Fragments, out on Ninja Tune. Fragments features guests including Jamila Woods, Joji and Kadhja Bonet, while channeling influences from UK bass, Detroit techno and global music through Bonobo's widescreen lens. The producer is already up for two Best Dance/Electronic Recording awards at this year's GRAMMYs, for "Heartbreak," his collaboration with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and "Loom," with Ólafur Arnalds. Bonobo begins a tour of the US in February, giving fans a few precious weeks to soak up the album before its live debut. — J.T.
With a decade-plus of acclaimed projects such as 2018's Some Rap Songs, Earl Sweatshirt is both an underground hero and a critic's darling. He hasn't achieved the same level of mainstream success as former Odd Future colleagues Tyler, the Creator and Syd – which is fine with him.
Judging from SICK's lead track "2010," where he pays homage to his mother in cryptic terms, the 10-track album promises to be another collection of stylized verses, dusty beats and autobiographical confessions (albeit rendered in a clearer voice than his previous album, 2019's lo-fi affair Feet of Clay). As its title suggests, SICK was inspired by the pandemic. "My whole thing is grading things on the truth, you know what I mean? However expansive or detailed the truth is," he told Rolling Stone. — Mosi Reeves
After blasting onto the scene with his 24kgoldn team-up (and runaway smash) "Mood" in 2020, iann dior hasn't slowed down, releasing an EP and countless other collabs. On To Better Things marks dior's first full-length album since 2019, serving up 15 tracks that will help the rapper truly come into his own.
Like the Lil Uzi Vert-assisted "V12" and the racing single "Let You," On To Better Things will see dior further explore his capabilities as a rapper while also tapping into his alt-pop/rock sensibilities. Judging by his previous releases, dior won't be afraid to get raw and real on his latest project as he opens up about love, relationships and loyalty. There may be glimmers of hope on the album, though, as dior captioned a post teasing the album, "life is better now." — T.W.
Dive Deep: 9 Revolutionary Rap Albums To Know: From Kendrick Lamar, Black Star, EarthGang & More
The melding of cumbia beats and psychedelic vibes was embraced during the '70s by many pioneering outfits in Peru and Colombia. Since the release of their 2017 debut, New York quartet Combo Chimbita has built on that foundation, amping up the mystical tinge of its material through the soulful chanting of extraordinary vocalist Carolina Oliveros.
Always ready to speak up on social and political issues, Chimbita uses cumbia as a starting point, adding swashes of funk and soul, Afro guitar lines and atmospheric samples. The band's new album expands its palette, enhancing lead single "Oya" with a video shot at the ruins of Puerto Rico's abandoned Intercontinental Hotel. A tour with the awesomeLido Pimienta will follow soon. — Ernesto Lechner
Anticipation surrounding Aaliyah's fourth album has been building since 2012, when Blackground Records released "Don't Think They Know," which paired the late singer's vocals with Chris Brown, and a Drake collaboration, "Enough Said." The long-awaited arrival of her back catalog to streaming last fall added fresh fuel for a project that has been controversial, with some diehard fans questioning whether it honors Aaliyah's legacy.
Unstoppable includes guests like Snoop Dogg, Future and Ne-Yo. The first single, a woozy ballad titled "Poison," features The Weeknd as well as lyrics originally written by the late Static Major. "Some of the people Aaliyah liked are on the album. She loved Snoop Dogg," Blackground CEO and Aaliyah's uncle Jomo Hankerson told Billboard. "Everything I do at Blackground is always with her in my heart and my mind." — M.R.
Read More: For The Record: How Aaliyah Redefined Her Sound And Herself On One In A Million
If the pandemic had even a glimmer of a bright side, it comes courtesy of musicians like Bastille pivoting and positioning their art to address the present, as Give Me the Future promises to do.
Bandleader Dan Smith had already begun work on the English pop-rock group's fourth album before COVID-19 threw a wrench in his plans, but the pandemic made the album's probing themes seem that much more prescient. Glistening songs like "Thelma + Louise" and the vocoded "Distorted Light Beam" dig more deeply into Bastille's exploration of escapism when the troubles of the world are thundering outside our windows, all with the help of new collaborators Rami Yacoub and One Republic's Ryan Tedder. We promise it's way more fun than it sounds. — B.C.
Mitski almost pressed pause on her music career which, according to a Rolling Stone interview, was "shaving away my soul little by little." After a final performance, "I would quit and find another life." Fortunately, though, Mitski has stuck with it.
Three years since the release of her fifth studio album Be the Cowboy, the indie singer-songwriter is set to share her forthcoming project Laurel Hell. While the majority of the LP was penned in 2018, it wasn't mixed until 2021, making it the longest the singer has spent on one of her records. What listeners can expect is a transformative set of songs that pair Mitski's signature vulnerability with uptempo dance beats and, ultimately, catharsis. — Ilana Kaplan
In 2021, 36 years after the band first formed in the hard rock hotbed of Los Angeles, Guns N' Roses returned with two new singles. This productive streak was remarkable enough in itself given the group's notoriously haphazard release schedule. The singles "ABSUЯD" and "Hard Skool" are doubly remarkable, though, because they usher in a new EP that brings beloved members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan together again after 28 years.
Reinterpreted from the band's Chinese Democracy sessions, "ABSUЯD" features a raw, punk-tinged sound that surprised some fans before rewarding repeat listens. "Hard Skool," meanwhile, harkens back to the classic sound that Guns N' Roses perfected in the late 1980s. The Hard Skool EP will feature the two 2021 singles alongside live renditions of GNR favorites "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy." To mark this new era, the band is touring arenas throughout 2022, reuniting Axl, Slash and Duff as a powerhouse onstage trio. — J.T.
Take a Look Back: Guns N' Roses' 'Appetite For Destruction' | For The Record
Pop polymorph Charli XCX has been promising fans her sellout era for months now ("tip for new artists: sell your soul for money and fame," she tweeted last July), ushered in with last summer's "Good Ones" and buoyed into the holidays with "New Shapes," a powerhouse team-up with Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens.
CRASH is the fifth and final album she owes Atlantic Records — a benchmark not lost on fans or Charli herself. For it, Charli promises edge-of-your-seat appearances from Rina Sawayama, frequent collaborator A. G. Cook, and frequent Weeknd cohort Oneohtrix Point Never. Come for the bloody album artwork, stay for the cheeky, self-aware pop concoctions contained within. — B.C.
The beloved, multi-GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has built a career as a trailblazer, so it stands to reason that her next musical effort would carry on that grand tradition. Run, Rose, Run is an album of original tunes taking its energetic moniker from a companion novel that Parton co-authored with the acclaimed writer James Patterson.
According to Parton, the accompanying album consists of "all new songs written based on the characters and situations in the book" and centers on a tale about a girl who treks to Nashville to pursue her dreams. Adds Patterson, "the mind-blowing thing about this project is that reading the novel is enhanced by listening to the album and vice versa." Both projects are dropping in tandem. It's a unique undertaking that celebrates a smoldering passion for music; but if you've been following the legend's career, would you expect anything less? — Rob LeDonne
GRAMMY-winning singer Maren Morris has conquered modern country music with her soulful solo material and even forayed into pop (just mentioning "The Middle" will glue its sticky chorus to your every waking moment for the next week). So whatever magic Morris might make with her highly anticipated third album, Humble Quest, is cause enough for celebration.
Morris kicked off her next LP with "Circles Around This Town," an expansive, freewheeling single that blends the echoing production of her 2016 debut HERO and super-personal lyrics of 2019's GIRL. The album will be Morris' first since the untimely 2019 passing of her longtime creative partner busbee, but her partnership with pop hitmaker Greg Kurstin (who produced "Circles Around This Town" as well as four GIRL tracks) hints that this next project is going to be a timeless trip and an emotional walloping. — B.C.
Though country music has always been the core of what Thomas Rhett has done since his debut album (2013's It Goes Like This), the star's 2021 set, Country Again: Side A, was more traditional than his past projects. Clearly his roots (along with the unexpected pandemic-induced downtime) sparked a bout of inspiration, as Rhett announced in November that he'll be releasing Side B as well as another LP, titled Where We Started, in 2022.
Surprisingly, Side B won't be coming first. But it will create one cohesive Country Again narrative once it arrives, as Rhett promised in an interview with Rolling Stone last year — though he did hint that Side B will feature production that's "a smidge more experimental" than Side A. His latest single, the wistful "Slow Down Summer" hints that Where We Started will also bring back more of the pop-leaning production he's incorporated in his previous albums.
Still, that doesn't mean he'll lose sight of the country boy that has been unleashed: In writing all of this music, Rhett told his producers (per Rolling Stone), "This is the direction I'm headed in, and I think I'm gonna be here for a long time." — T.W.
Read More: Saddle Up With The Best Country Song Nominations | 2022 GRAMMYs
Epic ambition fuels the very essence of rock 'n' roll and Jack White has embodied the genre's weakness for glamour, dissonance and excess since his days with The White Stripes. The reckless propulsion of "Over and Over and Over" — off 2018's Boarding House Reach — proved that he has kept the bravado in his songwriting very much alive.
2022 will find the multi-GRAMMY Award winning singer/guitarist releasing two full-length albums: Fear of the Dawn, led by the wonderfully bombastic single "Taking Me Back," will also include a collaboration with rapper Q-Tip. No details are available on July's Entering Heaven Alive, but the appearance of two albums in the same year is the kind of grandiloquent gesture that rock is in need of more than ever before. — E.L.
When GRAMMY-nominated Swedish House Mafia announced they were getting back together (and this time for good), fans were cautiously optimistic. The trio of DJ-producers — Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Axwell — promised a host of new music to mark their return, and so far they've kept to their word. The comeback began with the dark, guest-free "It Gets Better," which deviated from the big-room EDM sound championed by the Swedes up to their split in 2013.
From there, the trio delivered "Lifetime," featuring Ty Dolla $ign and 070 Shake, and "Moth to a Flame," featuring The Weeknd, which became their first major hit of the new era. This flurry of activity sets the stage for Swedish House Mafia's first full album, Paradise Again. As Ingrosso told NME, the album will combine their trademark "Scandinavian melodies with dark production and hard sounds." Starting July 2022, the DJs embark on their first tour in a decade, playing 44 dates throughout the US, UK and Europe. — J.T.
Jumping on country music's 2021 double album trend, Jason Aldean issued Macon, the first half of his own two-disc set, Macon, Georgia, in November. The title is an homage to his hometown, which he refers to as a "melting pot" that shaped his music, according to Country Now. Yet, the 30-song project expands on Aldean's signature country-rock sound without steering too far away from what fans have grown to love, as evidenced with both Macon and Georgia's crooning lead single, "Whiskey Me Away."
Like its predecessor, Georgia will include 10 new songs and five live recordings of his biggest hits, essentially creating Aldean's first-ever live album.With the aptly titled track "Rock and Roll Cowboy" to boot, Georgia helps make Macon, Georgia a career highlight for Aldean. — T.W.
The upcoming sixth studio album from enigmatic rocker Machine Gun Kelly, ominously titled Born with Horns, was rumored to drop on New Year's Eve 2021, but it seems Kelly had a change of heart tweeting "See you in 2022." While the release date continues to be murky, there is some solid information about the highly anticipated fresh slate of music from the multi-hyphenate rockstar.
For one, the album is produced by fellow rock luminary Travis Barker and includes the decidedly dark single "Papercuts." "It feels more guitar-heavy for sure, lyrically it definitely goes deeper, but I never like to do anything the same," Kelly said of Born with Horns in an interview with Sunday TODAY, noting it'll also mark a personal evolution. "I'm not scared anymore, there's nothing holding me back from being my true self — and my true self can't be silenced, can't be restrained." — R.L.
Watch Now: Up Close & Personal: Machine Gun Kelly On Working With Travis Barker & Influencing The Next Decade Of Music
There's perhaps never been a better advertisement for an album than Camila Cabello's edition of NPR's Tiny Desk. Released last fall, the session begins with three old songs and ends with two Familia cuts strong enough to bowl you over. In just 20 minutes, the former Fifth Harmony singer genuflects at the altar of pop's past while steering its ship into the future.
"Don't Go Yet" brims with the promise of comfort as it opens with a warm flamenco guitar. "La Buena Vida" is a Mariachi-based explosion of emotion and evocation, anchored by Cabello's arresting vocals. Whereas her prior albums sought to cement the 24-year-old amidst her contemporaries, the uber-personal Familia seems likely to propel her into a whole new pedigree of artistry. — B.C.
In 2018, Rosalía's cinematic El Mal Querer signified a before-and-after for the music of Spain and Latin America. A visionary blend of flamenco, hip-hop and confessional torch song, the album introduced her to the world as an intellectual, musicologist and pop diva wrapped up into one slick sonic package. Subsequent singles (2019's "Haute Couture" was a gorgeous slice of electro-pop) demonstrated that Rosalía's path to global domination relies on a voracious curiosity for disparate styles and high-profile collaborators such as Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny.
Titled MOTOMAMI, Rosalía's much anticipated release includes "LA FAMA," a deliciously distorted bachata duet with The Weeknd. We can only imagine what other wonders Rosalía's remarkable imagination has dreamed up for this, her first full-length album since becoming a cultural icon. — E.L.
Saweetie is set to finally release her debut album, Pretty Bitch Music, this year. After first announcing the project in 2020, the Bay Area native's star power has exploded, reaching new heights last year with major endorsements, her first GRAMMY nominations and a "Saturday Night Live" debut. Pretty Bitch Music was initially slated to arrive in 2021, but Saweetie postponed the effort for some additional fine-tuning.
"I'm just living with it to ensure it's perfect," she told Hollywood Life in August. "I'm really challenging myself and I just want to ensure that I put out a body of work that [will] symbolize art."
Pretty Bitch Music is expected to include Saweetie's 2x Platinum-certified collaboration with Doja Cat, "Best Friend" and her single "Tap In" with production by Timbaland, Lil Jon and Murda Beatz, among other heavy-hitters. — V.M.
Three years after it was announced, Kid Cudi's animated music adventure for Netflix is set to arrive this summer, as the rapper declared during his set at Rolling Loud California in December. "I got some tasty surprises," he told fans before offering a snippet of unreleased music that may be on the soundtrack.
Not much else is known about the project, which takes its title from a song on Cudi's 2009 debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day, and which co-creator Kenya Barris referred to as "the most ambitious thing" in a 2019 interview with Complex.
Entergalactic might not be where Kid Cudi stops in 2022, either: Amid his Rolling Loud teases, he said, "I want to drop another album before [Entergalactic]... I really am excited about all this new s, this new music to give to you guys. So that's why I'm teasing this s now, 'cause it's comin' out soon." — M.R.
Nearly four years since the release of their seventh studio album aptly titled 7, Beach House is slowly unveiling their latest record Once Twice Melody. But instead of dropping all 18 tracks at once, the dreamy indie duo has been giving fans a taste of their new sound in four chapters.
Once Twice Melody is a significant shift as it's the first album produced in full by the band. Beach House also thought about its structure completely differently than they had in the past. "It didn't just feel like a regular, like another album of ours, it felt like a larger, newer kind of way of looking at our music," singer Victoria Legrand told Apple Music. Instead, they view it as "cinematic" and "literary." What fans can expect, they say, is "a lot of love" and "a sacredness of nature." — I.K.
One of our most celebrated artists of his generation may make his triumphant return this year. Although it's been nearly five years since Kendrick Lamar released his GRAMMY- and Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN, Lamar has remained busy. In 2018, Lamar curated the Black Panther soundtrack and he's also made guest appearances on tracks by artists as varied as Nipsey Hussle, Anderson .Paak, U2 and his cousin, Baby Keem.
But Lamar has been mostly mum about his own music, save for an August blog post titled "nu thoughts." "Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family," he wrote, adding that his next album will be his last with Top Dawg Entertainment. It's the sort of thoughtful, precise announcement (and perhaps a hint to his album's content) that fans have come to expect from the notoriously private rapper. Lamar will thankfully make an appearance at this year's Super Bowl in February. — Britt Julious
Read More: Black Sounds Beautiful: How Kendrick Lamar Became A Rap Icon
Despite the slow-burning success of her single "Bodak Yellow," few could have predicted the popularity of Cardi B'sdebut album, Invasion of Privacy. A critical and commercial success, "Invasion of Privacy" won Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards, making Cardi the first woman to win in the category. That's why anticipation for her sophomore record is so high.
Cardi's brand of hip-hop is provocative and fun, and her two singles (possibly from the record) seem to confirm that same mood is still present in her music. In 2020, she dropped "WAP," a cultural reset of a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, and in 2021, she released "Up," which later inspired a viral TikTok dance challenge. As with many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the release of Cardi's new album. But late last year on Instagram Live, Cardi said she has "lots of jobs now" and one of them is to "put out this album next year." Hopefully fans won't have to wait too long. — B.J.
If Koffee's latest single is any indication, the youngest GRAMMY Award winner for Best Reggae Album is planning a glorious homecoming in 2022. Sung with a wide smile you can nearly hear, "West Indies" is a dancehall love letter to the islands and an upbeat promise for what the singer has in store on her first full-length.
"I want to speak of a solution and of a way that we can come together and get along, even when things are going wrong," Koffee told Rolling Stone.
Although the pandemic halted her album recording and nixed her first Coachella performance, Koffee defies the dour attitude of much of the past two years. On "West Indies," Koffee assures that she's partying and having the time of her life — her as-yet-untitled album will likely soundtrack yours while you do the same. — Jessica Lipsky
Read More: The Women Essential To Reggae And Dancehall
Few musical experiences are as uplifting as listening to a singer/songwriter's follow-up to a brilliant debut, where they enhance the scope of their craft with new influences and sounds. Nuevos Aires, Girl Ultra's first full-length album, was just that – a breath of fresh air for Latin R&B, anchored on the purity of her voice and collaborations with Ximena Sariñana and Cuco (for the languid hit "DameLove.")
Following that 2019 release, the artist also known as Mariana de Miguel returns with a new EP. Lead single "Amores de Droga" evokes the sophistication of Everything But The Girl, combining smoldering vocalizing with cool electro grooves. A study in contrasts, it finds the Mexico City chanteuse reaching a pinnacle of inspiration. — E.L.
The Pandemic Robbed Music Of Its Rapport. These Immersive Experiences Are Restoring It In Mind-Blowing Ways.
Noah Lennox of Panda Bear
Photo: Steven Dewall/Redferns/Getty Images
It's been four years since the musician's last solo release, and while fans will have to wait a little longer to hear the whole album, they can purchase tickets for the tour on Friday
Last week, GRAMMY-winner Panda Bear announced his return with the release of a new album, Buoys, due out in 2019. Now, much to his fan's delight, he's revealed plans for supporting tour.
Panda Bear has announced his “BUOYS” tour. Tickets on sale Friday at 10:00am local. Video directed and edited by Danny Perez @Dipuss https://t.co/40kE6tgPEO pic.twitter.com/f3BJeRAqE2— Panda Bear (@pandabear) November 12, 2018
Panda Bear has announced his “BUOYS” tour. Tickets on sale Friday at 10:00am local. Video directed and edited by Danny Perez @Dipuss https://t.co/40kE6tgPEO pic.twitter.com/f3BJeRAqE2
Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, will tour Australia in December and return to the States in February. The tour is in support of his sixth studio album, which he teased last week by dropping a single, "Dolphin." His latest single is a chill song featuring guitars and dripping sounds. According to Paste, Lennox sought to create a sound that would "feel familiar to a young person's ears."
Regarding the feel of his next album Lennox said in a statement: “The last three records felt like a chapter to me, and this feels like the beginning of something new.”
The singer/songwriter is also a member of Animal Collective and won a GRAMMY at the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards for his work with Daft Punk on their fourth studio album Random Access Memories. The band toured earlier this year, with Lennox and Avey Tare performing their 2004 album, Sung Tongs, from start to finish.
Starting this Friday, you can purchase Panda Bear tour tickets here.
How Rosalía Is Reinventing What It Means To Be A Global Popstar
Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy
Britney Spears' showmanship was on full display at the 42nd GRAMMY Awards in 2000, when she brought two hit songs off her '...Baby One More Time' debut to colorful, cinematic life.
Back in 2000, Britney Spears was riding high on the global success of her hit breakout album, ...Baby One More Time . She was a first-time nominee at the GRAMMY Awards that year, receiving nods in the Best New Female Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance categories, the latter for "...Baby One More Time."
That 2000 GRAMMYs also marked Spears' first GRAMMY performance, which remains an unforgettable piece of GRAMMYs history today. In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind , turn back the clock to that epic, dazzling performance, which established Spears' prowess as one of the early 2000s' most imaginative, energetic entertainers.
The four-and-a-half-minute number opened with a flashback scene, putting a spotlight on young Spears as she watched the GRAMMY Awards from a couch at home. "Tina Turner and Janet Jackson," an announcer on the TV listed, name-checking two of young Spears' musical idols. "Wow!" the young girl thought in a voiceover clip. "Someday I'm gonna be there, just wait and see."
Sure enough, that clip fades into a dream sequence, and Spears kicks off her performance — beginning what was seemingly a full-circle moment for the star. As the singer stands amid a small group of backup dancers dressed as flowers, she belts out her heartbreak ballad, "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart," in stunning fashion.
As things begin to pick up with some booming thunderstorm visuals, Spears — who changed from a pastel tutu to a skin-tight glittery red bodysuit — is then joined by a phalanx of robot backup dancers. She launches into "...Baby One More Time" with an acrobatic dance routine, dazzling the crowd with epic production, dance moves and vocal theatrics.
Press play on the video above to revisit this iconic performance from Spears, and keep checking GRAMMY.com every Friday for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.
Big Time Rush Share Favorite Memories From Their Biggest Hits, New Songs And One Unexpected Fan Favorite
As Big Time Rush continue their comeback, the former Nickelodeon stars relive making hits like "Boyfriend," new songs like "Dale Pa' Ya" and, yes, "The Turd Song."
Just over one year since Big Time Rush announced their reunion, the TV-made boy band have proven that they weren't just made for a show. With 18 million followers across social media and a 44-date North American trek — including a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden — the group has certainly made a comeback.
The foursome — Carlos PenaVega, James Maslow, Kendall Schmidt, and Logan Henderson — were initially put together for Big Time Rush , a 'Monkees'-style Nickelodeon series that had a four-season run from 2009 to 2013. Big Time Rush released three albums that only spawned a couple of charting hits (2011's "Boyfriend," which featured a remix with Snoop Dogg , and 2012's Blur -sampling "Windows Down"), but built a dedicated fan base that couldn't wait for their return.
This time around, the band is free from the obligations of their contracts with Nickelodeon and former label Columbia Records, officially taking ownership of the Big Time Rush name and music thanks to their cheekily titled LLC, Bought The Rights. And as Henderson hints, Big Time Rush is only getting (re)started.
"We have so much music we're about to release," Henderson tells GRAMMY.com. "We're still excited and hungry to keep on finding Big Time Rush — what the sound is, what it means to us, and records that really make us tick."
They kicked off their reunion with the single "Call It Like I See It" in December 2021, which marked the first time all four members contributed to a single since their formation. They've since released four more new tracks, most recently their first Spanglish single "Dale Pa' Ya," an homage to their Latin American fans. On Aug. 25, they revealed five shows in South America for 2023 — further confirming that they're not slowing down any time soon.
As Big Time Rush wraps their U.S. tour, the guys share standout memories from some of their biggest hits, a couple of new songs, and one that, as they put it, has "taken on a life of its own."
Schmidt: I remember a rented mansion for the music video. We were joking about it because the way the video turned out, it seemed like only the guys in the video liked us — like, the way it was edited in the end, we were like "Wow, it seems like every girl in this music video hates us."
Maslow: We play that currently on our tour and it's one of the crowd's favorite songs every single night. When we put together this little section with a bunch of classic songs, including that one, we really didn't know what to expect or how much we'd even enjoy it compared to the new songs. But it's one of my favorite times in the show, because everybody's just rocking out, they know every single word, and they scream that song at the top of their lungs.
PenaVega: We made a couple of music videos for "Boyfriend," the first one was on the TV show. That one stands out to me because we were on the Paramount lot in the parking lot. They blocked off the parking lot for like two or three days and we literally brought in a carnival — ferris wheels and the spinny machines, just a full-blown carnival that they rented. They brought it on, they set it up and we shot a music video. James rode a ferris wheel with a plant.
Maslow: Highlight of my BTR journey right there.
PenaVega: That was probably the start of the epic music videos for the TV show. We hadn't done one that elaborate, and Nick really put some money behind it. That was a lot of fun. Then the second music video was obviously with Snoop Dogg.
Schmidt: Do remember, in that video, the little green man in the cup? Now that I look back on that, I'm thinking, "What is that about?"
Henderson: We had this huge dance breakdown at the very end, and we were sweating bullets because there were so many people in there and the air conditioner wasn't working. And Snoop has this huge, like, trench coat on, and I was like, "How are you not sweating? It is so hot in here." And he goes, "It's all in your mind."
PenaVega: He said, "Being cool is a state of mind."
Henderson: I was like, "Okay, well, I'm about to pass out."
Schmidt: We did the music video at the airport, obviously. That was pretty wild.
Maslow: To rent out an entire airport just for a music video, that was another step in terms of "Wow, things are growing."
Henderson: That is still our biggest song today. Even when we go to other countries, some of our fans speak very little English and that's the one song they know every word to. It really is such a special song to have with fans all over the world.
Maslow: And when it comes to live performance, it's one of our favorite moments, because we always pick one — usually four, these days — "Worldwide" girls. It's a cool opportunity to bring somebody up on stage and sing directly to a fan.
The song has aged well. Not so sure that those dance moves have.
Henderson: That song was a little complicated, because there's a lot of things going on. You have a guitar sample from Chaka Khan , Ryan Tedder is the one who produced that one.
PenaVega: That song cost us a lot of money.
Ryan has since sold this house, I heard, but it was out in Colorado. His basement was turned into a ginormous studio. It was the most beautiful studio I've ever been to, still.
Henderson: We got to see the place where Adele recorded all of those massive songs. You could feel it in the air.
PenaVega: I was actually hanging out with Justin Bieber back in the day, and I played him this record, and he was like, "Yo, they pitched that to me, and I passed on it." I was like, "Oh, really? Well, we're taking it!"
Henderson: Honestly, it works with four voices really, really well.
Schmidt: And again, getting a Blur sample, that's huge.
Henderson: I don't know what happened behind the scenes for that. Probably something we don't want to discuss.
PenaVega: Again, it cost us a lot of money.
That music video is probably my favorite music video that we did. The boys and I took a trip to Maui and literally spent five days there, had the best time ever. We went cliff jumping, did all this stuff, we had all this footage, and when we got back to shooting the TV show, I made a quick little 25-second trailer like, "Oh, here's us in Maui, what happens next?" I pitched it as an idea for a music video, and they said "Let's go." That next month, we went to Maui for a week, and they paid for everything.
Henderson: We were like, "Haha suckers!" and then it was billed back to us and we were like "Aww."
Maslow: It was way before the technology we have now, [where] we can have a GoPro that shoots 4k or 8k. We had to actually custom build a waterproof casing for a huge RED camera. So you had this six-figure camera with some kind of janky plexiglass thing and our cameraman would go jumping off cliffs with this huge thing splashing in water, and we just kept praying, please don't get water in it.
PenaVega: The best scenes [were when] they mounted the cameras on the front of these jeeps and we drove around, just us and our, like, "video girls," hands up, going crazy.
Henderson: Why can we not do a music video like that anymore?
Maslow: I'm thinkin' Turks & Caicos for the next one, boys, what do you say?
Henderson: That was the first one [we wrote together upon reuniting] that felt like a real Big Time Rush song.
Schmidt: There were a lot of Zoom sessions early on in the pandemic, and it just was really hard to make the connection. I know people wrote great songs during the pandemic over Zoom, but it certainly is way better to be in the room going back and forth. The same trajectory happened [as it did in] the beginning [of writing songs together], where it took a while to get to something [good]
I feel like, in the funnest way possible — and I'm joking about this — but it feels like writing a song is a bit like a battle. You know? You're waging war against a brain fart. And everyone's got an opinion, and they all matter, so it's trying to weave together something to become a beautiful tapestry. That's a couple of metaphors.
Maslow: You can pick whatever cherries out of there you want to. [ All laugh .]
Schmidt: ["Call It Like I See It"] was basically just a party at James's house.
Maslow: The record sounds like we were having a good time.
Schmidt: We felt like people needed a party, so we brought them the feeling of a party.
PenaVega: Our Latin American and South American fans have always been incredible to us. I mean, we put 30,000 tickets on sale for Mexico for this tour, and they sold out in six hours. It's seriously unreal. We always wanted to do something to give back.
Maslow: And the amount of fans said they did learn to speak English because of our songs, to your point, we always felt — ever since we first went down to Mexico and Latin America, we felt such a love for those fans. Just such a welcoming appreciation. We've always wanted to give back and show our appreciation and our effort the other way around. [ Motioning to Schmidt and Henderson ] Us three have learned a little bit of Spanish touring down there so much.
Schmidt: Carlos had a good head start.
PenaVega: The day we got in the studio with Maffio, he was just like, "Let's make a song that we can make the world dance." I feel like that song, even though it's Spanglish, it's such a universal song. I feel like the world is gonna hear it, and want to get up with us to dance.
Schmidt: "The Turd Song" has developed a life of its own. It actually wasn't that big of a thing for us back in the day.
Maslow: Until this tour, we never played that song.
PenaVega: We did it at one show, and I was just like, "Oh my god." I stopped singing, and everybody is just shouting, and I'm like, "There's freaking 10,000 people singing 'The Turd Song,' oh my god!"
Henderson: It's a little cringey, but I've just had to let Jesus take the wheel on this one.
PenaVega: We didn't do it at one show, and the next show there was a sign that said, "Justice for 'The Turd Song.'"
Schmidt: It was written in the script [for the TV show], and [when] we did the table read, none of us knew how to sing it.
Henderson: The creator of the show [Scott Fellows] is literally 12 years old.
Schmidt: He is probably just loving that his creation is taking on a turd of its own.
Henderson: You know, we actually have legitimate music that's coming out.
PenaVega: A "Turd Song" remix! With Dua Lipa !
Maslow: Probably called Doo Doo Lipa.
Schmidt: Maybe we can get another one from Pooplo!
TWICE Detail Their "Absolutely Magical" Growth And How 'Between 1&2' Expands On Their Relationship With Fans
@ 2022 - Recording Academy. All rights reserved.
Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.