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A brief argument between Killer Mike and Grammy Awards security personnel over access credentials led to the Atlanta rapper’s arrest Sunday night, a source close to the situation tells Billboard. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The incident took place outside the Peacock Theater where many of […]
For Black History Month, Billboard is celebrating by highlighting some of the greatest Black executives in music. Today, we’re celebrating Sylvia Rhone.
Sylvia Rhone:I’m very proud to run a label where our senior leadership is 53.6% women and 57.1% people of color.
Tetris Kelly:For Black History Month, Billboard is celebrating by highlighting some of the greatest Black executives in music. Today, we’re celebrating Sylvia Rhone.
Sylvia Rhone:Forty years is a long time in any business. Warner Music Group for 28 years, Universal Motown for seven years, and now Sony Music Group for 10-plus years.
Tetris Kelly:Sylvia Rhone became the first Black executive and woman to hold the dual title of CEO and Chairman, when she was appointed at Epic Records in 2019. Prior to that, she held senior roles at all three major record companies. In 1990, Sylvia was the first Black woman to head a major record label when she became CEO/President of Atlantic’s East West Records US Division. Always a champion for women, she helped artists like En Vogue, MC Lite, Missy Elliott and Nicki Minaj reach stardom. She was an integral part in the success of all of Young Money.
Sylvia Rhone:I’m certainly really proud of the artists that I work with and the biggest thrill is to see them be successful.
Tetris Kelly:Currently at Epic Records, she’s been a key part of the success of Camila Cabello, DJ Khaled, Travis Scott and 21 Savage. Last year, when she took home Executive of the Year at Billboard’s Women in Music, she told us, “I am focused on creating power by creating a culture where the creativity of artists on our roster can flourish and there is an exchange of ideas, culture and information from a diverse group of creatives and executives.”
Sylvia Rhone:I’m still as excited about the business today as I was over 40 years ago, because it’s simply simply my passion.
Tetris Kelly:Today we honor an epic woman in the music industry, Sylvia Rhone.Watch the full video above!
The 2024 Grammy Awards held on Sunday night (Feb. 4) boasted a wealth of history-making moments: female artists took home trophies in each of the Big Four categories for the third time in just five years; Taylor Swift became the first artist to win album of the year four times; Miley Cyrus won her first-ever Grammy for best pop solo performance with “Flowers.”
But one such historic moment went quietly overlooked on Sunday night — three of the winners in the Big Four categories were queer women. Cyrus’s record of the year win with “Flowers,” Billie Eilish’s song of the year win for “What Was I Made For?” and Victoria Monét’s best new artist win mark the first time in recent memory that three different LGBTQ artists took home trophies in the evening’s main categories.
“It’s huge,” says Anthony Allen Ramos, vice president of communications and talent at LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD. “Seeing LGBTQ women dominate three of the biggest categories is something to be really excited about and proud of, especially today.”
Wins for queer artists weren’t relegated to the evening’s big categories, either — LGBTQ artists earned wins across a multitude of genres. Boygenius, the supergroup made up of queer superstars Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, took home three trophies for best rock performance, best rock song and best alternative music album; Bridgers, meanwhile, walked away as the most awarded artist of the night with her four wins. Monét nabbed a win for best R&B album with Jaguar II. Americana categories awarded trophies to LGBTQ stars like Allison Russell (best american roots performance for “Eve Was Black”), Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile (both in best Americana performance for “Dear Insecurity”).
Ramos points out that even in oft-undiscussed categories, LGBTQ artists saw huge wins. “We had Carla Patullo winning for best new age, ambient or chant album,” he tells Billboard. “It felt like we finally had wonderful representation in all genres, and I think that’s really important, because it’s not just about [queer artists] being in pop or dance. I never even thought about having LGBTQ inclusion in the best new age category!”
Representation for LGBTQ talent at the Grammys has steadily risen over the last few years, with the Recording Academy even debuting their new Academy Proud initiative this year to help “support and amplify LGBTQIA+ voices and drive queer representation at the Recording Academy and the music industry at-large.”
These major successes for queer folks at the 2024 Grammys come at a time of upheaval for the LGBTQ+ community at large — nearly 400 bills targeting the community have already been proposed this year in state legislatures around the United States, with more no doubt still to come. While LGBTQ+ artists earning record-high honors at an awards show might seem trivial in the face of direct attacks against queer and trans people around the world, the facts actually show otherwise.
According to data collected by The Trevor Project, 79% of LGBTQ+ youth reported that seeing musicians come out as members of the LGBTQ+ community made them feel better about their own identity. Meanwhile, 71% of respondents said that seeing straight, cisgender celebrities advocate for the LGBTQ+ community improved their own feelings on gender and sexuality.
Kevin Wong, the Trevor Project’s senior vice president of marketing, communications and content, tells Billboard in an emailed statement that representation at awards shows like the Grammys isn’t just about winning more trophies for queer-identifying artists — it’s about providing an example to kids in desperate need of hope in dark times.
“Seeing queer artists celebrated for their contributions to the music industry can make a positive impact on LGBTQ+ young people’s mental health,” he explains, adding that the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation makes that representation “especially meaningful for LGBTQ+ young people.”
Even in the realm of music, Ramos says that queer success only begets more queer success. “The more success and art that they put out into the universe, the more that will resonate and connect with other artists and [help them] feel empowered to be themselves and to tell their authentic stories,” he says. “I was speaking with TJ Osborne, and he said it’s incredible how many times people have come up to him and said, ‘I am part of the community, I never felt like I could be a fan of country music, but you are changing that.’”
While Ramos points to a continued lack of representation for transgender and non-binary artists at the annual ceremony as an “area for improvement,” he makes it clear that the road ahead for LGBTQ+ artists only gets brighter. “This is a moment for everyone to realize that accepting yourself affects the art that you put out in the best way.”
Here are some controversial moments from the 2024 Grammy Awards. Tetris Kelly:While the Grammys is a night of celebrating music, it doesn’t go off without its fair share of controversy. Presenter:The Grammy goes to Killer Mike. Tetris Kelly:Killer Mike’s Grammy day was one for the books. He took home three trophies at the Grammy Premiere […]
Madonna justifies her Queen of Pop status once again, as “Popular,” her collaboration with the Weeknd and Playboi Carti, creates an impressive piece of U.K. chart history.
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“Popular” (via Interscope/Republic Records/XO) rises 14-10, a new high on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, published Friday, Feb. 2, for Madonna’s 64th top 10 single, extending her lead as the female artist with the most top 10s in Official Chart history.
Only the late Elvis Presley (with 76) and legendary English singer Cliff Richard (with 68) have more.
Fifteen years have passed since Madonna’s last cracked the top tier on the U.K. chart. The last time was with “Celebration” in 2009, which peaked at No. 3.
“Popular” is the Weeknd’s 16th U.K. top 10 single, and Playboi Carti’s first.
Madonna sets chart records for fun. According to the Official Charts Company, the U.S. pop superstar has racked-up 12 U.K. No. 1 albums — a record for a female solo artist. Taylor Swift is close behind with 10, a figure that will likely lift to 11 when she releases her next album The Tortured Poets Department, announced during the 2024 Grammys broadcast.
At the top of the latest U.K. tally, Noah Kahan sticks a fifth week at No. 1.
The Vermont singer and songwriter’s folky hit “Stick Season” (via Republic Records) reigns over the Official U.K. Singles Chart, and is the most-streamed song in the U.K. over the chart cycle with 8.8 million plays, the OCC reports. The leader at the midweek stage, “Stick Season” completes the longest consecutive run at No. 1 since Doja Cat’s “Paint The Town Red” also logged five weeks at the summit in 2023.
Meanwhile, U.S. singer-songwriter Teddy Swims nabs a new career peak with “Lose Control” (Atlantic), up 6-3.
The highest climber this week belongs to YG Marley, with his debut single “Praise Jah in the Moonlight,” (YG Marley Music) up 51-20. Marley is the son of Ms. Lauryn Hill (who is credited as co-writer of the song) and the grandson of the late reggae hero Bob Marley.
Also nabbing a first U.K. top 40 appearance is the Last Dinner Party, winner of the BRITs Rising Star award and BBC Sound of 2024 Poll. The quintet’s “Nothing Matters” (Island) flies 41-22 on the tally, for their first top 40 appearance. The Last Dinner Party made their American late night TV debut last month with a performance of “Nothing Matters” on The Late Show. “Nothing Matters” appears on the debut LP Prelude To Ecstasy, released last Friday.
The highest new entry on the latest list belongs to Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion with “Hiss” (Hot Girl Productions), new at No. 31, for her sixth top 40 hit. Close behind is British hip-hop artist Skepta, with “Gas Me Up (Diligent)” (Big Smoke/Epic), new at No. 32 for his 22nd U.K. top 40 single.
Finally, Justin Timberlake marks his return as a recording artist with his 27th top 40 appearance on the U.K. singles tally. Timberlake’s “Selfish” (RCA) bows at No. 37, and is the first track lifted from his sixth solo album, titled Everything I Thought It Was. EITIW is slated for release on March 15.
Just as the feared rainfall started in Los Angeles on Sunday (Feb. 4) — aka Grammys night — things inside the Crypto.com Arena were a bit sunnier as artists, composers, producers and more started to accept the first wins of the night.
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And throughout the action-packed night — during which Grammy winner Taylor Swift announced a new album while accepting her trophy, Miley Cyrus scored her first win (“Flowers” took home best pop solo performance) and more — Billboard was positioned on the red carpet, backstage and in the audience to report on all things behind the scenes.
Read on for everything you didn’t see on TV. (All times in PT.)
1:05: A soft yet communal gasp is heard backstage when Billie Eilish and Finneas accept their pre-show award for best song written for visual media with “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. Equally surprised was Eilish herself, saying: “This was shocking to me… I was expecting to turn right around and leave… I am in awe, I feel so grateful every second of my life to do everything that I do… Thank you to Greta [Gerwig] for making the most empowering movie and Margo for being so amazing. Making this song saved me a little bit.”
1:20: Lostboy (winner, best pop dance recording, “Padam Padam”) says the weirdest place he has heard Kylie Minogue’s hit song was at a funeral: “It’s quite dark… [It’s the kind of setting where if] you’re not laughing, you’re crying,” he says.
1:28: Brandon Davis and George Drakoulis from Barbie talk about the film’s success… “I don’t think you can [soak in the success],” says Drakoulis. “It’s become ubiquitous. I remember I was in New York a couple weeks after it opened and kids were going in their pink outfits… We haven’t had a monoculture in a long time so it’s been great to have everybody rally around something…We made a real effort to make sure the musical experience was as exciting or as heartfelt as the film.” When asked how the team scored the amazing collaborators on the album – including Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and Finneas, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice and more – Drakoulis has a simple answer: “Nobody said, ‘No.’” Davis added the early investment from artists who were seeing footage early and sitting with Greta, “It was that time spent investing and understanding the movie that really allowed people to write the perfect songs for the picture.”
1:58: Seven-time Grammy nominee Victoria Monét secures her first win of the night with best engineered album, non-classical for Jaguar II – and five of the six winners come backstage to celebrate. As for the sixth winner, Monét herself, her engineers assure the room they FaceTimed her a bit earlier: “She’s super excited… this is a great start to the day.”
2:27: Boygenius runs up to the stage – in matching off-white suits – to accept their first win of the night for best rock performance with “Not Strong Enough.” Member Lucy Dacus says, “We were all delusional enough as kids to think this might happen one day…” to which member Julien Baker adds: “This band is my family.” Minutes later, the trio (which also includes Phoebe Bridgers) returns to accept a second win for best rock song with the same track and soon after come back to accept alternative music album with The Record.
2:33: Jason Isbell enters the press room to celebrate his first two Grammys of the night (for best American roots song with “Cast Iron Skillet” and best Americana album with Weathervanes). When asked about his performance this weekend at the MusiCares concert honoring Bon Jovi – during which he covered “Wanted Dead Or Alive” alongside Bruce Springsteen” – Isbell called the song the ultimate Americana track from Bon Jovi’s discography. At the same time, on the pre-show, Paramore wins its first Grammy for best alternative music performance with “This Is Why.”
2:48: Theron Thomas, who earlier in the day took home the second-ever award for songwriter of the year (a category that was introduced at the 2023 ceremony), speaks about the category’s continued historic streak, saying: “I’m the first Black person to win…I just made history and it was very important. My dad told me when I was 9 I was going to do this – they had to create an award for somebody as special as myself.”
3:02: Killer Mike comes backstage holding his three Grammys – and has plenty to say. “It feels absolutely grand and I want to encourage people out there to chase their dream…If it feels like you’re slow, just keep running your race…The only limitation you have is your imagination. For 20 years I’ve been saying, ‘I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.’ And in [my] 20th year of hip-hop, here I am doing it…I remember being in the 4th grade, they said it wouldn’t last two years. I remember being in 8th grade and they said it wasn’t a real artform. I remember being in 12th grade and my homeroom teacher telling me it would never happen. And here we are. The only thing that limits you is you. At 20 years old I thought it was cool to be a drug dealer. At 40 years old I started to live with regrets. At 45 I started to rap about it, at 48 years old I stand here a man with empathy and sympathy for the things I’ve done…and I’m grateful to be holding these [awards] today.”
3:09: Laufey comes backstage after performing on – and winning an award – during the preshow. And while she’s thrilled about recent events, she’s most proud of what her music has inspired: “I grew up singing jazz standards and loving jazz music and I felt a little bit alone in it, but I noticed that no one really hated it either, so I made it a goal to create a community of an audience that likes this kind of music and I think that’s been the biggest gift in this process, finding like-minded people.” Of all of those people, she was asked who might be the most surprising person to have reached out so far, to which she was quick to reply: “Jack Harlow.”
3:13: Soon after winning the first award for best African music performance (for her hit “Water”), Tyla comes backstage to celebrate the historic moment. “Everything that’s been happening has shocked me, honestly,” she says. “I feel like God called me to do this, so that peace is in me, but the fact that this is happening…Grammy nomination, Billboard Hot 100, it just keeps piling on and I’m just excited.” She then teased that the best could be yet to come: “My debut album drops in March,” she says. “I’ve been working on it for over two years now. My album is an introduction of myself and my sound and there’s a lot of bangers on there, just like “Water,” and even better ones.”
3:39: Winning best album notes (for Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos) was a particularly proud moment for Deanie Parker. “I started working at Stax as a junior in high school,” she shares, “and I thought that I knew it all. But this project has been extremely revealing.”
3:53: Brandy Clark wins her long-awaited first Grammy for best Americana performance with “Dear Insecurity,” which features Brandi Carlile. But, as she shares backstage, Carlile wasn’t originally intended to be on the track: “When we were in the studio she was the one who suggested we turn it into a duet and I loved that idea, and she said, ‘I think we should get someone like Lucinda Williams to sing it with you, I’ll sing the [demo].’ Brandi started singing it and when we came in together on that chorus, it really felt like magic to me. So then I had the task of talking Brandi into it because she had been really adamant that she not be the feature, but she felt that same magic.”
4:05: Jack Antonoff wins producer of the year, non-classical, for the third year – and brings engineers Laura Sisk and Oli Jacobs onstage with him (along with a beige tote bag he clutches rather tightly). About 40 minutes later, he’s backstage – and affirming that winning in this category will never get old. “I’m more and more shocked. You know, it’s not like a huge decision because you make [something] and then people you work with say, ‘Do you want to throw this into the pool’ and you’re proud of it and you say yeah and then when you see your name come up…Anyone who tells you they’re used to it, I think [they’re] completely full of it. Laura, Oli, the Bleachers guys, the people who are in the studio every day…We’re so focused on the future. We’re so focused on what we’re doing. We don’t sit around and then talk about the past. You just don’t, because we’re mixing something to sound a certain way. We’re writing something. We’re touring, literally, like, moving forward. The bus doesn’t go in reverse often. And so in my life, there’s very little looking back. And so on days like today, I feel like I’m hit by a sentimental boulder.” Antonoff was also asked about his feelings about Universal Music Group removing its roster’s music from TikTok, to which he replied: “I’d like it to go back up… You’ve got a whole industry like, ‘You’ve got to do everything’ and then one day it’s like, ‘Poof.’ As an artist, you can’t get used to getting paid less, which they try to get you used to. But I think it’s ass backwards. Is that the one that’s going to make the news?”
5:51: Lil Durk speaks about representing Chicago with his first Grammy win, saying “I’m definitely shocked, but appreciate it every step of the way, too…It was a goal for me, so it means a lot. My biggest thing is to keep coming every year, hopefully.”
5:56: Karol G celebrates her first Grammy win as the sound from the live debut of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” bleeds into backstage. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life that I never thought were going to happen to me,” says Karol. “So my mind is still getting new ideas, new visions, it’s open to more, more, more. I just want to keep working super hard, and I’m going to have God surprise me…Many times before, I would watch all of this on the other side of the TV and I would ask myself how it could ever be possible for me to be there one day and for them to recognize my name and my music and sell tickets around the world. I found a way to do what I wanted to do. I feel very proud to be here, to recognize that the limits are only in our head, to represent my Latin community all over the world, women and my country Colombia, it’s the most important thing for me, for them to feel proud of me.” Karol G also shared this piece of advice for anyone else hoping to cut through: “Social media teaches you all the time to be similar to everybody: how you have to look, how you have to speak, what you have to wear, what you have to do. Just believe in yourself. Everybody has their own gift. So represent yours, embrace it and go out and be yourself. You’re going to have more attention if you’re different than if you are the same as the rest of the people.”
6:35: After winning her first Grammy, Lainey Wilson shares that she FaceTimed her entire family backstage. “I’m on Cloud 9,” she says. “And even though I’ve been at this a long time, I’ve been in Nashville for 13 years, for some crazy reason, it still feels like tonight is the beginning. ”As a little girl, you sit in front of the TV And you watch the Grammys and you think about being a part of something like this. And you think about, ‘Man, how cool would it be to be friends with the people in the crowd and to have some mentors in the crowd of people that you can go to. Because this business is crazy. And I did look around tonight, and I found a lot of people, not just in country music, who I can go to and I can ask questions. Tonight I feel the love. I feel the support from everybody. And like I’ve said before, I don’t know if every artist gets to feel this genuine support, but I feel it to my core.”
7:31: Ludwig Goransson, who was competing against himself in the category of best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television) for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Oppenheimer ended up winning for the latter. “At this Grammy Awards being nominated with Christopher Nolan and also Ryan Coogler for Black Panther and “Lift me Up,” it’s just such an incredible time for me because I love writing music with film, and I love writing music with artists. And it’s such a great feeling to be able to celebrate both of those worlds that I’m working in at the same event…Music has always been a place where you can create your own world or go to different worlds or dream away from where you are at the moment, and that’s very close to cinema…And what I love is to combine both of those art forms…that’s that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. That’s why I’m here.”
7:57: As the bass from Burna Boy’s historic Grammys performance vibrates throughout backstage, songwriter Khris Riddick-Tynes was celebrating his win for best R&B song with SZA’s “Snooze.” He calls SZA “an amazing truth teller. She has the ability to tell the truth in a way that just hits everybody’s heart and, you know, she’s the juice and we’re just there to support that.”
8:04 :Backstage erupts in applause as Victoria Monet wins best new artist.
8:31: Slow claps can be heard backstage as Trevor Noah announces that Taylor Swift – having just won album of the year for Midnights – becomes the first artist to ever win the category four times.
8:36: After the ceremony wraps, Coco Jones is the first artist to come backstage to celebrate her win for best R&B performance with “ICU,” saying this win is right on time. “All of the uncertainty can be answered by God’s timing for you,” she says. “I’ve been pursuing this since I was 9 and to reap the benefits at this time makes way more sense than I could have ever imagined…I’m very transparent about my journey… I have to be the inspiration for the next young Black girl because that’s what I was looking for…I’ll do my best to open more doors for women like me.”
8:54: Billie Eilish and Finneas took home song of the year for the second time, with their Barbie hit “What Was I Made For?” The superstar siblings have started to tease a new album, and backstage reveal that this song in particular is what helped to get them back on track: “We had really been writing absolutely nothing before we had that opportunity to write for Barbie,” says Eilish. “We had been working three days a week and not coming up with stuff. And even if we were coming up with stuff, it just didn’t feel right. Didn’t feel good. Didn’t feel real. And I got really worried. I got nervous. I felt like it was gonna be over, a little bit. I was in a really dark place and it’s kind of hard to think back to it, but Greta came to us and she offered us this life changing thing that we didn’t really realize was gonna be life changing like that. And we wrote that song 24 hours after we saw the movie, and we wrote it in under two hours, if not one hour. And honestly, from then on, we were just creative again. It woke us up and got us back on our thing.”
9:07: After winning three Grammys tonight, boygenius spoke on the recently-announced hiatus while backstage, saying this feels like a fitting end point. “I guess we just didn’t tell anybody, but we told each other at the beginning of this project that it would have a finite date, like a finite amount of time devoted to it. And we completed that time, and now we walk into the sunset,” says member Phoebe Bridgers. Julien Baker adds, “It feels nice to have a cap on what we’ve done.”
9:44: Victoria Monet closes out the evening, coming backstage to celebrate her best new artist win. She reflected on what she said in her acceptance speech, about this win being a “15-year pursuit,” adding backstage: “ I think the only thing that you can hold on to when pursuing something for this long is the fact that you actually really love to do it,” she says. “I genuinely love making music and doing it with the people that I do it with. So that’s been my determining factor on whether I should stop or keep going and because of the people around me and the camaraderie within us and the creativity we feel together, I feel so honored to be on this journey with everyone who is a part of my music so I have so many thank yous to give out. I don’t know what the heck I said during my speech, but I have so many more thank yous to give.”
James Arthur completes a come-from-behind victory in the U.K. chart race, as Bitter Sweet Love (via Columbia) bows at No. 1, his second leader.
The British singer and songwriter’s fifth studio album was languishing in third place during the first half of the chart week, before Bitter Sweet Love grew wings and edged into the lead.
According to the Official Charts Company, Arthur’s LP pulled ahead in the “final hours” of the cycle, consigning The Reytons’ Ballad of a Bystander to a No. 2 debut.
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Bitter Sweet Love leads the nation in downloads, and physical copies account for 74% of its total, the OCC reports.
A former X Factor U.K. champion, Arthur boasts five top 3 albums in the U.K., including his 2013 self-titled debut (No. 2), 2016’s Back from the Edge (No. 1), 2019’s Release You (No. 2) and 2021’s It’ll All Make Sense in the End (No. 3).
The Reytons, meanwhile, narrowly miss out on a second consecutive No. 1, with Ballad of a Bystander finishing the chart week as runner-up. It’s the followup to the indie rockers’ 2023 chart leader What’s Rock and Roll? (The Reytons).
Completing an all-new top three is the Smile‘s Wall of Eyes (XL Recordings). That’s a career best for the Radiohead side-project, eclipsing the No. 5 peak for their 2023 debut A Light for Attracting Attention. The indie trio, featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, had briefly led the chart race.
Wall of Eyes was the week’s best seller on vinyl, the OCC reports.
Also new to the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Friday, Jan. 2, is Tom Odell’s Black Friday (Urok), new at No. 5. That’s the English artist’s sixth U.K. top 10 album, a list that includes a No. 1 with 2013’s Long Way Down.
Further down the tally, U.S. synth-pop act Future Islands land their first U.K. top 10 with People Who Aren’t There Anymore (4AD). It’s new at No. 7, for their fourth U.K. top 40 appearance. Also, British punk rock outfit Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes bite down on a fourth top 10 album with Dark Rainbow (International Death Cult), new at No. 10,
Finally, Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys grabs a fourth top 40 title with Sadness Sets Me Free (Rough Trade), new at No. 22, and northern England rockers New Model Army snag an eighth top U.K. 40 with Unbroken (Ear Music), new at No. 31.
It’s Friday, February 2nd, and there’s a ton of new music out. Usher teamed up with Pheelz for their new track “Ruin,” TWICE dropped a new song titled “I GOT YOU,” G(I)-DLE’s new album ‘2’ is here, Kate Hudson released her first single & more. Spotify hosted its annual Spotify Best New Artist Party last […]
Few people had a bigger 2023 than Coco Jones — and she could very well turn 2024 into an even bigger year following Sunday night’s 2024 Grammys, where she’s nominated for a whopping five Golden Gramophones.
Ahead of Music‘s Biggest Night, Billboard staff writer Kyle Denis sat down with Jones to break down her whirlwind year and her feelings going into her first Grammy Awards as a nominee. At Sunday night’s telecast, Jones is nominated for best new artist, best R&B song (“ICU”), best R&B performance (“ICU”), best traditional R&B performance (“Simple,” with Babyface) and best R&B album (What I Didn’t Tell You – Deluxe).
“The Grammys are just a very respected group of people who earned their voice and their credits and credentials,” she says. “To me, I respect everyone who is nominated and decides because I just feel like the Grammys also help up-and-coming [artists and creatives]. For them to recognize the work that I’m doing, it just feels very affirming.”
The “Caliber” singer continues, “When I first learned I was nominated, I was on the plane. I definitely was asleep. My phone was vibrating so much, I was like, ‘This turbulence is crazy!’ But what I realized was, everyone was texting me congratulations.”
Last year, Jones earned her first Billboard Hot 100 entry with “ICU” (No. 62), which earned a remix featuring Justin Timberlake and also reached the top of Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and R&B Digital Song Sales. The success of “ICU” also gave way to a deluxe version of 2022 EP, What I Didn’t Tell You, which climbed to No. 6 on Heatseekers Albums — her first appearance on the chart in exactly a decade. In addition to her own music, Jones has lent her talents to collaborations with the likes of Brent Faiyaz (“Moment of Your Life”), Lil Tjay (“Grateful”), Adekunle Gold (“Make It Easy”) and Mean Girls movie musical star Reneé Rapp (“Tummy Hurts”).
“I have to say I really loved [working with] Reneé Rapp,” Jones gushes. “I think that was just so cool because it was mixing pop and R&B, and that’s something I want to do moving forward, so I like that. To me, it was kind of like foreshadowing.”
Like Rapp, Jones is also an acclaimed multi-hyphenate. She’s currently gearing up to film the forthcoming new season of Peacock’s Bel-Air, in which she portrays the ever-fashionable Hilary Banks. “I’m excited! A lot is still up in the air, we just ended the strike and I know everybody is getting back to work,” she says. “I’m not sure what’s in store for Hilary, I definitely want it to be surprising though, I’m like ‘Let’s up the stakes!’”
After spending 2023 on a major headlining tour, racking up R&B smashes and promoting season two of Bel-Air, Jones is ready to conquer the new year with the lessons she’s learned from those experiences. “Everything’s in seasons,” she muses. “Sometimes, people come into your life for a season, sometimes you have seasons where you don’t understand what’s going on, but seasons are the weather so they must change and they must evolve and they must go to something different. Don’t try to hold on to whatever has outlasted its season.”
As more and more artists from the pop world add writing a Broadway musical to their career-goal lists, Sara Bareilles stands out as one of the brightest success stories from that group.
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Waitress — the musical adaptation of Adrienne Shelly’s beloved independent film, featuring music and lyrics by Bareilles — was an unequivocal Broadway hit, running for nearly four years after an opening in April 2016.
That year, Bareilles’ score earned her two Tony nominations (out of a total four for the show), and she went on to perform the lead role of Jenna for three different stints. The production played London’s West End as well as internationally, garnered a Grammy nomination for its original Broadway cast recording, and yielded both a standalone Bareilles album (What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress, released on Epic Records between the show’s off-Broadway and Broadway runs) and a film of the stage show (which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023).
Sara Bareilles performs during the curtain call for Broadway’s “Waitress” at The Brooks Atkinson Theatre on March 31, 2017 in New York City.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Now, Bareilles — who’s been warmly embraced by the wider theater community, and racked up another Tony nomination last year for her portrayal of The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods — is making her return to Broadway.
She’s writing the music and lyrics for The Interestings, an adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel by Meg Wolitzer with a book by Pulitzer- and Tony-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl.
The plot of Wolitzer’s novel revolves around character Jules Jacobson and her friends from an exclusive childhood arts camp (the titular Interestings, as they call themselves) who grow up to find varying degrees of success and satisfaction or disillusionment with where a creative life has led them.
When it came out in 2013, the Times called it “warm, all-American, and acutely perceptive about the motivations of its characters,” likening it to modern Great American Novels and praising Wolitzer’s “inclusive vision and generous sweep.” With its complex, layered female protagonist and diverse cast of characters, as well as the knotty themes it explores — ranging from what qualifies as success to whether being extraordinary is the only path to it — the book seems rich material for musical adaptation, and it’s easy to see why it appealed to Bareilles, whose Waitress balanced the buoyant with the bittersweet.
The Interestings is being produced by Matt Ross, and is currently in development; additional creative team and production details will be announced in the coming months.