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When romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You was released in 1999 — a seminal time for the Shakespeare adaptation-as-teen-movie — it was a watershed pop cultural moment. The winning take on The Taming of the Shrew cemented the star power of actors Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and boasted a spunky […]
To this day, Bryan Adams takes a lesson he learned from Tina Turner more than 40 years ago with him whenever the iconic Canadian rocker goes on tour. A few years before the two recorded their sexy, gritty Grammy-nominated duet “It’s Only Love” in 1984, he went to see the legend in Vancouver at a club as she was mounting her comeback.
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A 21-year-old Adams and songwriting partner Jim Vallance had written a song for Turner called “Lock Up Your Sons Because Tina’s in Town.” “Terrible,” he says, with a laugh. He convinced the bouncer to let him go backstage after the show and he saw a visibly ill, bundled up Turner. “I realized at that point she had the flu, and she had just put on this incredible show. I thought, ‘Wow! Nobody knew she was sick. She just went out there and gave everything she got.’ From that moment on, I never complained, ever, about being a little under the weather if I had to go on because I’ll just go out and do it. She’s at the forefront of my mind whenever that happens.”
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Adam will kick off an eight-week North American tour Sept. 11 in Kamloops, British Columbia at Sandman Centre. The ticket presale starts April 29 and general onsale begins May 2 at BryanAdams.com.
The outing, named the Roll with the Punches tour, has already kicked off internationally and Adams is calling as he’s headed to Reykjavik for a concert.
The So Happy It Hurts tour, named after his 2022 album, ended in Australia and New Zealand in February.
“I don’t actually have a beginning or and end” to touring, Adams says. “It all sort of melds into one.”
The Roll with the Punches Tour takes its name from the forthcoming album Adams will release on his own label, Bad Records, later this year.
Bryan Adams
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“I’ve got my own sort of schedule and how we roll things out,” Adams says. The title track and another song are already available, and he expects to put out a few more songs before the album is released in August and pepper them into his shows.
Adams started Bad Records a number of years ago as a home for his catalog, much of which has reverted back to him from Universal (which bought PolyGram, which had purchased his original label home, A&M).
All the mergers made Adams feel like “a chair in the lobby,” he says. “I could have probably rolled [my contract] over and kept it there. But there was something about being independent that I liked and, after much back and forth, finally I was free,” Adams says. “I’ve been signed to a label pretty much on and off since I was 16 years old, so the feeling of and the understanding of being able to be an independent artist is actually quite liberating.”
Among the projects he has released on his own label are two box sets from his 2022 and 2024 Royal Albert Hall residencies, as well as re-records of past albums. For Record Store Day earlier this month, his label put out a previously unreleased version of “It’s Only Love” featuring just his and Turner’s vocals and a keyboard. “It shows you the power of her voice like never before,” he says.
Adams has found the hands-on aspect of running a label inspiring. “I even went to the record manufacturing company in Poland where we were putting things together,” he says. “It was a Sunday, and I just expected one person to be there to say hello and shake my hand. The entire company showed up because they don’t get artists saying hello, and it was just fascinating.”
The Royal Albert albums and videos show the superstar’s command over his audience, especially when he plays the opening chords of one of his many hits like “Summer of ’69,” and the crowd instantly goes wild. “You just hope the microphone’s working,” he jokes when a song gets such a rabid response. “That’s one of the great things about having so many songs. I look down my set list and I’m always pleased to know what the next song is. I know it’s gonna be fun to play,” he says. “It wasn’t like there was any plan. It was just every couple of years I would put out the best songs I’d written and occasionally, some of them stuck.”
The North American tour encompasses 39 dates, averaging around five shows a week. The longtime vegan jokes his stamina is “powered by lentils.” He adds: “I do the best I can. There’s nothing you can do if you get a cold or a flu. You just have got to soldier on,” as Turner taught him. (Adams speaks lovingly of the late Turner, for whom he produced her 1986 album, Break Every Rule and even sang at her wedding, saying his greatest memory of Turner is when he introduced her to his daughters. “It makes me a bit weepy thinking about it, to be honest, because she was just super, super kind to me. She loved the fact that I was having children.”)
Playing his native Canada is always special for Adams, “especially now that we’ve been sort of, I don’t know, skewered by your president,” he says of Donald Trump. “It’s really unified the country in a way. And so, it’s exciting.” Popular Canadian rock band The Sheepdogs will open the Canadian dates.
Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo will open the U.S. leg. Surprisingly, Adams has never met the husband-and-wife duo but does have a connection that goes back more than 40 years when in 1981 he wrote a song called “Lonely Nights” for Benatar. “She didn’t do it, but it ended up being the first song off my second album that really opened the door for me in America,” the rocker says. “I may have to add that during the set because it’s kind of a good story to tell. I just really love her voice so it’s great that she’s gonna be out with us.”
From the start of his career, Adams has focused on spanning the globe and in the ‘80s and ‘90s was one of the first Western artists to play in India, Pakistan, Vietnam and many of the former Eastern Bloc countries. After Reykjavik he will continue through Europe, ending in Helsinki, Finland in mid-August.
“For me, it was just a wanderlust to be able to see the world,” he says of touring so widely in the early days. “You know, ‘Here’s an opportunity. I wonder if we can do a gig there.’ And when you start to investigate these places, you find out that, yes, there is a chance you could do it,” he says. “I recently inquired whether I could get to do a show in Iran, and, unfortunately, it’s still not the time to do that. I would love to be one of the people that could break down that sort of cultural boycott that’s happening. There are also parts of North Africa that I’d like to go to.”
Adams, a well-regarded professional photographer who has released retrospectives of his photography and autographed notable figures including the late Queen Elizabeth, does not spend days off between gigs exploring with his camera. Instead, he is understandably “probably resting” or working,” he says. His days on the road “are really organized. There’s no randomness about it. I enjoy finding things and exploring, but usually if you’re in the middle of a tour, that’s the last thing you want to do. You want to rest because you’ve got work to do.”
Adams, who has also written songs Kiss, Roger Daltrey, Motley Crue and Loverboy, in addition to his multiple hits, still owns his estimable publishing catalog even though his writing partner Vallance sold his to Round Hill in 2021. “I’ve been asked by loads of people [to sell]. I’m not interested,” he says. “Maybe somewhere in the future. It’s definitely not on my radar now.”
‘ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES’ NORTH AMERICA TOUR DATES:
Thu Sep 11 – Kamloops, BC – Sandman Centre
Fri Sep 12 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Sat Sep 13 – Victoria, BC – Save On Foods Memorial Centre
Tue Sep 23 – Prince George, BC – CN Centre
Wed Sep 24 – Kelowna, BC – Prospera Place
Fri Sep 26 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
Sat Sep 27 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Sun Sep 28 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
Mon Sep 29 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
Thu Oct 2 – St. Catharines, ON – Meridian Centre
Fri Oct 3 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Sat Oct 4 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
Tue Oct 7 – Peterborough, ON – Peterborough Memorial Centre
Wed Oct 8 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Thu Oct 9 – Quebec City, QC – Videotron Centre
Sat Oct 11 – Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre
Sun Oct 12 – Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre
Wed Oct 15 – St. John’s, NL – Mary Brown’s Centre
Sat Oct 25 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena^
Sun Oct 26 – Boston, MA – TD Garden^
Wed Oct 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center^
Thu Oct 30 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden^
Sat Nov 1 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Arena^
Sun Nov 2 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena^
Mon Nov 3 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena^
Wed Nov 5 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center^
Thu Nov 6 – Duluth, GA – Gas South Arena^
Fri Nov 7 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena^
Sun Nov 9 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live^
Mon Nov 10 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena^
Thu Nov 13 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center^
Sat Nov 15 – Phoenix, AZ – PHX Arena^
Sun Nov 16 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena^
Tue Nov 18 – Los Angeles, CA – The Kia Forum^
Wed Nov 19 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center^
Fri Nov 21 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena^
Sat Nov 22 – Portland, OR – Moda Center^
Mon Nov 24 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena^
Wed Nov 26 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center^
*With The Sheepdogs
^With Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
+With Amanda Marshall
It’s an overcast Saturday afternoon in Miami, and Axel Hedfors seems in his natural habitat while eating sushi on the patio restaurant of a luxe beachside hotel. Hours from now, the producer — known to most as Axwell — will play the main stage at Ultra Music Festival, a show he’s been prepping for in his hotel room since arriving in Florida.
This set will contain classics from Axwell’s solo catalog, along with his work with Swedish House Mafia and the catalog of his namesake label, Axtone. It will also be the first time he’s played Ultra as a solo artist and his first Ultra set since selling the Axtone catalog to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment in January.
This sale included approximately 200 songs spanning the last 20 years, including hits by Supermode, Steve Angello, Laidback Luke, Don Diablo, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, CamelPhat, Kölsch and big room-classics like Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl’s “In My Mind” and Axwell’s era-defining remix of this same song. Pophouse, which also acquired Swedish House Mafia’s master recordings and publishing catalog in 2022, has acquired both Axtone’s back catalog and the label itself, with Axwell staying on permanently as its founding partner and creative advisor.
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While Axwell and his team decline to disclose the sale price, the congratulatory handshakes he gets from acquaintances at the restaurant indicate the deal was a good one.
Axwell says the cash infusion from Pophouse has enabled him and his team to operate with “more muscle.” He cites the Axtone & Friends pool party that happened a few nights prior down the street in South Beach as something Pophouse helped pay for, allowing for a splashier event than they might have otherwise been able to afford.
“I know before that we would have been a bit more on a budget,” he says, “and now we were less on a budget, which is nice. There’s opportunity [with Pophouse]. If we have ideas and want to do something differently, we can with their help.”
The sale also made sense given Axwell’s longstanding relationship with Per Sundin, the CEO of Pophouse and former president of Universal Music Nordics. “It’s not some anonymous fund,” Axwell says. “This is somebody we know, and that made me feel like this was worth exploring. Per appreciates music, so he’s not just going to destroy it. He’s going to be respectful about it.”
The sale happened at a good time for Axwell, who acknowledges that he and the team were “kind of maybe stuck in the old routine” of signing records. Given that generating hits has become harder for labels of all genres in the streaming and TikTok eras, Axtone had, like so many other labels, become more focused on volume than Axwell might have liked.
“It’s a small company on a budget trying to make every release recoup and work out financially,” he says. “Then we picked up the pace a little bit, and obviously not all records get noticed in today’s climate. A lot of records don’t do anything, because it’s so much harder these days to get them noticed. Then a lot of records become a project you just do for love, rather than earning. You have one record that pays for 20 other records.”
This strategy had evolved significantly since Axwell launched Axtone in 2005 as a way to untether himself from other peoples’ timelines. “I was tired of dealing with other labels,” he says. “Back then you had to send the CD, and they were like, ‘Maybe we can release it in three months.’ I was fed up with not releasing ourselves, so starting the label was an amazing move.”
This move proved especially prescient as Axtone clocked hits that distinguished Axwell’s taste as a curator and skills as a solo artist as he rose in tandem with the Swedish House Mafia rocket. He says many classics from the Axtone catalog, like Supermode’s “Tell Me Why” (which samples Bronski Beat’s “Small Town Boy”), still generate roughly 100,000 streams a day, partially because they’re featured on big Spotify and Apple Music playlists — placement that almost assures they’ll never fall below a certain daily stream rate.
This, no doubt, made the Axtone catalog especially attractive to Pophouse, a company focused on using acquired music in new IP and brand development. The company’s success stories include the long-running ABBA Voyage show in London, which is set to the music of the famous Swedish disco pop quartet, who appear during the performance in hologram form. ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus is also a co-founder of Pophouse, which announced in March that it raised a total of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to invest in catalog acquisitions and create entertainment experiences around those music rights.
“Obviously, I wouldn’t mind them doing an ABBA kind of thing with dance music,” says Axwell. “A show [that features] not only my music would be great, because obviously Pophouse also has Avicii’s music, Swedish House Mafia’s music. It could be something interesting.” (Pophouse acquired a 75% stake in Avicii’s recordings and publishing catalog in 2022.)
Axwell is consulting with Pophouse on any projects Axtone music might be involved in, with the business partners currently planning a box set to commemorate the label’s 20th anniversary this year. The package feels particularly well-timed given that, as Axwell says, “what we’re noticing is that a lot of the old catalog means a lot to the new generation.”
“When you put on ‘Calling’ or ‘Reload’ or my ‘In My Mind’ remix, they just go,” he says, referencing EDM era hits he was involved with and adjacent to. “Some old records don’t continue to work; they kind of fade out. But these still pack a punch. It’s amazing that we managed to do something that lasts.”
This point is proven extremely true a few hours later, when thousands of people stand in front of a fire-spitting Ultra main stage and sing along to classics including Axwell’s edit of Swedish House Mafia’s 2011 hit “Save The World,” the 2017 Axwell / Ingrosso smash “More than You Know” and inevitably and blissfully, the trio’s all time classic “Don’t You Worry Child,” which he follows with their 2022 hit “When Heaven Takes You Home” and 2010’s “One (Your Name).” “That was fun,” he tells the audience while standing on the decks at the end of the set, “and you are beautiful.”
This is Axwell’s first time playing the festival’s biggest stage as a solo act, though he has a long history at this site through his work with Swedish House Mafia. The group’s Ultra mythology includes ending their massive farewell tour here in 2013, then reuniting at the festival five years later. When asked if he feels any kind of way about playing Ultra Miami on his own, Axwell says he feels “like Seb and Steve are always with me, because of the songs.”
Beyond this psychospiritual connection, Axwell spent time in the studio with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello fairly recently as the trio continues hashing out new Swedish House Mafia music. Last November, Angello told Billboard that the trio scrapped the second album they’d been working on as a follow-up to their 2022 LP Paradise Again.
Axwell confirms that while he’s “super proud” of Paradise Again — the first Swedish House Mafia album after an earlier run of monster singles — the guys aren’t currently working on an LP “because that’s a heavy process. I think it was something we wanted to do to have that in our lives. But now I think we want to go back to the spontaneousness of just doing one song and getting it out [when we want to], not in 12 months when the album is ready.” (He notes that Paradise Again was not included in Pophouse’s acquisition of the Swedish House Mafia masters, given that the 2022 deal was retroactive.) He also says that the trio will eventually “probably come back” to play Ultra Miami again, as the urge to do so “tickles after a while, you know?”
Axwell is also currently tinkering with his own forthcoming solo work. Famously meticulous — he’s been known to spend months on a single high hat sound and calls himself “the slowest person on earth” when it comes to making music — he says a lot of what he’s working on is roughly 80% finished. The final 20% of each song will take some time, he says, although he’s not sure how long. (One new song samples SNAP’s “The Power,” although he’s thus far had a difficult time clearing one of the samples used in the 1990 club anthem. He assures, however, that “I’m not giving up.”) When his music is finally complete, he foresees releasing it as a series of singles.
In the meantime, Axwell’s life will remain, as he tells it, “a s—storm” of logistics that involve his own touring, flying around Europe with his wife for their kids’ competitive car races (one son is 11 and races go carts, while his 16-year-old competes in F4), and prepping for Tomorrowland 2025 dates with Swedish House Mafia and as a solo act. All in, life will continue on the same dance world megastar trajectory as it did before the Axtone sale, but now with a bit more financial padding and space to focus.
“The good thing for me is that I still make music,” he says, “so even though we sold the label, it’s not like this is a goodbye to my whole life.”
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveBarely a year after releasing Ten Fold, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Yaya Bey is returning with another new album: Do It Afraid arrives June 20 via Drink Sum Wtr. The quick follow-up includes the new singles “Dream Girl” and “Wake Up B*tch,” the first of which comes with a music video. Check out both songs below.Do It Afraid steps into a more dance-heavy direction in Yaya Bey’s catalog, as captured in the previously released single “Merlot and Grigio,” featuring Father Philis. Other guests on the album include the rapper and songwriter Rahrah Gabor, the producer Exactly, jazz ensemble Butcher Brown, and vocalist and keyboardist Nigel Hall.After the album’s release in June, Yaya Bey will head out on a headlining tour of the United States. Following a set at Governors Ball Music Festival, the R&B singer will make stops in Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, and more cities before wrapping up the short leg on September 27 in Los Angeles. Find her complete list of tour dates below.Read about Yaya Bey’s Remember Your North Star in “The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s So Far.”All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.Yaya Bey: Do It Afraid$45 at Rough TradeDo It Afraid:01 Wake Up B*tch02 End of the World [ft. Nigel Hall and Butcher Brown]03 Real Yearners Unite04 Cindy Rella05 Raisins06 Spin Cycle07 Dream Girl08 Merlot and Grigio [ft. Father Philis]09 Breakthrough10 A Surrender11 In a Circle12 Aye Noche [ft. Rahrah Gabor and Exaktly]13 No for Real, WTF?14 Blicky15 Ask the Questions16 Bella Noches Pt. 117 A Tiny Thing That’s Mine18 ChoiceYaya Bey:06-07 New York, NY – Governor’s Ball Music Festival09-10 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts09-11 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall09-12 Brooklyn, NY – 99 Scott09-13 Washington, DC – Union Stage09-16 Atlanta, GA – Aisle 509-18 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall09-19 Urbana, IL – PYGMALION09-23 Seattle, WA – Neumos09-24 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios09-26 San Francisco, CA – The Independent09-27 Los Angeles, CA – Lodge RoomYaya Bey: Do It Afraid TourBuy Now at Ticketmaster
Carlos Santana postponed a planned show in San Antonio, TX on Tuesday night (April 22) after being rushed to a local hospital. Santana, 77, was booked to play the Majestic Theatre in the Texas town, but reportedly fell ill during soundcheck as a result of dehydration. According to a statement from the venue, manager Michael […]
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveThe Swell Season, the Oscar-winning folk duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, have announced their first new album in 16 years: Forward arrives June 13. They’ve also shared the new song “Stuck in Reverse” with a black-and-white music video of the two performing the track in a small bar. Check out that Anthony Mulcahy–directed visual below.The follow-up to 2009’s Strict Joy was produced by Sturla Mio Thorisson and boasts eight songs, including the previously released single “People We Used to Be.” “It felt right to title the record Forward because it’s a reunion of sorts, but we’re not going backwards,” said Irglová. “Both of us have grown and changed; we’re in different places and getting to know each other again as the new people we’ve become.”“After our whirlwind that led up to the Oscars and after, we were so busy and with that came a pressure that neither of us particularly wanted, and ultimately we kind of drifted in the middle of all of that hard work and celebration. We remained good friends, helping on each other’s records, keeping up with each other’s families. While touring my last record, I realized I just missed her. I remember calling Markéta and saying, ‘Do you feel like doing some gigs?’” said Hansard. “From there the idea was to do a little recording and not put any pressure on it, just see what happens, and suddenly we found ourselves making a record.”Hansard and Irglová teamed up for their debut album, 2006’s The Swell Season, before starring in the 2007 movie Once, in which they perform a number of the record’s tracks as the film’s romantic leads. The indie movie’s word-of-mouth hype catapulted it, as well as the Swell Season, to fame, with the duo earning the Academy Award for Best Original Song with “Falling Slowly.” Revisit Pitchfork’s 2008 interview with Hansard and Irglová days after the Swell Season’s Oscar win.Forward:01 Factory Street Bells02 People We Used to Be03 Stuck in Reverse04 I Leave Everything to You05 Little Sugar06 Pretty Stories07 Great Weight08 Hundred Words
Turning 40 led Natalia Lafourcade to discover CANCIONERA, the vein of the message that fuels her new musical project, the character that brings her alter ego to life, and the concept of a tour that will take her around the world for more than a year to perform her artistic creation live. A year later, with the release of her new album on Thursday (April 24), the acclaimed Mexican singer-songwriter says that this work reaffirmed her role in life and the path she wanted to follow.
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“I feel that CANCIONERA came to remind me of that message as a songstress, but it also made me feel very inspired by songs from around the world, at a moment in my life when I said to yourself, ‘I’m 40 now, what’s next?’” Lafourcade tells Billboard Español in an interview in Mexico City.
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The LP follows De Todas Las Flores, her celebrated 2022 album that earned her a Grammy Award and three Latin Grammys and marked a creative partnership with her friend and colleague, Franco-Mexican producer, musician, actor, and director Adán Jodorowsky. Again, they collaborate on CANCIONERA, which was entirely recorded on analog tape in Mexico.
The album also features contributions from El David Aguilar, Hermanos Gutiérrez, Israel Fernández, Diego del Morao and Gordon Hamilton, who enrich the set with nuances and textures ranging from bolero to son jarocho, with hints of tropical and ranchera music. Additionally, the work of Soundwalk Collective adds a sound design that complements the album’s depth, integrating natural sounds as part of the musical landscape.
The repertoire of CANCIONERA, Lafourcade’s 12th album, includes original compositions and a couple of reinterpretations of traditional Mexican music, such as the son jarocho songs “El Coconito” and “La Bruja,” which establish a dialogue with the essence of the project. Released by Sony Music, the album consists of 14 tracks, including an acoustic version of “Cancionera,” where she explores sounds like bolero, son jarocho, tropical music, and ranchera, very much in the style of the iconic Chavela Vargas. Other titles on this production are “Amor Clandestino,” “Mascaritas de Cristal,” “El Palomo y La Negra,” “Luna Creciente,” “Lágrimas Cancioneras” and “Cariñito de Acapulco.”
The four-time Grammy and 18-time Latin Grammy winner — recently highlighted among Billboard’s Best 50 Female Latin Pop Artists of All Time — admits that her alter ego in this new project pushed her to do things she, as Natalia Lafourcade, wouldn’t have done. “This songstress soul cornered me into maximum creativity through dance, exploration of movement, exploration of painting, many things I love and had perhaps kept locked away in a drawer,” she says. “It shows that this is a new facet, a stage that taught me about the capacity I have to transform, and not just me, but everyone.”
And unintentionally, she confesses, Mexico — through its traditional rhythms, lyrics, and songbooks — once again permeated her work, just as it did in her previous albums Un Canto por México (2020), Un Canto por México II (2021), and De Todas las Flores (2022).
“I think the album has a lot of Veracruz in it, a lot of our way of speaking, our wit. And again, without seeking it, without forcing it, all the influences of those involved and that sense of Mexican identity came through,” Lafourcade explains. “Just as Emiliano Dorantes brought the influence of Agustín Lara, ranchera Mexico came through, tropical Mexico with Toña La Negra, the Mexico embodied by Chavela Vargas. All those glimpses manifested in the process. I loved that because it shows that we’re all here and we exude that Mexican spirit.”
Additionally, she points out, the new songs conveyed fantasy and a surreal touch, “what happens as if in a dream.” Without hesitation, she knew her new album needed to feature Jodorowsky as co-producer, whose critical and sensitive ear would help her direct her creations.
“Creating with Adán is one of the most beautiful things. Besides Adán, there was David Aguilar, Emiliano Dorantes, Alfredo Pino, my lifelong musicians, people I love and admire, all gathered in a studio, playing, making music — some of the happiest moments of my life creating,” she says. “And Adán, I really appreciate his philosophy of life, his way of working, his friendship, the way he loves me. I’ve found in him a producer who understands both my roles: as a producer and as an artist.”
The singer of “Hasta la Raíz” notes that with Jodorowsky — son of the renowned Chilean-born filmmaker, theater director, psychomagician, writer, and producer Alejandro Jodorowsky — she knows she can fulfill her role as a producer and songwriter without losing focus. “When you go into the recording studio, you’re so vulnerable; everything happens — there’s joy, and there’s also confrontation. There are days when you’re having a terrible time, when you’re very fragile and need a sensitive person. That’s Adán.”
Lafourcade shared that before CANCIONERA became a conceptual album, it was initially envisioned as a tour with just her voice and guitar on stage. “That was the first spark that led us to create an entire album.” Thus, a series of intimate concerts in Mexico, produced by Ocesa to promote the album, began on Wednesday (April 23) in Xalapa, Veracruz, and will arrive at the Teatro Metropólitan in Mexico City on May 2, before returning in September to the Auditorio Nacional. With stops in several cities across the country, the United States and Latin America, the CANCIONERA Tour is shaping up to be one of Lafourcade’s most ambitious ones.
With Mexico as one of her greatest inspirations, and after having elevated the country’s name with her music, Lafourcade applauded the government initiative México Canta, announced on April 7 by president Claudia Sheinbaum to promote songs free of violence glorification. “I agree that it’s time to analyze a little and open our eyes, to be aware that music has a lot of power,” Lafourcade says. “Sung words have an even greater power; they truly affect us, transform us, for better or worse. It’s a transformation on a level we don’t even realize. I think a constructive perspective is always a great contribution.”
Emmylou Harris, R&B star Eddie Floyd and Jody Stephens, drummer of iconic power-pop band Big Star, are set to perform at the 2025 Grammy Hall of Fame Gala, which will take place Friday, May 16, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California – the site of the first Grammy Awards ceremony in 1959.
All three have recordings being inducted this year. Harris will be joined by producer Daniel Lanois and jazz drummer Brian Blade for a performance of a song from her 1995 album Wrecking Ball, which Lanois produced. Floyd is being honored for his 1966 classic “Knock on Wood”; Big Star for its 1972 album #1 Record.
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Percussionist Cindy Blackman, who is married to Carlos Santana, is also set to perform. The band Santana’s 1999 album Supernatural is being honored.
Also on the bill: R&B powerhouse Ledisi; actor and singer Leslie Odom Jr.; and guitar virtuoso Orianthi; as well as previously announced performer, composer and bandleader Jon Batiste. Each performance will celebrate one of this year’s Grammy Hall of Fame inductees. More performers will be announced soon.
The event will additionally honor this year’s label honoree, Republic Records. Atlantic Records was the initial label honoree at last year’s gala, which marked the first time there was a stand-alone event to honor the inducted recordings. Last year’s gala was held at the Novo Theatre at L.A. Live.
As previously announced, the event will also include the presentation of the inaugural Ray Charles Architect of Sound Award, created in partnership with The Ray Charles Foundation. This new annual honor recognizes an artist whose creative legacy reflects the visionary innovation of Ray Charles. The first recipient is seven-time Grammy Award winner Batiste, who will also perform during the gala.
Returning as host is CBS News journalist Anthony Mason. The show will again be produced by Ken Ehrlich, alongside Ron Basile, Lindsay Saunders Carl and Lynne Sheridan. Ehrlich produced or executive produced the annual Grammy Awards telecast for 40 years. Cheche Alara, a Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning composer, producer and conductor, will serve as musical director for the event.
The gala will celebrate the 2025 Grammy Hall of Fame inducted recordings. In addition to the four already named, they are: J.D. Crowe & The New South’s J.D. Crowe & The New South; Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt; Fela Kuti & Afrika 70’s Zombie; Linda Martell’s “Color Him Father”; Miami Sound Machine’s “Conga”; Cat Stevens’s Tea for the Tillerman; Luther Vandross’s Never Too Much; Clara Ward’s “How I Got Over”; and Geeshie Wiley’s “Last Kind Words Blues.”
This year’s additions to the Grammy Hall of Fame meet the main requirements – they exhibit “qualitative or historical significance” and are at least 25 years old. Eligible artist(s), producer(s), engineer(s), and mixer(s) of these 13 recordings will receive a certificate from the Recording Academy.
The Grammy Hall of Fame was established by the Recording Academy’s national trustees in 1973. Inducted recordings are selected annually by a member committee drawn from all branches of the recording arts with final ratification by the academy’s national board of trustees. Counting these 13 new titles, the Grammy Hall of Fame totals 1,165 inducted recordings. The full list of past inducted recordings can be found here.
The Grammy Hall of Fame Gala serves as a fundraiser to support the Grammy Museum’s national education programs. It includes a cocktail reception, dinner, and concert program. Tickets are on sale now. Individual tickets are $1,250. For more information, visit this site.
Prince Royce collects his 36th top 10 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart with the bilingual bachata, “How Deep Is Your Love,” as the song debuts at No. 6 on the chart dated April 26. It also opens in the top 10 on the new Hot Tropical Songs chart. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
Nicole George-Middleton has been promoted to executive vice president and head of creative membership at ASCAP, the organization announced Wednesday (April 23). In her elevated role, George-Middleton will oversee songwriter, lyricist, and composer relations, reporting directly to ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews and joining the organization’s senior leadership team. She will also continue to serve as […]