Grammys
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Jon Platt, Sony Music Publishing chairman/CEO, is the 2024 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honoree. The award will be presented at the pre-Grammy Gala, co-hosted by the Recording Academy and Clive Davis, on Saturday, Feb. 3, the night before the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
“One of the most influential figures in the industry, Jon has consistently set the bar for leadership in music,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “His ongoing commitment to equity, his dedication to quality, and his advocacy for artists across all crafts and genres have been an inspiration to music leaders everywhere. We look forward to an incredible evening dedicated to honoring his incredible impact.”
“Jon Platt is one of the music industry’s most illustrious leaders and I am thrilled that he will be this year’s Salute to Industry Icons honoree,” said Davis. “Jon’s longtime trailblazing commitment to supporting songwriters across the music spectrum as well as his staunch dedication to advocacy, diversity and equality in the music business are exemplary. Artists and the industry at large are fortunate to have his insight and passion at the helm.”
Davis originated the pre-Grammy Gala in 1976 when he was looking for a way to celebrate the success of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy,” Arista Records’ first big hit (and its first Grammy record of the year nominee).
Since Platt’s appointment as Sony Music Publishing’s chairman/CEO in 2019, he has worked to revitalize the company’s “Songwriters First” mission for the 21st century. During Platt’s tenure, the company has strengthened both its legacy and its future, creating partnerships with songwriting legends like Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon; working with established hitmakers like Ashley Gorley; signing the next generation of stars including Olivia Rodrigo, Jack Harlow, Latto, Anitta, Central Cee, Kane Brown and the Kid LAROI; and delivering opportunities for DIY creators through a deal with BeatStars.
Platt has been a strong advocate in the fight for fair compensation for songwriters. Sony Music Publishing (SMP) has worked to ensure that songwriters are paid quickly as their hits move around the world, eliminating long delays in the delivery of foreign royalties. The company has also expanded its presence internationally into India, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Reflecting Platt’s commitment to artist development, SMP has built out its services for songwriters and composers at every stage of their careers. Songwriters Forward — a global initiative — has seen SMP provide mental health and wellness support to its roster through the Songwriter Assistance Program. SMP’s Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program has offered new financial opportunities to legacy songwriters. SMP has also provided over $1 million in grants to working songwriters in collaboration with organizations such as the 100 Percenters, Songwriters of North America (SONA) and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI).
Platt believes in building a music business that is as diverse as the music it represents. He has increased diversity across senior leadership teams throughout his career and supported SMP’s global Women’s Leadership Program. This commitment extends to empowering the next generation of songwriters and composers with initiatives like SMP’s Screen Scoring Diversity Scholarship at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
In 2005, Platt launched The Big Jon Platt Scholarship Program for college-bound students based in Montbello, Colo., the Denver neighborhood where he was raised.
Platt previously served as chairman/CEO of Warner Chappell and led the company’s turnaround. He also spent 17 years at EMI Music Publishing, where he sealed his reputation for recognizing future icons by signing Jay-Z on the release of his 1996 debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt.
Platt’s career in the music business began in the mid-’80s, when, as a DJ in his hometown of Denver, he was credited with breaking records by Public Enemy and Arrested Development in the Midwest. He brought the same passion for spotting hits to his career in music publishing, signing and collaborating with prominent songwriters including Beyoncé, Drake, Rihanna, Pharrell Williams and Usher. Platt is widely credited for elevating how hip-hop and R&B artists are respected and compensated as songwriters.
Platt sits on the boards of Berklee College of Music, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Motown Museum, Living Legends Foundation and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).
Platt ranked No. 8 on The Billboard 2023 Power 100 List. His numerous awards include City of Hope’s prestigious Spirit of Life Award, SONA’s Warrior Award, NSAI’s President’s Keystone Award, SESAC’s Visionary Award, Variety’s Variety500 and Morehouse College’s Candle Award.
Previous pre-Grammy Gala honorees include Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss, Clarence Avant, Irving Azoff, Martin Bandier, Sir Richard Branson, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, Berry Gordy, Lucian Grainge, Julie Greenwald & Craig Kallman, Debra L. Lee, Doug Morris, Mo Ostin, Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Rob Stringer.
Tyla, the 21-year old South African singer/songwriter, has exquisite timing.
She has broken big just as the Recording Academy added a new category this year, best African music performance. Her global hit “Water” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart on Oct. 21, one day after first-round voting for the 66th Grammy Awards ended. On Nov. 10, “Water” was announced as one of the nominees in that category. This week, just two weeks before final-round voting begins, that hit breaks into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. (Final-round voting extends from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, 2024.)
Tyla couldn’t have timed her breakthrough, and her song’s emergence as a top 10 hit, better if she had done it all specifically with Grammy deadlines in mind.
Does having a hit right as Grammy voters are making their final selections make a difference? Let’s just say it never hurt.
And Tyla isn’t alone. Here are other songs in this week’s top 40 on the Hot 100 that are nominated for Grammys this year (or are from albums that are Grammy-nominated). We also included two artists with hits in the current top 40 who are nominated for best new artist (Jelly Roll and Noah Kahan).
The numbers shown are the song’s ranking on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 2.
3. Doja Cat, “Paint the Town Red.” Best pop solo performance
5. SZA, “Snooze.” Best R&B song, album of the year and best progressive R&B album (SOS).
6. Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything.” Best country duo/group performance, best country song, best country album (Zach Bryan)
10. Tyla, “Water.” Best African music performance
14. Morgan Wallen, “Last Night.” Best country song (Note: Wallen isn’t nominated because he didn’t co-write the song.)
18. Luke Combs, “Fast Car.” Best country solo performance
21. Jelly Roll, “Need a Favor.” Best new artist
22. Jelly Roll with Lainey Wilson, “Save Me.” Best new artist, best country duo/group performance
23. Olivia Rodrigo, “Vampire.” Record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance, album of the year and best pop vocal album (Guts)
27. Chris Stapleton, “White Horse.” Best country solo performance, best country song
30. Miley Cyrus, “Used to Be Young.” Album of the year and best pop vocal album (Endless Summer Vacation)
31. Dua Lipa, “Dance the Night.” Song of the year, best song written for visual media, best score soundtrack for visual media (Barbie: The Album)
36. Billie Eilish, “What Was I Made For.” Record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance, best music video, best song written for visual media, best score soundtrack for visual media (Barbie: The Album)
37. Noah Kahan, “Stick Season.” Best new artist
Last week, the Recording Academy added Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as arrangers of the classical-shaded treatment of The Rolling Stones’ rock classic “Paint It Black,” which was recorded for a memorable cello scene in the first episode of Netflix’s Wednesday. Jagger and Richards are now listed alongside Esin Aydingoz, Chris Bacon and Alana Da Fonseca, who had been listed as the arrangers of the track when the nominations for best arrangement, instrumental or a cappella were announced on Nov. 10.
Wednesday, which debuted on Netflix in November 2022, has also aired cello renditions of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Dua Lipa’s “Physical.”
This is the first Grammy nomination as arrangers for Jagger and Richards. The rock legends have shared 15 nods over the years; Jagger has achieved two more on his own. Jagger and Richards are also nominated this year for best rock song for co-writing “Angry,” which was the lead single from Hackney Diamonds, the band’s first studio album of new material in 18 years.
The Stones’ original version of “Paint It Black” was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1966. (The title was originally shown as “Paint It, Black,” apparently due to a typo.)
This is the second time Jagger and Richards have been nominated for a Grammy on account of a new recording that borrowed from a Stones classic. At the 41st Grammy Awards in February 1999, they were nominated for best rock song for The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” which was based on a sample from a version of The Stones’ “The Last Time” by The Andrew Oldham Orchestra. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” reached No. 12 on the Hot 100 in April 1998.
The Verve had obtained rights to use the sample of “The Last Time” from the copyright holder, Decca Records, but were denied permission from The Stones’ former manager, Allen Klein. Following a lawsuit, The Verve relinquished all royalties, and Jagger and Richards were added to the songwriting credits, alongside The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft. In 2019, a decade after Klein’s death in 2009, Jagger, Richards and Klein’s son ceded the rights to Ashcroft. The Grammy nods for Jagger and Richards (alongside Ashcroft) remain, however.
The Stones’ original versions of “The Last Time” and “Paint It Black” weren’t nominated for Grammys. In fact, The Stones weren’t nominated for a Grammy in any category until 1978, when their Billboard 200-topping album Some Girls was nominated for album of the year. How to explain the Grammys snubbing such all-time classics as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Honky Tonk Women” and “Brown Sugar”? The Grammys were resistant to rock in the 1960s, and didn’t have genre categories exclusively dedicated to rock until 1979. The Academy attempted to make amends with the band in 1986 when it presented them with a lifetime achievement award.
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A record-breaking 2,400 people have joined the Recording Academy as part of the organization’s 2023 new member class. Fully half of the new class is composed of people of color, while 46% are under the age of 40 and 37% are women. The Academy calls these statistics “a demonstration of the Academy’s commitment to remaking its overall membership.”
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The Academy further said that the 2,400 new members includes 1,700 new voting members and 700 new professional members (people who work in the industry but aren’t involved in the creation of recordings). This brings the total current membership to about 14,000 – 11,000 voting members and nearly 3,000 professional members.
The Recording Academy’s membership model is community-driven and peer-reviewed to create a more diverse and engaged membership base. Since implementing this new membership model in 2019, people of color have gone from comprising 24% of the Academy’s total membership to 38%. The percentage of Academy members who are women has also increased in that time frame, albeit at a more modest rate, from 26% to 30%.
“I’m proud as our organization continues to evolve and build a membership body that reflects the diverse talents and backgrounds that make up our music community,” Harvey Mason, jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Our commitment to diversity and inclusivity, however, is an ongoing effort. While we celebrate our progress, we also acknowledge that there’s still more work that must be done. Our members play a crucial role in everything we do, so representation is integral to our mission of supporting and uplifting music makers.”
The Recording Academy reports that the new member class is 50% people of color, 37% white or Caucasian and 13% unknown. The 50% people of color statistic breaks down like this: Black or African American, 28%; Hispanic or Latin, 10%; Asian or Pacific Islander, 5%; South Asian, 2%; Middle Eastern or North African, 1%; and Indigenous or Alaskan native, less than 1%. Four percent replied that they prefer to self-describe.
In terms of gender, 54% of the new member class is male, 37% is female, 8% is unknown and 1% is non-binary. Less than 1% replied that they prefer to self-describe.
In terms of age, 46% of the new class is under 40, 40% is over 40 and 14% is unknown.
All of these numbers refer to total members — which encompasses both voting members and professional members.
The Recording Academy also specifically asked voting members in the new member class to indicate which genres they are most aligned with. (They could choose more than one genre, so the totals exceed 100%.) Pop leads, as expected, with 41%, followed by R&B (29%), rock (23%), rap (22%), jazz (21%), alternative (21%), global music (17%), classical (15%), dance/electronic (15%), contemporary instrumental (13%), American roots music (12%), gospel/Christian (12%), Latin (12%), country (11%), visual media (10%) and seven other genres that each had less than 10%.
Jazz and classical rank higher than their market share would indicate. Latin and country, two of the hottest genres of recent years, rank lower than their market share would indicate; notably, the Grammy nominations that were announced on Nov. 10 were light on Latin and country representation in the Big Four categories. Latin was shut out completely in those marquee categories, while country was represented by just a pair of best new artist nominees: Jelly Roll and The War & Treaty (and that husband-and-wife duo is primarily associated with Americana). This brought criticism from people in the Latin and country fields.
Full statistics surrounding the demographics of the new class can be found here.
The Recording Academy reports that it’s 98% of the way toward its goal of adding 2,500 women voting members by 2025. It expects to achieve this milestone next year, a year ahead of schedule.
The final round of voting for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards extends from Dec. 14 until Jan. 4, 2024. All voting members, including those welcomed in the 2023 new class, are eligible to vote.
In addition to voting in the Grammy Awards process, members can submit product for Grammy consideration, propose amendments to Grammy rules, run for a Recording Academy board position or committee, vote in chapter elections and more.
For more information on the Recording Academy’s membership process and requirements, visit here.
When the Recording Academy announced the 2024 Grammy nominations on Nov. 10, in the category of best compilation soundtrack for visual media, they showed only the artists who were nominated. They needed more time to determine who were the rightful nominees as compilation producers and music supervisors.
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The Academy announced those additional nominees on Tuesday (Nov. 28), adding to already impressive 2024 nominations totals for both Ludwig Göransson and Mark Ronson. Göransson, nominated as a compilation producer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By, now has six nods for the year. Ronson, nominated as a compilation producer for Barbie, now has five (all for his work on that blockbuster film).
The directors of two of the associated films were nominated as compilation producers of the soundtracks to their films. Ryan Coogler is a nominee for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. James Gunn is a nominee for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3: Awesome Mix, Vol. 3.
Coogler has a second nomination this year, as a co-writer of the Rihanna smash “Lift Me Up” from that film. It’s nominated for best song written for visual media.
All three editions of Guardians of the Galaxy have been nominated for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, with Gunn among the nominees every time.
Brandon Davis and Dave Jordan each have dueling nominations in this category. Davis is nominated as a compilation producer of both Aurora and Barbie: The Album. Jordan is nominated as the music supervisor of both Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. Jordan is also nominated as a compilation producer on the latter project, though he would receive just one Grammy if it were to win.
In similar fashion, Weird Al Yankovic, who was already nominated as the artist on Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, is also nominated as one of the compilation producers. (He, too, would receive just one award if that film were to win.)
Two of the nominated soundtracks are from TV shows. The 10-episode Aurora aired on Amazon Prime Video in March. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story aired on The Roku Channel in November 2022. If either wins, it would be the second soundtrack to a TV show to win in this category (which was first awarded in 2000). The first was Boardwalk Empire Volume 1: Music from the HBO Original Series, which won in 2012.
Here are the nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media with detailed credits:
Aurora (Daisy Jones & The Six)
Brandon Davis, Pete Ganbarg, Joseph Khoury & Blake Mills, compilation producers; Frankie Pine, music supervisor
Barbie: The Album (Various Artists)
Brandon Davis, Mark Ronson & Kevin Weaver, compilation producers; George Drakoulias, music supervisor
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From and Inspired By (Various Artists)
Ryan Coogler, Archie Davis & Ludwig Göransson, compilation producers; Dave Jordan, music supervisor
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix, Vol. 3 (Various Artists)
Kevin Feige, James Gunn & Dave Jordan, compilation producers; Dave Jordan, music supervisor
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Weird Al Yankovic)
Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson & Al Yankovic, compilation producers; Suzanne Coffman, music supervisor
One of the most multifaceted — and busy — artists working today, Jon Batiste sometimes seems like a superhuman — a seemingly inexhaustible bundle of exuberance, creativity and energy. The New Orleans-bred, Juilliard-trained pianist, singer, songwriter and composer. With his band Stay Human, he spent seven years gaining a huge audience as bandleader on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert; he’s led “love riots” through the streets of New York, playing melodica literally among the city’s inhabitants; he’s won an Oscar and a Golden Globe as co-composer of the score for Pixar’s Soul; and he’s of course won Grammys, five last year alone, including album of the year for his We Are.
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But as the moving new documentary American Symphony shows, Batiste, like so many artists, has a complex private life that his public rarely glimpses. Capturing an especially high-and-low-filled year in Batiste’s life, it interweaves Batiste’s experience as he composes the ambitious titular orchestral work for a Carnegie Hall debut, with the harrowing journey he and his partner, the author-artist Suleika Jaouad, find themselves on when, after a decade in remission, her cancer returns — all shortly before his astounding 11 Grammy nominations arrive.
Directed by Academy Award-winning director Matthew Heineman — who followed Batiste and Jaouad for seven months, filming over 1,500 hours of footage — and coproduced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, American Symphony opens in select U.S. theaters today before arriving on Netflix Nov. 29 (the film features a poignant new song, “It Never Went Away,” which Batiste wrote with Grammy-winner Dan Wilson, out now on Verve Records/Interscope). On Feb. 4, he could potentially make another significant showing at the Grammys, where he has six nominations, before heading out on his Uneasy Tour: Purifying the Airwaves for the People Feb. 16, supporting his latest album World Music Radio.
In the days leading up to his film’s premiere, he spoke to Billboard about opening up his and Jaouad’s lives to Heineman’s cameras, the importance of artists’ mental health, and why at this point he has to “chuckle” at the Grammy chatter around him.
In the film, we see your composing process up close, and it looks much more collaborative than the usual symphony composer’s may be. Is that your typical process? I’m always composing, and it’s not so different actually with a large-form but also longform piece. It was more about thinking about the form, from point A, B, C, D all the way to Z before starting, and then composing into a form that could shift and change depending on what discoveries I made along the way. When I’m writing songs or instrumental music or just a tune, it can happen in the moment, it doesn’t have to happen before I start. [For a symphony] there’s a lot more pre-planning, and then figuring out symbolically with American Symphony how I wanted to use the music as an allegory for certain values, the philosophy that was underpinning it.
If you think about the term classical music — which I love and has probably the biggest influence on my artistry, besides American music and jazz and New Orleans — every composer that comes from that tradition was drawing on the folk musics and traditions they grew up with, the country and time they lived in. The core quest with American Symphony was: if the symphony orchestra and symphonic compositions were to address America today, if they were invented today and I was the inventor, what would I be drawing from, what would I see in my culture and in the American landscape and the milieu I come from? That was really exciting.
Growing up in the generation where streaming music became the norm, electronic music and all the different technological advancements that we’ve come to now see as the norm — all these different approaches to collaboration and music in general that didn’t even exist back when Beethoven was making the seventh symphony or when Duke Ellington was around, but we can still use the lessons of those compositions. Duke, who’s one of my heroes, if he knew a certain musician in the orchestra had a specific approach to playing high notes, or playing ballads, or leading a section, he’d lean into that and compose toward that, and that’s something I always have a voice for. There’s so much you can speak to that many composers before me were speaking to, but I had a unique opportunity here to do a lot.
Creativity and creating art is clearly an important part of your relationship with Suleika, but at the premiere of American Symphony, it almost seems like a real surprise to her. When you’re at work on new music, do you play it for her?
She’ll hear pieces of things and I’ll play things for her typically in fragments, or in a state where the grandeur of what it will be isn’t obvious yet. As you saw in the film there’s a process of it coming to life that can only happen when I’m in the room with the other musicians. So it’s kind of hard to show that to Suleika in full before it happens, it just has to become what it is through a process of constant listening, refinement, composition. A piece like American Symphony is never meant to be completely finished, it’s meant to be a vehicle that evolves over many many years with different folks who can take ownership of all the themes of the piece, and the form and structure. Fifty years from now, if this is played in another part of the world by different musicians, it would be its own unique version.
Jon Batiste in “American Symphony.”
Courtesy of Netflix
We see a lot in the film how you have to constantly navigate between the public face you show the world and what you’re contending with privately, with Suleika’s illness. Especially when the public seems to expect you to be this joyful person at all times, that seems really challenging.
It’s really something that I’ve struggled with for awhile. And I value parts of it as well — the idea of being able to bring folks a sense of uplift-ment in dark times, as a performer, an entertainer, an artist is something I value. But in general it’s been a struggle to navigate the humanity of being all those things. A lot of times I think that’s the case, which is one of the reasons why such an invasive film like this, and the vulnerability required of our family to share what you see, is something we wanted to move forward with. Sometimes pulling the curtain back is an opportunity for us all to tap into our humanity and not only see me in a certain way and realize, “Wow, these are things we all go through.” We can all grow from seeing it and have a deepened respect for this person we admire.
Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste in “American Symphony.”
Courtesy of Netflix
You’re incredibly open in the film about therapy, and about the mental health aspect of being an artist on the level you are. What was behind your decision to be open about this?
I hope it’ll be a beacon for a lot of artists. I fear that when people are successful, especially in a public sense, it creates an illusion of ease. I don’t ever want to make anyone feel lesser, or any artist feel like because they’re struggling in this crazy business with their mental state and fortitude that they’re not just like everybody else. Especially folks who are successful, you never know what somebody has given up or decided to do to get to where they are. We’re all just human beings dealing with the same set of things. It’s better if we show it more, rather than hide it away in a curated social media presence.
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Your stunning performance of “Freedom” at the 2022 Grammys is in the film — contextualized with a very clear picture of what you and Suleika were going through at the time, which makes seeing its exuberance especially astounding. Watching it now, what do you see?
It’s tough to watch the film. I don’t have a good barometer because I’ve only seen it a handful of times over the course of the edits. I do have a sense of what the film is like, and living through those moments, the Grammys performance was very much a lot of catharsis, and also a lot of vindication. Just being present in the moment was a difficult thing for me to do given where Suleika was and how much I wanted to be there with her, but also knowing how much she wanted me to be in the moment I was in. So the performance was a great way of zeroing into the moment and, as it always is for me, just channeling and trying to lift the present to a place of transcendence to what we do on the stage. And that moment in particular was more like that than winning the awards we won — it was just a real manifestation of what I do, and what all those artists in there, what I imagine drives them: the performance, not the awards.
Jon Batiste accepts the album of the year award for “We Are” onstage during tat the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3rd, 2022 in Las Vegas.
Christopher Polk for Variety
We hear in voiceover some of the detractors who were rather loud in the wake of your big Grammy wins. How aware were you of that narrative in the moment, and how did you approach including it in the film, which I assume wasn’t easy?
I’m at a point, to be frank, that I don’t really care. These are things I’ve gotten used to in terms of creating music and doing things that are speaking to the culture, doing things that are counterculture, things that are perceived to be one way when they’re completely the opposite of that. I’ve been perceived to be an institutionalist, and to be not institutional enough. To be a person who is too sophisticated, and to be someone who is dumbing down what they do too much. To be a person who is a part of a fix in the system, someone who comes out of nowhere, and also as the industry darling or the vet or the favored one, who’s constantly had privileges. What that tells me overall, since I’ve been doing this from the age of 15 in New Orleans, is just that I have longevity and I have impact.
Even the fact of the symphony upon its performance at Carnegie Hall — which I unabashedly will say was a cultural moment, if not just for New York then for our country, for music — for there to be no critical review or discussion that was remotely intelligent discourse, with so many firsts [achieved with it that] I’ve lost count? I’m just so used to it. Twenty years in, you just kind of chuckle about it. Eventually, maybe, people will catch on, but I don’t really do it for that. Ultimately it’s just a matter of doing what I’m doing and doing what I love.
Next year could be a watershed moment for contemporary R&B at the Grammys, particularly in the General Field. With SZA leading all nominees at the 2024 Grammy Awards with nine nods and Victoria Monét (seven) and Coco Jones (five) right on her heels, a new class of R&B powerhouses is looking to make a major splash on Music’s Biggest Night.
At the top of 2023, Beyoncé became the most-awarded act in Grammy history thanks to her triumph in best dance/electronic album for her seismic Renaissance album. That same record — which won three additional Grammys and spawned a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits — reigned victorious at the Soul Train Awards, where it secured the “Cuff It” singer her fourth album of the year win at the ceremony.
The Soul Train Music Awards launched in 1987 with a star-studded ceremony co-hosted by Dionne Warwick and Luther Vandross. Intended to celebrate the best in R&B, soul, rap, jazz, and gospel music, the Soul Train Music Awards predate any Grammy categories honoring rap and R&B albums. The Recording Academy introduced best R&B album (along with such other “genre album” awards as best pop album, best rock album and best country album) in 1995, with best rap album arriving the following year.
So, just how often do the winners of the Soul Train Music Award for album of the year sync up with the Grammy winners for best R&B album, best progressive R&B album and best rap album? While Soul Train cannot always be used as a proper precursor there is certainly considerable overlap between the two shows.
Every Soul Train Music Awards ceremony since 1995 — barring 2020 — has found the show’s album of the year winner getting, at the very least, a nod in its respective genre category at the corresponding Grammy ceremony. There have been 15 instances in which the Soul Train album of the year winner won the Grammy for their respective genre category. But there’s a catch.
For the the ceremony’s first nine years (1987-1996), album of the year was split into male, female, and group, with additional categories for rap, jazz and gospel albums. From 1997 to 2003, the awards were consolidated into a single R&B/soul or rap album of the year category. In 2004, Soul Train experimented with dropping genre specifications, presenting an award simply titled “album of the year.” They returned to the male, female, group split from 2005 to 2007, ultimately settling on one album of the year category from 2009 onwards.
Here’s some more Soul Train Music Awards lore: the 2008 ceremony was canceled due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Luckily, the 2023 WGA strike ended in time for this year’s Soul Train Music Awards.
This year’s Soul Train album of the year nominees are SZA (SOS), Victoria Monét (Jaguar II), Coco Jones (What I Didn’t Tell You – Deluxe), Babyface (Girls Night Out – Extended), Burna Boy (I Told Them…), Ari Lennox (age/sex/location), Janelle Monáe (The Age of Pleasure) and Summer Walker (Clear 2: Soft Life – EP).
The 2023 Soul Train Music Awards will air on Sunday, Nov. 26, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and BET Her. SZA, Summer Walker and Usher lead all nominees with nine nods each.
Here’s a brief overview of which albums have triumphed at both the Soul Train Music Awards and the Grammys.
1995
You’ve probably heard that women swept the Big Four awards at the 2023 Latin Grammys for the first time in the show’s 24-year history. The show was held on Nov. 16 in Seville, Spain. Colombian singer Karol G won album of the year for Mañana Será Bonito, which made history as the first all-Spanish language album by a […]
This past week has been one of the big ones on the music calendar, with the Recording Academy announcing the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards, set to take place on Feb. 4. When they were unveiled, one of the year’s biggest honorees was Victoria Monet, whose album JAGUAR II was a critical smash when it debuted in September of this year. Monet, who started her career as an artist in a girl group before seeing success as a songwriter for Ariana Grande, Blackpink, Travis Scott and others, earned seven nominations, the second-most of any artist, including nods in the coveted best new artist and record of the year categories.
The nominations span a variety of areas: in addition to best new artist and record of the year for her song “On My Mama,” she earned nods for R&B album, R&B performance, R&B song, traditional R&B performance and engineered album, non-classical, recognizing her for artistry, songwriting, performance and overall quality. It’s a testament to Monet’s work rate and vision, as well as to the team around her, including manager Rachelle Jean-Louis, who earns the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Jean-Louis discusses the work and planning that went into setting up and delivering JAGUAR II, how the album campaign extended into every facet of Monet’s career and the dedication and teamwork that it took to pull off a feat that is now being recognized with so many nominations by the academy. “One thing I’ve heard people say is, ‘If the music is great, people will find it,’” Jean-Louis says. “Sure — but they’re more likely to find it if you can give them as many touch points and opportunities as possible.”
This week, Victoria Monet was nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including best new artist and record of the year, the second-most of any artist for the upcoming 2024 awards. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
The first important decision was made years ago, on the heels of her writing two No. 1 records. She had an opportunity to open on a tour she was excited about, and I advised she focus on her artistry and developing an identifiable world and sound, specifically as an artist, for fans. That was our first “tough” conversation — convincing someone I’d just started working with to pause and reflect on the big picture. We focused on developing her own sound with longtime collaborator D’Mile. That world became JAGUAR — the first project we released independently in 2020, and now, JAGUAR II. I A&R’d and co-executive produced both projects and worked alongside her and D’Mile to make something we were all proud of.
The next important decision at that time was choosing to stay independent and partner with Platoon for the first JAGUAR so she had full creative autonomy and as bulletproof of an identity as possible before going back into a major label system. Back then, she had interest from the majors because of songwriting success, but I wanted loyal core fans there for her, not just anyone she was affiliated with, so if and when she did decide to partner with one, it would be a true partnership to help amplify her vision. JAGUAR II was released via Lovett Music in partnership with RCA Records to help her music reach new heights.
She was a songwriter for years before beginning her recording career, which is not always an easy transition for artists to make. How did you help that process, and what were the challenges involved?
This is actually a common misconception. Victoria did start her music career as an artist; she was signed in a girl group that ended up getting dropped from their label. To provide for herself and keep working while sorting out contracts and having developed further under an incredible songwriter like Lashawn Daniels, who wrote hits like “Say My Name” for Destiny’s Child, she tried to keep her dream of artistry alive by songwriting. It can be incredibly difficult for people who have success as songwriters first to be able to brand themselves and differentiate the songs they write for others from their own work. Victoria has always been great at that. Victoria’s artistic voice really is unique. After the music was made, I wanted to make sure her visual identity was credible and set her apart. I searched Vimeo for hours looking for directors before finding Valentin Petit, an incredible French director, to shoot “Moment” as the first true music video from JAGUAR. It’s important to me that the visual art match the caliber of the music. We have an incredible creative team that is dedicated to that, which you can see by the videos for JAGUAR II. Our creative director Charlotte and art director Jess are both fearless, talented women who work hand in hand with us to push the art and story forward.
This nominated album, JAGUAR II, is the second half of a two-project series. How did you approach the entire rollout differently from perhaps a more traditional release schedule?
Attention spans are so short. One thing I’ve heard people say is, “If the music is great, people will find it.” Sure — but they’re more likely to find it if you can give them as many touch points and opportunities as possible. When we first started talking about the rollout for JAGUAR in 2019, we were going to do three parts to be consistent and give fans more chances to discover Victoria and her music. More singles to focus on one at a time to point back to a cohesive world. We didn’t plan for a pandemic to happen in the middle of that process, but we adapted and released four singles off a nine-song project to keep it going consistently for as long as possible over the course of a year. A lot of the rollout for both JAGUAR and JAGUAR II is sustained by content in between our videos and singles, and great press moments thanks to our longtime indie publicist Dana Meyerson at biz3. We released two singles in 2021 after the birth of her daughter to stay in the conversation, did her first pre-show award show performance at BET Awards that year, then revisited the remaining songs for JAGUAR II.
Coming back to the remaining music years later, Victoria felt something was missing and that she could do better, so I set more sessions for her. Those songs were “Cadillac,” “Party Girls (feat. Buju Banton),” “Alright” produced by Kaytranada, “How Does It Make You Feel,” “Stop (Askin Me 4Shyt)” and “On My Mama.” More than half of the album. She was right.
For JAGUAR II specifically, how did you want to present it, given it was such a long-awaited project and yet, also, her debut album?
Victoria is one of the most dedicated perfectionists I’ve ever met — in the way that I imagine the greats I’ve always respected were when they created some of the most important albums of our time. We wanted to continue the theme of JAGUAR being a representation of Victoria as a complex Black woman, making sure each song showed another side of her so it could speak to women everywhere. We still believe in albums as experiences, not chasing singles, so that was a determining factor of what songs to pick to represent JAGUAR II. The singles were all different enough to keep fans engaged and looking forward to the album.
We started with “Smoke” featuring Lucky Daye since it continued the sound established with D’Mile on the first project. It served the true R&B purists in her fanbase. Victoria felt strongly about “Party Girls” as the next single to get out ahead of the summer given the island influence. Our label supported her vision to deliver a visual that continued to elevate her art, and it accomplished that by raising the bar for her.
“On My Mama” was the easiest entry point for all of the above — there’s enough musicality for the purists, a recognizable sample that isn’t overused, a hip-hop element to bring in new fans, a universal celebratory message and an incredible video with choreo that continues to have its own viral moment. It’s an ode to Black culture and Victoria’s identity on multiple fronts as a Black woman. “On My Mama” is where she arrived, right before we put out the album. Thanks to our passionate radio team led by Sam Selolwane, “On My Mama” has hit No. 1 on urban radio and is making its way across the charts at other formats as well.
In addition to the singles, the key to this rollout was using her live show to propel the music. Victoria is an incredible performer. In March of this year, we kicked off her new era with “Smoke,” and quickly followed with the announcement of her first-ever solo show in partnership with Spotify to bring the experience to Los Angeles. We did this again right after “On My Mama” came out in June, announcing her highly anticipated first solo tour, which sold out in minutes. By the time the album came out, we had a sold-out tour for loyal fans and so much positive feedback on the songs. The tour intentionally brought most of the songs on JAGUAR II to life to keep people going back to the album after its release. Word of mouth, whether via the Internet or real life, is still some of the most valuable advertising, and the tour has accomplished that.
There is a wide breadth to these nominations, which celebrate artistry, songwriting, performance and overall quality. What does that say about Victoria as an artist, and to the work you guys have put in?
It says a lot about Victoria. Her dimensions as an artist are mirrored by her dimensions as a person: she’s already wearing many hats of intersectionality as an openly bisexual Black woman. She’s also a mother, so these nominations are already serving as lessons for her daughter that she can do whatever she chooses to. It’s a beautiful thing to watch Victoria be nominated as an artist for the first time and share that experience with her daughter, who is also making history as the youngest ever to be nominated. Representation matters deeply. The nominations amongst her peers in the Recording Academy speak to seeing the range of her skills, each of which she works hard to hone.
The nominations speak to the years of hard work collectively by Victoria and our largely female team. It’s a largely affirming moment in my own life and career for every time I thought maybe the world would not recognize what I have been working hard to get people to see and sacrificing time with family and loved ones to do. I advocated for a difficult path in favor of creative control for Victoria and she trusted me.
I’m an independent manager that is also an openly queer Black woman. I’m a first-generation American and daughter of Haitian immigrants. This is something I have dreamt of since I was a kid. The majority of superstars have male managers, and most of them are white. While the journey was incredibly difficult and at times isolating, it makes these nominations very rewarding for me personally. It’s a reminder to trust my instincts. This is a moment for our entire team, in which we are being seen. Everyone has been working tirelessly at their crafts before meeting Victoria and came together to make something we are all proud of.
What can all these nominations help you guys further accomplish moving forward — and what is next for you guys?
The nominations have started opening doors to opportunities our team has been pitching and campaigning for Victoria for years, but the work doesn’t stop. There’s certainly a tangible validity to them that is really helping our cause. Things aren’t necessarily automatically easier or not requiring work per se, but they absolutely are helping as another co-sign to the credibility of Victoria as an artist.
Victoria has been telling me just about every week she’s been doing promo, touring or working that she can’t wait to get back in the studio because she’s inspired, and I can’t wait to dive back into the creative process. There’s still so much to do. We’re looking forward to releasing more music and content and doing more collaborations. We’re excited to bring her live show to more people and continue to build her audience globally. She’s expressed a desire to act as well.
And what do these mean for you as a manager?
I want to be able to continue to open doors for myself and others through these nominations. I have two stellar artist clients — one being Victoria and one being an incredible rising vocalist named Saint Harison that I want to make sure reach as many people as possible with their talent. The journey for Victoria has been an incredible story that people are authentically connecting to. I’ve always been a creative first and foremost, and my heart has been in storytelling. Whether that’s helping to get out the stories of my clients or telling stories of my own, that has been the root of my passion that I’m excited to keep exploring.
It’s not often that an artist’s debut LP consists entirely of Christmas songs – but James Fauntleroy is no ordinary artist. Nearly a decade after the release of the original Warmest Winter Ever, the three-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer-songwriter is making his formal debut as a lead solo artist with The Warmest Winter Ever. The steamy new project compiles the first two Warmest Winter projects with 10 brand new songs perfect for a sultry Christmas between the sheets.
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The announcement of The Warmest Winter Ever comes exactly one week after Fauntleroy picked up his sixth career Grammy nomination. Recognized in best progressive R&B album for his bossa nova-inspired Nova collab album with Terrace Martin, the nod marks Fauntleroy’s first Grammy nomination as an artist. The acclaimed musician has won four prior trophies thanks to his writing contributions to Justin Timberlake’s “Pusher Love Girl” and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic (“That’s What I Like”; “Finesse”). That’s no small feat for someone who claims that “for the last 20 years,” they’ve “been telling everybody I’m not an artist constantly when they ask.” With more previously released music making its way to DSPs soon, Fauntleroy is set to truly step into his own as an artist – and he’s redefining holiday music as he swaggers down that path.
Filled to the brim with jaw-dropping harmonies and hilariously sultry wordplay, The Warmest Winter Ever finds Fauntleroy inviting his audience to expand their understanding of what holiday music can sound like. Why stop at “O Holy Night” and “Deck the Halls,” when you can croon “bring that s–t to Santa” to your special someone? The first two Warmest Winter projects primarily feature cozy, acoustic-forward arrangements, and the 10 new tracks broaden that soundscape into a wonderland of skittering bass and intimate a cappella joints. Take “Sleigh,” a tongue-in-cheek harmonic rhapsody that answers the question: What would it sound like if James Fauntleroy took “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and absolutely freaked it?
In a wide-ranging conversation with Billboard, James Fauntleroy discusses the making of The Warmest Winter Ever, why Mariah Carey is “one of the best writers in the history of man,” working with Beyoncé and the state of male R&B.
Billboard: What’s up with you, man? How’re you feeling?
James Fauntleroy: I’m excited, man! I’m happy and surprised that I’m still in the game. Appreciative, you know, so I’m feeling a lot of gratitude. I’m going from my first artist-led project — ’cause the jazz album, or I guess R&B album, was [with] Terrace — getting nominated for a Grammy to now my first album even though I’m damn near 20 years in the game. This is gonna be my literal first album, so I’m super excited. I’m a new artist. This is my gonna be my first project.
Why is now the time to bring The Warmest Winter Ever to DSPs?
We had a meeting this morning, [and] I found this old tweet of Rihanna posting about the first [Warmest Winter] project and because I knew it’d been out for a while, I did the math and I was like, Damn, this was nine years ago! The first project, I put out nine years ago, and I put out the other one sometime between then and now, and basically these projects are my first official releases.
I’ve been putting music out the whole time, [but] there’s one other project that I hear about all throughout the year, every year, even though it’s like 13 years old. This is one that all year-round people are telling me it’s July and [they’re] still playing the Christmas album. It’s so mind-blowing that music has the power to be something that people care or talk about after — especially now when s–t comes out and you switch your playlist up the next f–king day – a week. A big part of wanting to put these things on DSPs is just to show all my core fans appreciation because even though the s–t’s on SoundCloud, for whatever reason, they’re always like, Please put this on Spotify, please put this on Apple Music!
I’m just slowly starting to put all these songs on DSPs, but also give them something new, because another part of my compulsion to release is that while I do it because I love it and I get paid to do it, it’s also because I know so many people study me from them telling me and also from my ears. That was a big part of why I started my school called the 1500 Sound Academy. I also feel compelled to take it to the next level for people who I’ve inspired. A friend of mine [named] August 08 — he just got caught in the crossfire in the hood, a couple of [months] ago and passed away — I met him when he literally ran up to me in the airport and he was like, “Oh my God, I’m such a huge fan, I never even thought about making music until I heard your music and I got your album cover tattooed on my leg!” He opened up his jeans because they were already ripped and I didn’t even say nothing yet, and he said all of this. Then he went on to have success as a writer, got signed to Def Jam, had a song with Jhené Aiko.
I think about that kind of thing especially as the Internet and life and music go through growing pains. I’m always trying to think about maintaining the art form and pushing the envelope forward. Maybe everybody on Earth doesn’t listen to it, but if it gets to the right person and has an impact on them, then you know that makes it worth it. So those are all the reasons. And then I found the right team, honestly. Everybody thinks I’m trying to be mysterious, but really I’ve been waiting for the right time, the right platform, and the right team to put something out that is giving my audience the level of quality that they expect from what my music sounds like.
Does it feel weird having your first official solo album be a Christmas record?
No, it feels natural to me because when I’m thinking about it in terms of my legacy — not what I’m trying to build, but where I’ve come to at this point — I think that it’s so unusual to have your first album be your Christmas album, but considering all the s–t I make, it makes it the perfect first album. I’m always trying to find ways to express that there’s more, that you know that I’m different, that I’m doing something. As a writer — that’ll always be the core of what I’m doing — I love it because why I even started doing it was it was never about trying to f–king take a small percentage of that Mariah Carey money, which, oh my God, I’d love to have some of that, but it was really about finding new ways to tell stories. It’s just an opportunity to have a new topic; finding something new to wrap the art around is my primary method of coming up with new art. This project, it’s 25 Christmas songs, like, is it really 25 things about Christmas to sing about?! I don’t even know. [Laughs]. They’re all about Christmas, but they’re all so different from any Christmas music I’ve heard, so they’re doing their job of helping me push myself forward.
I had a lot of fun making all this s–t. It’s so fun to make music with no pressure. I produced, I think, every song on here. Maybe there’s like a few that I brought in some talented musicians, and there’s two songs with other people’s voices on them. I just had a blast doing what I wanted and trying to figure out how to do something different from what I have done in the past.
This record has some steamy joints on there. What inspired the sonic world of The Warmest Winter Ever, and what was it like to return to that place for a third installment?
When I’m thinking about where I want to draw inspiration from my projects, at its core, it’s all about drawing from references. There’s Stevie Wonder all the way up to the Timbaland-Missy s–t. There’s a bunch of different references technically. As far as the artistic inspiration, it’s less music and more film.
In the song “Neck,” you know, I’m imagining the movie Elf. “Christmas List,” that’s a song where I’m talking about picking up a gun, and that’s a different kind of movie. But then you also have “Miracle,” where in the second verse, I was thinking about The Santa Clause. I’m thinking about Black movies like Soul Food because when I’m thinking of a song, I’m doing a lot of visualizing, which is where I’m pulling a lot of the descriptive lyrics like, “She’s Grand Theft Auto 5 stars bad” — I was laughing while I wrote that. It’s really just trying to create a movie because that’s how I view music.
Sounds like you were in a very cinematic headspace. Any music videos on the horizon?
I have so many ideas! Do I have enough money to do all those things? Absolutely not. So it’s really based on how people respond to it. “Sleigh,” for instance, which is maybe my favorite song on the whole thing, is actually about imagining that Santa Claus worked at FedEx and he’s about to go out to do a shipment and he has Mrs. Claus with him and his manager or whatever, he’s like You can’t take this lady out. He’s like What?! If she don’t go in there, we ain’t going nowhere. This is how I do it. The message is about a relationship that empowers you and strengthens you and gives you the ability to do magic. If I could do a video, it would be UPS Santa with a real ultra-bad Mrs. Claus with her arms folded. [Laughs].
“Sleigh” is also one of my favorites. Talk to me about crafting your vocal arrangements and background harmonies? Who are you building on and emulating?
The goal of the song is the same as the goal of the arrangements, but the arrangements are the primary. The lyrics are really important, but those tend to hit you after the third or fourth listen. The first goal is to catch you with the arrangement and the music. My number one goal before streaming, but especially now, is you really need these motherf–kers to play that s–t more than once. My goal is to make a song that you want to hear again. What is the use of this song? How is this of service to people you know?
Typically, the use I’m aiming for is that it makes you feel good. It gives you an escape out of the moment you’re in, makes you feel good about yourself, and makes you think about something differently, it’s world-building.
On the technical side, there’s more and more s–t going on. There’s more and more parts coming in. I tell my students and people this all the time, I usually think about the different notes in the harmonies as different people. They’re different background singers, so sometimes I’ll pronounce what I’m saying a little differently. I might use a different dynamic. On “Sleigh,” I really overtly did it. In the second verse, the way I sang the first line and the way I sang the second line is two different people. The first line is all soft and pretty, and then the next one I’m singing three times louder. It’s just all these dynamics that I’m trying to turn your attention to.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask this since you do sing “Sleigh like Beyoncé” in the song, so have you worked with Queen Bey recently?
The last thing we did was that song with Nas and Jay-Z [DJ Khaled’s “Sorry Not Sorry”]. I sang the hook. That was the first song I ever put out that I didn’t write, actually. They sent that to me done already and just asked me to put my voice on it and [there’s] Beyoncé at the end which sounds epic.
As I was saying earlier about service, it’s really to make whoever is playing Beyoncé, the listener who is Beyoncé in that moment, have the opportunity to feel that. I’m always gon f–k with Beyoncé on whatever s–t she’s doing, but the idea came into my mind because of what she represents.
Since that Nas song, I’ve worked on some s–t for her, I’ll say. But nobody knows what’s coming out except for her, so I really have no idea.
The new tracks sort of depart from the cozier, more acoustically intimate vibe of the first two projects. Was that an intentional choice or was that simply where your heart was during the creative process?
No, it’s super intentional because if you listen to the first [project] and the second one, you can hear my progression as a producer because I’m just starting to take beats seriously. I love when I look back at these projects that they’re time capsules of where I was in that moment, what I thought was cool, and what my capabilities were. Literally, the first one, I’m playing the guitar and I don’t know how to play the guitar. [Laughs]. I’m also playing the guitar on this one, but it’s 10 years later. So I still don’t know how to play the guitar, but you can hear the growth.
What are some of your favorite original contemporary Christmas songs? How about the classics?
As far as contemporary — I can’t wait to hear [this one] because you asked me about harmonies and the core of all that is Brandy. Let’s just keep it real, that’s the basis of my style in general – I’m super excited to hear Brandy’s Christmas album.
I’ve heard some good Christmas rap songs over the years. I’ve heard some good contemporary [songs], but I’m trying to think of something other than this Brandy s–t. I think my favorite contemporary Christmas songs are my own. As far as my favorite classics, of course, Mariah Carey. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her a couple of times, and she’s always pretty upset that nobody acknowledges that she’s one of the best writers in the history of man. When I hear her snapping about that s–t, I’d be like You right, man. F–k that! because they is not putting nearly enough respect on this motherf–ker’s name. Not even close, bro. And then when I worked with her, I was like, Oh, [she] really does write? She’s not just an artist who wants to write to get the money, she’s an actual writer who can just sing her a– off. She’ll always be number one, literally and figuratively and philosophically.
I really love [Paul McCartney’s] “Wonderful Christmastime.” “This Christmas,” that’s a classic. The modern Christmas song Chris Brown put out called “It’s Giving Christmas,” I like that one too.
You just picked up your first Grammy nomination as an artist and your first Grammy nom this decade. How does that feel? Especially in relation to your career longevity?
Man, I can’t believe it. I’ll tell people all the time, that the typical lifespan for a person like me in the business, it’s like one to three years. Even for a big act, if you get one year, you did it. I’ve been doing this s—t for like 18 years. I was not expecting to get nominated for a f—king Grammy as an artist because I’ve been telling everybody under the sun for 18 years or however long that I’m not an artist. I am an artist, but I’m not a professional recording artist. It’s extremely exciting to still be in the game at all. A month ago, Saturday Night Live had a Donald Trump joke about “No Air,” and I’m like Yo, that was my first hit song!
For people to still give any amount of attention or conversation or anything for anything I’m doing is such a big deal to me because that’s the part that never gets old because they just don’t have to do that. That means it really had an impact on them. To be this late in the game and still have new achievements and new opportunities and new possibilities happening is really such an honor.
R&B has been in a great space lately with artists like Victoria Monét, Coco Jones and SZA killing it both critically and commercially. Where would you like to see the journey go next?
My hope is if you listen to SZA’s development over the years, it’s gotten to a quality level that I think is really admirable and respectable and serious – and still, she’s growing. Every genre experiences a point where it goes off of the tracks of the mainstream and it kind of turns into this isolated place where it can just develop on its own, and typically that means people pay attention to it differently. But it also means that the genre has the freedom to develop without the pressure of success, so the creators are not thinking about it like that.
R&B hit that point. I’m more really thinking about R&B as it relates to gospel because gospel music has been able to develop so much that you have — even since the ’90s, but from the ’90s till now — this gospel tangent that’s actually jazz. Kim Burrell‘s doing jazz s—t up and down, left and right. All these kinds of singers are, not just her, but like the whole genre of gospel that she started, it’s all heavily jazz-based. I feel like R&B went through a bunch of different growing pains trying to figure out what was going to happen when it wasn’t the Confessions era — that’s pop at this point, we’re only calling it R&B because Usher’s Black, but that’s another conversation. It was at the height, and then it experienced what every genre that reaches that level experiences, which is too many opinions from people who aren’t in it, because now it’s making so much money. When [R&B] went through the struggles it went through, it had an opportunity to evolve and I think what it turned into is gangster rap.
Future, Migos, Drake is the most overt because he’s actually singing, but that’s what happened to R&B, bro. It turned into gangster rap on one arm and it turned into [what] they call progressive R&B at the Grammys. But is that what is actually? It’s just the freedom that the genre is allowed when it’s not under the scrutiny of the machine to develop to such a point that it can focus on the quality. I think that that’s where we’re at. I think it’s been happening. It was happening the whole time, like when the industry stopped f—king with it, it didn’t go away. I really feel like what we’re going to experience going forward is a mixture of both.
Music has been going on in the industry since the 1920s and even though the hit songs have changed over the years, tempos, topics, whatever, the point of the music hasn’t changed. It’s to make people feel a certain way and these are the ingredients that I think are going to give us more diverse and more interesting forms of R&B going forward, and so I’m personally going to continue to put that s—t in my music and show as many people as possible that there’s more.
I named only women in my previous question because I wanted to dig into your take on the state of male R&B, specifically in relation to women’s dominance in the genre for much of the young decade.
They gotta start talking to women, bro. I can’t say it any simpler than Drake is the biggest n—a, and who is his demographic? Which of his songs are the best ones? Because he got a lot of songs talking to n—as, but which ones matter the most? Which ones make him Drake? It’s just being aware of who you’re talking to. I won’t name their legendary names — but I talked to a lot of legendary people about when it happened and why it changed and, basically, when gangster rap came in, they all started saying the same thing. Women were like “We don’t want that soft s–t no more.”
Still, women are having such a big impact on what men are doing. You have to look past the statistics. You have to look past what the data is telling you people want and think about first, who are you? They need to focus on what we know is right. Yes, you can make money giving people the world to escape into where they can be Scarface and be going extra hard on h–s and beating people up and killing them and s–t and that could be fun. But you could also just watch Taken. You’re not gonna get the same feeling out of your target, which is women. There’s two women for every man, and you’re not gonna get the same response out of a woman that watches Taken versus The Notebook.
I think that’s part of the reason why the male artists are struggling. We need more. It should just be who you are. And I think that’s really the issue with any modern artist, it’s like, Are you doing something that’s gonna matter? Are you doing something that’s going to set you apart? Or are you doing what you heard yesterday? Because in today’s world, that’s just not going to be acceptable. You don’t want to be a replaceable slot in the playlist to have a long career, so I think the R&B guys are figuring that out, but it’s going to be a process.
Looking beyond the holiday season – once the decorations are taken down – what can fans expect from you in the new year?
I’m about to really be an artist, bro. How else can I show the people [who] supported me and made my life into what it is, my appreciation? I put my full power, mind, creativity and energy into giving them what they’re asking for. I’m really about to be putting out music and doing shows — I just did the first show I’ve done in years at a jazz festival with Terrace singing some of the Nova songs a couple of days ago. It’s time. There’s some more music that’s been out that I’m gonna finally put on DSPs. I did a joint album with someone that I think people are gonna be really surprised and excited about, and it’s done. I’m really about to start giving everybody my interpretation of what albums should sound like in the world I’m trying to create and we’ll see how it goes, but I’m excited!
Here’s the full tracklist for The Warmest Winter Ever:
*previously unreleased
1. Unwrapped*
2. Bad Bad Bad*
3. Magic*
4. Bring That Shit to Santa*
5. Mrs Claus*
6. The Neck*
7. Miracle*
8. Christmas List*
9. Sleigh*
10. Nice Or Not
11. Body Heat
12. Spiritual Gift
13. Is It Morning Yet
14. It Rains Everywhere
15. Christmas Lights
16. Christmas Everyday
17. Christmas Everynight
18. Give You Love
19. The Present
20. Stocking Stuffer
21. Dreaming
22. Like Summer
23. Mistletoe ft. Maeta
24. Open Up
25. You Can Get It