Music

11 Jun 2024

De La Soul, Mitski and More Honored at 2024 A2IM Libera Awards (Full Winners List)

De La Soul, Caroline Polachek, Blondshell and IDLES won in multiple categories at the 2024 A2IM Libera Awards, which were held on Monday (June 10) at Gotham Hall in New York City. Comedian Marcia Belsky hosted the show.

Mitski’s seventh studio album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans), won record of the year.

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De La Soul’s classic 1989 debut album 3 Feet High and Rising won three awards – best reissue, creative packaging and a marketing genius award. The album, originally released on Tommy Boy Records, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year. The reissue was released on AOI Records/Chrysalis Records.

Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, released on Perpetual Novice, won self-released record of the year and best alternative rock record.

Blondshell’s Blondshell, released on Partisan Records, won best rock record. The group also won breakthrough artist presented by Virgin Music Group.

IDLES, on Partisan Records, took awards for music video of the year (“Dancer”) and best short-form video (“Grace” teaser). Both tracks appear on the band’s fifth studio album, Tangk.

Killer Mike’s Michael, released on Loma Vista Recordings, which won a Grammy for best rap album on Feb. 4, won best hip-hop/rap record.

This year’s Libera Awards featured performances from Christian McBride’s New Jawn (Mack Avenue Music Group), classical pianist Lara Downes (Pentatone), Latin artist Pachyman (ATO Records), rapper Kari Faux (drink sum wtr), hotly-tipped NYC-trio Fcukers (Ninja Tune/Technocolour), and rising pop rock artist LØLØ (Hopeless Records).

The awards are presented by A2IM (The American Association of Independent Music, Inc.), a not-for-profit trade association that represents independent music recording owners.

The A2IM Libera Awards presented by Merlin boasted 36 categories honoring the best in independent music. This year saw the addition of three new categories: best record from games and interactive media, publisher of the year and distributor of the year.

This year, the Libera Awards honored Louis Posen, founder of Hopeless Records, with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his leadership in the independent sector.

Louis Posen with Hopeless Records and Lølø

Louis Posen with Hopeless Records and Lølø

Dan Bassini

The Libera Awards will kick off A2IM’s annual Indie Week conference, which will begin Tuesday (June 11) and run through Thursday, June 13 at the InterContinental New York Times Square.

Here’s a complete list of nominations for the 2024 Libera Awards, with winners marked:

Record of the Year

L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)

Killer Mike – MICHAEL (Loma Vista Recordings)

WINNER: Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Novice)

Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

Label of the Year (15 or more employees)

Dead Oceans

Domino Recording Company

Hopeless Records

Matador Records

Merge Records

WINNER: Partisan Records

Sub Pop Records

Third Man Records

Label of the Year (5 or fewer employees)

Bastard Jazz Recordings

Bayonet Records

FADER Label

Innovative Leisure

Oh Boy Records

Topshelf Records

WINNER: True Panther

Label of the Year (6-14 employees)

Captured Tracks

City Slang

Lex Records

WINNER: Light in the Attic

Mack Avenue Music Group

Photo Finish Records

Saddle Creek

Distributor of the Year

FUGA

Light in the Attic

The Orchard

WINNER: Redeye Worldwide

Secretly Distribution

Symphonic Distribution

Virgin Music Group

Publisher of the Year

Arts & Crafts Music

Domino Publishing Company

Reservoir Media

Rimas Publishing

WINNER: Secretly Publishing

Sub Pop Publishing

Warp Publishing

Independent Champion presented by Merlin

WINNER: Bandcamp

Downtown Music Holdings

Infinite Catalog

Light in the Attic

Peanut Butter Wolf

Jorge Brea

Thirty Tigers

Breakthrough Artist/Release presented by Virgin Music Group

BAMBII (Innovative Leisure)

bar italia (Matador Records)

WINNER: Blondshell – Blondshell (Partisan Records)

Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End (Saddle Creek)

Say She She – Silver (Colemine Records)

Slow Pulp (ANTI)

Wednesday (Dead Oceans)

Music Video of the Year

Black Pumas – “More Than a Love Song” (ATO Records)

Blondshell – “Salad” (Partisan Records)

Indigo De Souza – “Younger & Dumber” (Saddle Creek)

Geese – “Cowboy Nudes” (Partisan Records)

WINNER: IDLES – “Dancer” (Partisan Records)

Arlo Parks – “Blades” (Transgressive)

Shygirl – “Heaven (feat. Tinashe)” (Because Music)

Best Alternative Rock Record

Courtney Barnett – End of the Day (Mom+Pop)

Geese – 3D Country (Partisan Records)

Hotline TNT – Cartwheel (Third Man Records)

Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

WINNER: Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Novice)

Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)

Best American Roots Record

Charley Crockett – The Man From Waco Redux (Son Of Davy/Thirty Tigers)

Madi Diaz – “Don’t Do Me Good” (feat. Kacey Musgraves) (ANTI)

WINNER: MJ Lenderman – “Rudolph” (ANTI)

Hiss Golden Messenger – Jump for Joy (Merge Records)

Esther Rose – Safe to Run (New West Records)

Allison Russell – The Returner (Fantasy Records)

Best Blues Record

The Count Basie Orchestra – Basie Swings the Blues (Candid Records)

Robert Finley – Black Bayou (Easy Eye Sound)

WINNER: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – Live in London (Alligator Records)

Bettye LaVette – LaVette! (Jay-Vee Records/MRI)

Various Artists – Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound) (Easy Eye Sound)

Nick Waterhouse – The Fooler (Innovative Leisure)

Best Classical Record

Chick Corea & Orchestra da Camera della Sardegna – Sardinia (Candid Records)

Doeke – Bewondering (Nettwerk Music Group)

Lara Downes – Love at Last (Pentatone)

Erik Hall – Canto Ostinato (Western Vinyl)

WINNER: Hauschka – Philanthropy (City Slang)

Will Liverman – The Dunbar/Moore Sessions: Vol. I (Lexicon Classics)

Kelly Moran – Vesela (Warp Records)

Chick Corea & Orchestra da Camera della Sardegna – “Mozart Concerto No. 24 C Minor, K.491: II Larghetto” (Candid Records)

Best Country Record

Mya Byrne – Rhinestone Tomboy (Kill Rock Stars)

Colbie Caillat – Along the Way (Blue Jean Baby Records/Downtown Artist & Label Services)

The Pink Stones – You Know Who (Normaltown Records)

WINNER: Margo Price – Strays (Loma Vista Recordings)

Tanya Tucker – Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy Records)

Turnpike Troubadours – A Cat in The Rain (Bossier City Records/Thirty Tigers)

Best Dance Record

Aluna – MYCELiUM (Mad Decent)

Braxe + Falcon – Step by Step (Remixes) (Smugglers Way/Domino Recording Company)

Jayda G – Guy (Ninja Tune)

LP Giobbi – Light Places (Counter Records/Ninja Tune)

Peggy Gou – “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (XL Recordings)

Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair – Set the Roof (Warp Records)

WINNER: Romy – Mid Air (Young)

Best Electronic Record

Floating Points – “Birth4000” (Ninja Tune)

Sofia Kourtesis – Madres (Ninja Tune)

Little Dragon – Slugs of Love (Ninja Tune)

ODESZA, Yellow House – Flaws in Our Design (Foreign Family Collective/Ninja Tune)

Overmono – Good Lies (XL Recordings)

DJ Shadow – Action Adventure (Mass Appeal)

WINNER: Yaeji – With a Hammer (XL Recordings)

Best Folk Record

Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings (Ghostly International)

Laura Jane Grace – “Dysphoria Hoodie” (Polyvinyl Record Co.)

Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (September Recordings)

Aoife O’Donovan – Age of Apathy Solo Sessions (Yep Roc Records)

Andy Shauf – Norm (ANTI)

WINNER: Sufjan Stevens – Javelin (Asthmatic Kitty Records)

Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel (New West Records)

Best Global Record presented by Redeye Worldwide

Altin Gün – Ask (ATO Records)

Asake – Work of Art (YBNL Nation / EMPIRE)

Bombino – Sahel (Partisan Records)

Pachyman – Switched-On (ATO Records)

Sampa the Great – As Above, So Below (Deluxe) (Loma Vista Recordings)

WINNER: WITCH – Zango (Desert Daze Sound)

Best Heavy Record

Beartooth – The Surface (Red Bull Records)

The Callous Daoboys – God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys (MNRK Music Group)

From Ashes to New – Blackout (Better Noise Music)

Fucked Up – One Day (Merge Records)

WINNER: Model/Actriz – Dogsbody (True Panther)

Soul Glo – “If I Speak (Shut the Fuck Up)” (Epitaph)

Zulu – A New Tomorrow (Flatspot Records)

Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record

Aesop Rock – Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

Atmosphere – So Many Other Realities Exist Simultaneously (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

Danny Brown – Quaranta (Warp Records)

Conway The Machine – WON’T HE DO IT (Drumwork Music Group LLC/EMPIRE)

McKinley Dixon – Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (City Slang)

Kari Faux – REAL B*TCHES DON’T DIE! (drink sum wtr)

WINNER: Killer Mike – MICHAEL (Loma Vista Recordings)

billy woods, Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studios/Fat Possum Records)

Best Jazz Record

Joey Alexander – Continuance (Mack Avenue Music Group)

Louis Cole – Some Unused Songs (Brainfeeder)

Sam Gendel & Marcella Cytrynowicz – AUDIOBOOK (Psychic Hotline)

Robert Glasper – In December (Loma Vista Recordings)

WINNER: John Carroll Kirby – Blowout (Stones Throw Records)

Christian McBride’s New Jawn – Prime (Mack Avenue Music Group)

Best Latin Record

El Búho – Strata (Wonderwheel Recordings)

Bebel Gilberto – João ([PIAS])

WINNER: Helado Negro – “LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros)” (4AD)

Carla Morrison – “Todo Fue Por Amor (de la película “Con Esta Luz”)” (Cosmica Artists)

Pahua – Habita (Nacional Records)

Tagua Tagua – Tanto (Wonderwheel Recordings)

Best Outlier Record

Anjimile – The King (4AD)

ANOHNI – My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross (Secretly Canadian)

Khruangbin – Live at Sydney Opera House (Dead Oceans)

WINNER: L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer)

Tirzah – trip9love…??? (Domino Recording Company)

yeule – softscars (Ninja Tune)

Best Pop Record

Belle and Sebastian – Late Developers (Matador Records)

CHAI – CHAI (Sub Pop Records)

Becca Mancari – Left Hand (Captured Tracks)

WINNER: Samia – Honey (Grand Jury Music)

Suki Waterhouse – “To Love” (Sub Pop Records)

Best Punk Record

CIVIC – Taken by Force (ATO Records)

WINNER: Mannequin Pussy – “I Got Heaven” (Epitaph)

Neck Deep – “Take Me With You” (Hopeless Records)

Scowl – Psychic Dance Routine (Flatspot Records)

Snõõper – Super Snõõper (Third Man Records)

Soul Glo – “If I Speak (Shut the Fuck Up)” (Epitaph)

Best R&B Record

Emily King – Special Occasion (ATO Records)

WINNER: Sampha – Lahai (Young)

Emeli Sandé – How Were We to Know (Chrysalis Records)

Jorja Smith – falling or flying (FAMM Limited (Jorja Smith))

Cleo Sol – Gold (Forever Living Originals / TuneCore)

Jamila Woods – Water Made Us (Jagjaguwar)

Best Record From Games and Interactive Media

Jon Everist – The Lamplighters League (Original Soundtrack) (Lakeshore Records)

WINNER: HEALTH – “HATEFUL” (Loma Vista Recordings)

Mr. Sauceman, ClascyJitto, Post Elvis – Pizza Tower (Materia Collective)

Matt Creamer, Retroware, Professor Shyguy ft. Nur-D – Prison City Original Soundtrack (Screenwave Media)

Best Reissue

Cymande – Cymande (Partisan Records)

WINNER: De La Soul – 3 Feet High & Rising (AOI Records/Chrysalis Records)

The Exploding Hearts – Guitar Romantic (Expanded and Remastered) (Third Man Records)

Jerry Garcia – Might as Well: A Round Records Retrospective (Round Records)

Jason Isbell – Southeastern (Southeastern Records / Thirty Tigers)

Neutral Milk Hotel – The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel (Merge Records)

Best Remix

WINNER: Sudan Archives, ODESZA – “Selfish Soul (ODESZA Remix)” (Stones Throw Records under exclusive license to Foreign Family Collective/Ninja Tune)

Christine and the Queens – “To Be Honest” (SG Lewis Remix) (Because Music)

John Summit, deadmau5, Kaskade – “I Remember” (John Summit Remix) (mau5trap)

Jerry Garcia & LP Giobbi – Garcia (Remixed) (Round Records)

Margo Price – “Change of Heart” (feat. Sierra Ferrell) (Loma Vista Recordings)

Best Rock Record

Be Your Own Pet – Mommy (Third Man Records)

WINNER: Blondshell – Blondshell (Partisan Records)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Weathervanes (Southeastern Records)

Manchester Orchestra – The Valley of Vision (Loma Vista Recordings)

The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein (4AD)

Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman… (Matador Records)

Ratboys – The Window (Topshelf Records)

Best Short-Form Video

Blondshell – “Kiss City” Reel (Partisan Records)

De La Soul – Tribute to Dave (AOI Records/Chrysalis Records)

WINNER: IDLES – “Grace” Teaser (Partisan Records)

John Carroll Kirby – “Oropendola” (Stones Throw Records)

Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Best Singer-Songwriter Record

Indigo De Souza – All of This Will End (Saddle Creek)

Madi Diaz – “Same Risk” (ANTI)

WINNER: Angel Olsen – Forever Means (Jagjaguwar)

Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental (Mexican Summer)

Jenny Owen Youngs – Avalanche (Yep Roc Records)

Best Soul/Funk Record

WINNER: Betty Davis – Crashin’ From Passion (Light in the Attic)

Black Pumas – Chronicles of a Diamond (ATO Records)

Robert Finley – Black Bayou (Easy Eye Sound)

Neal Francis – Francis Comes Alive (ATO Records)

Say She She – Silver (Colemine Records)

Best Spiritual Record

WINNER: Blind Boys of Alabama – Echoes of the South (Single Lock Records)

Lecrae, Tasha Cobbs Leonard – “Your Power” (Reach Records)

Katy Nichole – Jesus Changed My Life (Centricity Music)

J Rocc – Beatitudes (Stones Throw Records)

Lori Vambe – Space-Time Dreamtime (STRUT)

Best Sync Usage

Cat Power – Cover of Rihanna’s “Stay” in A24’s Past Lives trailer (Domino Recording Company)

Brittany Howard ft. Childish Gambino – “Stay High” in You People (ATO Records)

WINNER: Refused – “New Noise” in The Bear (Season 2) (Epitaph)

Sharon Van Etten – “Anything” in Priscilla trailer (Jagjaguwar)

Nilüfer Yanya – “Midnight Sun” in The Boogeyman (ATO Records)

Creative Packaging

Aphex Twin – Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 (Warp Records)

WINNER: De La Soul – 3 Feet High & Rising (AOI Records/Chrysalis Records)

Jerry Garcia – Heads and Tails: Vol. 1 (Round Records)

Neutral Milk Hotel – The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel (Merge Records)

John Prine – The Oh Boy Singles Box Set (Oh Boy Records)

Various Artists – Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8 (Sub Pop Records)

Marketing Genius

Blonde Redhead – Sit Down for Dinner (section1)

Blondshell – Blondshell (Partisan Records)

WINNER: De La Soul – De La Soul Catalog Release (AOI Records/Chrysalis Records)

Peggy Gou – “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (XL Recordings)

Killer Mike – MICHAEL (Loma Vista Recordings)

Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Self-Released Record of the Year

Laurel Halo – Atlas (Awe)

L’Queer – “Fuck Ron DeSantis” (L’Queer)

Michigander – It Will Never Be the Same (C3 Records)

Paris Texas – MID AIR (Paris Texas LLC)

WINNER: Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (Perpetual Novice)

Tenacious D – “Video Games” (Tenacious D)

11 Jun 2024

Timbaland, Diane Warren & More 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Honorees Share Stories Behind Their Biggest Hits

“Losing My Religion” was the unlikeliest of hits for R.E.M., Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” was created at a girls’ songwriting sleepover weekend and, “yeah,” that’s Timbaland’s voice you hear on Justin Timberlake’s hit “SexyBack.”

Ahead of the 53rd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala on Thursday (June 13) at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York, some of this year’s inductees and honorees share stories behind their biggest hits and the songs that hit closest to home, in their own words. 

The 2024 class consists of Hillary Lindsey, Dean Pitchford, R.E.M., Steely Dan, Timbaland and the late Cindy Walker. Diane Warren will be honored with the Johnny Mercer Award and SZA will receive the Hal David Starlight Award. 

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Hillary Lindsey 

“Girl Crush”  
Co-written with Lori McKenna, Liz Rose 
Recorded by Little Big Town 

The Grammy-, CMA- and Nashville Songwriters Association International-winning song that spent 13 weeks at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart in 2015 had a spontaneous start. “The three of us are dear friends and once a month we’d do two-night sleepovers at Liz’s house and dive into writing. This was one of those times,” Lindsey says. “I didn’t know it, but Lori had this title ‘Girl Crush’ in her head, and she apparently asked Liz and Liz had said the title sounded cool but might be too hard. I came in and Lori asked me, ‘What do you think about this title?’ It could’ve gone lots of directions, and it was one of those miraculous moments that can happen when you’re creating. I picked up the guitar and played chords and the words just started popping out. It was one of those songs we didn’t put a lot of thought into. We were all throwing out lines and we probably wrote it in 45 minutes.  

“Then the girls of Little Big Town were coming over for a write-in. Karen [Fairchild] said, ‘Do you all have anything you’ve written that you love?’ And Liz was like, ‘Well, we do have this song we wrote this morning.’ I was scared out of my mind; I thought we needed to make it sound better. We’d just put it down on our phones on a voice memo so we wouldn’t forget it. And they both just sat there in silence with their eyes real big and we were like, ‘Do you hate it? Do you love it?’ And then they were like, ‘Oh my God, this is a beast of a song.’ Jay Joyce [the producer] took it to the utmost next level. It was otherworldly. He heard it in its raw form and the band just made it shine.” 

Dean Pitchford  

“Footloose”  
Co-written and recorded by Kenny Loggins 

Loggins was Pitchford’s top choice for the Footloose title song, which spent three weeks at No. 1 and was nominated for an Oscar in 1984 — and Pitchford went to great lengths to seal the deal. The soundtrack, which produced six Hot 100 top 40 hits, knocked Michael Jackson’s Thriller out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, where it spent 10 weeks. “Kenny had a very big pop career at that point. He sort of auditioned me by giving me a cassette with a melody he and Steve Perry had come up with. All he would say is it was called ‘Don’t Fight It.’ So I wrote the lyric, and he and Steve loved it. They recorded a duet and got a Grammy nomination. And we found out about the nomination while we were in the trailer at Paramount on preproduction on Footloose,” Pitchford says. 

“I came to him with the movie script and said, ‘I want to work with you to write the title song.’ He was seduced by reading the script. Paramount was not taking for granted that I had Kenny onboard until they heard something. And then something happened that put us into a great bind. At a gig in Utah, Kenny came out in the dark and walked off the edge of the stage and broke three ribs. He was laid up and recovering because he was leaving for a tour of Asia in four weeks, and now the clock is ticking. I finally got a call from his manager, who said he was going to play one weekend in Lake Tahoe before he goes to Asia and, ‘If you can get yourself to Tahoe I can put you in a room with Kenny.’ The night before I came down with strep throat; I never mentioned it to Kenny. I called it our house of pain because I was running into the bathroom and spraying my throat with Chloraseptic and he was strumming the guitar, which was obviously causing pain. We ended up creating the verse and the chorus of the song. And I had enough to go back to L.A. and say to the executives, ‘He’s in.’” 

R.E.M.  

“Losing My Religion”  
Written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe 

The second song on the band’s seventh album, Out of Time, spent 21 weeks on the Hot 100, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017 and in 2022 reached one billion YouTube views. But as Mike Mills recalls, it didn’t scream hit. “It’s a five-minute song with no chorus and the lead-in is a mandolin. It was a really cool song… but that is not a recipe for a hit single. We never really thought about songs in terms of, ‘This is going to be a big hit.’ We just wrote the best songs we could. And we always tried to make timeless records. That song was driven by our desire to explore different instruments and ways of writing, [since] we were really writing good songs at that point. And it tapped into a zeitgeist that really worked. I believe in the record company’s mind it was sort of a warm-up track for ‘Shiny Happy People’ or some other thing they thought would be a big hit,” he says.  

“Peter [Buck] had begun playing the mandolin all the way back to [our 1988 sixth album] Green and was becoming very proficient, and he came up with basically the whole song. As I remember, when he showed it to us it was fully formed so all we had to do was come up with our parts. I was having a little difficulty with the bass line. It needed to have some element of identity without getting in the way of the mandolin. And I thought, ‘What would John McVie do? I tried to put myself in John McVie’s head and came up with a very simply change that, to me, made all the difference. It’s a simple low F sharp before the minor E chord. That’s all it was, but it gave the song a little bit of darkness. It’s the only time I recall turning to another bass player for help, as it were.” 

Timbaland 

“SexyBack” 
Co-written with Justin Timberlake, Nate “Danja” Hills 
Recorded by Justin Timberlake 

Co-written and produced by Tim Mosely, aka Timbaland, the song that served as a re-introduction for Justin Timberlake was certified three times platinum by the RIAA and delivered him a No. 1 on the Hot 100 in September 2006. “It all started by really being bold,” Timbaland recalls. “We knew people were going to love it — and we knew especially the women would go crazy. Because it was a call-to-action song. It makes you feel good and has something about it that gets your attention. What we were going for was that old David Bowie sound, back in the day when rock n’ roll was in a disruptive space. We were trying to re-create that in [Timberlake’s 2006 sophomore album] FutureSex/LoveSounds. We were going for something different. I thought the way Justin approached it was so futuristic but felt so nostalgic that I knew it was going to shock the world. People were used to him coming off *NSYNC. And the funny thing is, the label came in and they were like, ‘What is this?’ But we knew what it was. We knew it was disruptive. It’s like that Michael Jackson Thriller moment.”

“When we were coming up with the song, Justin was like, ‘This song feels like I’m bringing sexy back.’ And I said, “Yeah.” The way I talk is in rhythm, so ‘yeah’ came out [and] it just fit in the track. And he was like, ‘This is it; this is the song.’ And I thought we should really swag it out, so we did. I was more fascinated about the sound taking over the world than it being No. 1, to be honest. I think what we did was we made dance music come back. And that to me was the moment. My real impact was, ‘Did we change how people view [Justin]?’ Yes, we did that.” 

Diane Warren  

“I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” recorded by Aerosmith; 
“Here’s To The Nights,” recorded by Ringo Starr and friends

Warren delivered Aerosmith’s only No. 1 on the Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks in 1998 — one of the songwriting legend’s nine chart-topping hits. “I never, ever thought Aerosmith would do my song. They just don’t do that. I wasn’t in the studio when they were recording so it went from me teaching Steven Tyler the song at the piano to someone sending me the CD and hearing the finished record. I was blown out of my chair; it was so great. I think to this day I’m the only outside songwriter [they’ve worked with].

And while Warren has already received a Grammy, a Primetime Emmy, two Golden Globes, 15 Oscar nominations, and in 2022 became the first-ever songwriter to receive a Governor’s Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, she says the “coolest thing that’s ever happened” is getting two members of the Beatles on her song, “Here’s to the Nights.” As she recalls, “A few years ago Ringo asked me for a song and it was basically, ‘Here’s to the nights we won’t remember with the friends we won’t forget.’ My idea when I gave him the song was, ‘Let’s get your old friends and some new friends on there singing along.’ And my whole intention was to get Paul McCartney. And Paul McCartney was the first person who said yes to Ringo. So I have two f—ing Beatles on my song. And also the other artists on that song — Lenny Kravitz, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, Sheryl Crow, Finneas… it’s a Who’s Who.” 

Despite such memories, Warren insists, “I’m writing my best songs now. I’m working with so many great artists in all genres, whether its country or Afrobeats, whether its Angélique Kidjo to Kesha, or David Guetta in the dance world with Steve Aoki. I just did a great song with The War and Treaty that I think is going to be their career song. It’s one of those songs when you hear it you stop everything and listen. I just heard a mix and I was in tears. I love to do a song that changes someone’s life, whether it’s a new artist or an established artist.”

A version of this story originally appeared in the June 8, 2024, issue of Billboard.

11 Jun 2024

Steve Carell Recalls the Moment He Became a Lifelong Taylor Swift Fan: ‘Boy, She Seems Special’

Steve Carell loves Taylor Swift, and he isn’t just a bandwagon fan, either. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Monday (June 10), the actor opened up about meeting the pop star for the first time many years ago, revealing the moment he knew he was going to be a lifelong Swiftie. 

According to Carell, he and Swift first crossed paths when they both appeared on MTV’s TRL, hosted by Carson Daly. “[It was] early on in my career and hers, too,” the Despicable Me star said. “I met her sort of in passing, and I thought, ‘Boy, she seems special.’ Even back then. Very sweet, very nice, just had a really nice first impression.” 

A few years later, Carell said he came across a sweet video of the “Anti-Hero” singer performing for a pediatric care patient in a hospital. “I remember seeing some video of her — and it wasn’t like a big, viral thing, it was just something I found in the recesses of the internet — it was her in a hospital, playing an acoustic guitar for a patient there,” he told Fallon.  

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“It was no big crew, it was, like, a really low-key, handheld thing she did on the sly,” Carell added. “I thought, ‘That’s so cool.’ Not publicized, leading with her heart. I thought, ‘OK, I’m a fan. I am going to root for that person.’” 

It’s not the first time the actor — who is currently starring in Uncle Vanya on Broadway — has expressed his admiration for Swift. In a viral moment from a 2014 interview, Carell burst into a spontaneous performance of “Shake It Off,” after which he gushed, “I love it. I actually love Taylor Swift. I think she’s great.”  

A couple years prior, Swift seemingly paid tribute to Carell and his The Office castmates by parodying the show behind the scenes of her “Ours” music video shoot.  

Watch Steve Carell discuss his love for Taylor Swift on The Tonight Show above. 

11 Jun 2024

Flavor Flav Joins Forces With ‘His Favorite Restaurant’ Red Lobster for Crabfest Ad

Flavor Flav has teamed up with Red Lobster a week after buying out the seafood chain’s entire menu in an effort to help save the company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May. The Public Enemy rapper stars in Red Lobster’s Crab Your Way campaign ad, which was rolled out on Monday (June 10).

In celebration of the upcoming Crabfest, Flav voices the commercial, launching a pair of new flavors in Cajun Butter and Roasted Garlic Butter.

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“When @flavorflavofficial says he wants to rally all the Red Lobster fans the only appropriate response is yeahhhhh boyeeeee,” he and the restaurant chain wrote on Instagram.

The 65-year-old also hopped into Red Lobster’s comments section of the joint post to thank the fans for helping him go viral, which put the idea of a partnership between Flav and the company in motion.

“Y’ALL WE DID THIS TOGETHER!!!, All it took was ya boy going viral to get a partnership with his favorite restaurant,!!! YEAH BOYYYEEEE,!!!,” he added.

Red Lobster’s chief experience officer Sara Bittorf made sure to remind fans that amid bankruptcy claims, the company is “here to stay.”

“We love seeing our fans show up and rally for us, so when Flavor Flav reached out, we answered the call and invited him to join us in reminding fans we’re here to stay,” she said in a statement.

Per the Associated Press, Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy protection in May after shuttering dozens of locations across the United States.

However, the company is planning to continue operating its 600 restaurants. “This restructuring is the best path forward for Red Lobster. It allows us to address several financial and operational challenges and emerge stronger and re-focused on our growth,” CEO Jonathan Tibus said at the time.

Watch the Red Lobster x Flavor Flav commercial below.

11 Jun 2024

With Her Debut Album ‘Dopamine,’ Normani is ‘Finally Stepping Into Who I’ve Been Called to Be’

Are you ready for Normani‘s debut album to drop this week? Because she definitely is.

Dopamine is set to arrive this Friday, June 14, via RCA Records. Normani knows her fanbase has been clamoring for her first full-length album for the last few years, which obviously came with “pressure. Everybody not necessarily knowing what is going on within the process or within my personal life. … I’m just grateful that everybody is just really excited still for this album and for this body of work. They’ve waited on me, which I don’t really take for granted,” she tells Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly.



Dopamine is meant to reflect Normani “finally stepping into who I’ve been called to be. There’s been so much adversity and so many roadblocks just in the process of putting this body of work out, you have no idea. I could actually probably write a book,” she claims, adding that “shifting teams… has honestly been one of the greatest blessings.” The former Fifth Harmony member parted ways with her former management company, Brandon Silverstein‘s S10 Entertainment, and signed a new management deal to Brandon Creed and Lydia Asrat through his Good World Management and her Q10 in August 2023.

Ahead of Dopamine‘s release, Normani has dropped two singles: “1:59,” featuring Gunna, and the hotly-anticipated “Candy Paint.” After she dropped the Cardi B-assisted “Wild Side” single three years ago, “1:59” “bridged the gap from ‘Wild Side’ to where I am now. It feels cohesive, it felt like it made sense but it felt like an evolved version of me,” Normani says in her Billboard News interview, adding that working with Gunna felt “organic”. “We met at a football game, and we just talked about working together. And management was just like, ‘Yo, what about “1:59″?’ ‘Cause we wanted to do a record together, and he loved it. It was just immediate. I remember playing it for him, and then I also have a record on his project.” Gunna also featured Normani on “$$$” from his latest album One of Wun.

As for “Candy Paint,” fans had been eating it up since Normani teased it more than a year ago and then featured a snippet of it during a Bose commercial. “As soon as it comes on, it’s infectious. It doesn’t sound like, to me, anything that’s out right now, but it kind of has that nostalgia,” she explains. “Any record that I’m creating or whether it’s even a visual, I love the early 2000s. Everybody knows that, like late ’90s, early 2000s. I’m heavily influenced and inspired by artists during that time. And even the sonics and the production, so you’re gonna hear that a lot throughout the album.”

Specifically, she named Janet Jackson as one of the “most influential artists” in her life, which she’s made very clear in the past: She performed “The Pleasure Principle” at the 2018 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, when Jackson received the BMI Icon award, and she paid tribute to Jackson’s iconic “Would You Mind” performance during her All For You tour during her “Wild Side” performance at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. “She’s definitely paved the way, and when I think of the women that I aspire to follow the footsteps of, she’s definitely up there. And she’s had so much impact on me, so sonically, you’ll be able to hear the inspiration,” Normani adds.

Watch Normani’s full Billboard News interview above.

11 Jun 2024

Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight & More Bring a Joyous Celebration of Juneteenth to the White House

Gladys Knight glistened through renditions of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Patti LaBelle kicked off her shoes during a spirited rendering of “Oh, People.” Kirk Franklin took the crowd to church and brought Vice President Kamala Harris on stage for a twirl, and Charlie Wilson closed things down with an extended call and repeat after declaring, “Our ancestors are smiling down on us celebrating something that would have seemed unfathomable.”

The second White House concert in celebration of Juneteenth, held on Monday (June 10), was a joyous affair from start to finish. The performances were bookended by opening remarks from VP Harris and closing comments from President Joe Biden, who both stayed for the entire event that took place three years after Biden signed bipartisan legislation establishing June 19 as a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.

“Next Wednesday, across our nation, Americans will come together with generations of loved ones to celebrate Black excellence and leadership, culture and community, resilience and resistance,” said Harris. “And to remember our nation’s history in full.”

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“The White House lawn’s never seen anything like this before,” Biden noted, before warning that “old ghosts in new garments are trying to take us back” in time. “Taking away your freedoms, making it harder for Black people to vote or have your vote counted. Closing doors of opportunity, attacking the values of diversity, equity and inclusion. If you can believe it, banning books about Black experience. Black history is American history.”

Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris dances with US singer Kirk Franklin during a Juneteenth Concert in the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on June 10, 2024.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Musical performances spanned a gamut of genres and decades. Anthony Hamilton, Brittney Spencer, Trombone Shorty, Raheem Devaughn, Doug E. Fresh and Patina Miller also took the stage.

And while the South Lawn was alight with dancing and jubilation, host Roy Wood Jr. made sure attendees — including Billy Porter, George Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd and sister-in-law Keeta Floyd, leaders of the National Black Caucus, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and dozens of federal and state lawmakers including Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) — remembered the reason for the celebration.

Between musical acts and his own humorous quips, the comedian-actor provided context by outlining the chapters and principal players of Juneteenth history. “It’s important to know how we got all the way from enslavement to the first Black woman vice president and the first Black woman on the Supreme Court,” he said, referring to Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Franklin told Billboard pre-show that because of his Texas roots, Juneteenth has been an integral part of his life since childhood. “Now, for it to be celebrated within the framework of American culture is a very important transition because it gives credence to those moments in time where revisionist history somewhat erased those valuable contributions that people of color made to this country,” he said. “When we have allies in every corner of the American experience, it makes these moments even stronger. When we can celebrate those that were forgotten, overlooked, that were not given the same opportunities and freedoms … Juneteenth definitely is one of those eras in history that I love to see that we are reimagining and rewriting so the next generation can understand the value and importance of trying to get it right.”

Being able to come together through music, he added, is gift. “Especially the kind of music that I do. To do spiritual music, to do gospel music … those were the sounds that were echoing through the chambers of the Black experience during that era, and they were also the songs that were coded and road maps to freedom. Gospel music has always been that beacon of light for our people in one of the darkest of times. So to be here to be the representative of the genre is very humbling.”

11 Jun 2024

Jelly Roll Calls Surprise Eminem Duet the ‘Coolest Moment’ of His Career So Far

Jelly Roll doesn’t have to think too far back to remember his favorite moment of his career so far. Shortly after his surprise performance with Eminem aired over the weekend on NBC’s Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central, the country star gushed that the moment marks a new professional high in an interview with Entertainment Tonight published Monday (June 10).  

“When I think about coolest moments of my career, right now at the top, there has to be this thing that I got to go sing with Eminem in Detroit,” he told the outlet. “I got to sing ‘Sing for the Moment’ with him, which is a record where he sampled Steven Tyler. I mean, just what an incredible night and I got to go do it in Detroit. It was unreal.” 

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The performance was taped Thursday (June 6) and featured Jelly singing parts of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” to support Em, who also performed his new single “Houdini” that night. According to the “Son of a Sinner” singer, it was the rapper’s idea to do a duet. 

“Em reached out, his team reached out and said, ‘Would you be interested in doing this since he was already there doing the secret tribute?’” Jelly recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke until I met Eminem himself … As soon as I met Eminem, it was like the coolest moment ever, man.” 

His first meeting with Slim Shady was captured in a video posted by Bunnie XO, who is married to Jelly. In the clip, the ACM Award-winner removes his cap with awe and gives Em a big hug. “When the goat meets the GOAT,” the entrepreneur captioned the clip. 

“I was giddy, like a child,” Jelly added in the interview. “You could see it all over my performance. Just the kid in me. I thought the camera was off of me. So as soon as I get through singing, I’m like, ‘Whoa,’ I just let this steamroller out. It’s really cool.” 

The musician is currently in the process of finishing his new album, which will follow 2023’s hit Whitsitt Chapel. In preparation, he’s been steadily debuting unreleased tracks in performances, such as “I Am Not OK” on The Voice and “Liar” at the 2024 ACM Awards. 

“This has been my whole life the last 11 months,” Jelly said in the ET interview. “I have been drowning in this album. I’ve never wrote more songs. I’ve never took it more serious and I’m probably gonna release more music this year than I’ve ever released in a year of my career.” 

11 Jun 2024

III Points 2024 Lineup to Feature Massive Attack, Rick Ross, ISOxo, Kaytranada & More

Miami’s III Points festival has announced its full 2024 lineup. The bill includes trip-hop legends Massive Attack, French superstars Justice, U.K. favorites Disclosure, Jamie xx, PinkPantheress and Jungle, rappers Rick Ross and Yung Lean, white hot bass producer ISOxo, hard techno phenom Sara Landry, Kaytranada and Rezz, Brazilian producers Jungle and Mochakk, along with Arca, Cloonee, Pawsa and many more.

Along with these internationally known names, the electronic festival will feature a load of local talent from the South Florida region.

III Points, which hosts approximately 50,000 attendees, returns to Miami’s Mana Wynwood Oct. 18-20. Tickets are on sale now.

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“I think it’s just very authentically Miami, and a real time capsule of Miami sonically and visually right now,” III Points co-founder David Sinopoli told Billboard of the festival in 2023. “I think people feel that when they come.”

III Points has been a staple of the Miami festival scene since its launch in 2013. Its co-founder Sinopoli is also the co-owner of the city’s famed nightclub Space, which he, along with Davide Danese and Coloma Kaboomsky, took over in 2016. Space is currently closed for the summer as it undergoes renovations that its owners announced will “allow us to dance together for many years to come.” The club is scheduled to reopen this fall.

Sinopoli is also the owner and operator of Miami’s Factory Town, a 190,000-square foot arts and nightlife complex built in a World War II-era mattress factory, as well as the city’s cocktail bar Floyd and sound room Jolene. In 2019, III Points partnered with electronic festival giant Insomniac Events, as the company took an ownership stake in Space and became partners in all of Sinopoli’s business ventures.

See the III Points lineup below:

11 Jun 2024

Christian Nodal Speaks Out About His New Romance With Ángela Aguilar & Split From Cazzu: Watch

Christian Nodal opened up to his fans about his current relationship with singer-songwriter Ángela Aguilar, following the confirmation of their romance. Speaking candidly in a video post to Instagram in the early morning hours of Tuesday (June 11), Nodal expressed his respect and ongoing love for his former partner, Argentine star Cazzu, and emphasized the amicable nature of their breakup.

“I know that today, many people found out that officially Angela and I have a relationship. Since I don’t like gossip, making up stories, out of respect for my ex-partner, out of respect for my daughter, out of respect for my current partner, I wanted to come out and give you a little context,” he said in the video.

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Nodal refuted rumors of infidelity, insisting that there were no third parties involved in the end of his previous relationship.

“First of all, Julieta is a person I love and who has my respect for life. We are public figures, we are artists, but we are not masters at life,” added Nodal, using Cazzu’s real name — Julieta Cazzucheli. “Love doesn’t always work. Our cycle together ended in the best possible way. It was a love that gave us the most precious gift that could have come to us in life, the most beautiful thing we could have done together, which is Inti, my daughter, who I will always love, who I will always take care of. And in that relationship there will never be a third party, there was never any infidelity.”

“Now I find myself living a precious experience with a woman I love, with a love that took so many years for what is happening to happen and we are enjoying it, we are living the experience,” he said about his new romance with Aguilar.

The video addressing his new romance comes just one day after Nodal confirmed the relationship.

Billboard Español has reached out to Nodal’s representatives for comment. The mariacheño superstar is currently touring the United States with his Pa’l Cora Tour.

Watch Christian Nodal’s full statement below:

11 Jun 2024

Celine Dion Vows to Fight On Against Stiff-Person Syndrome For Sake of Sons: ‘I Don’t Want Them To Be Scared’

Celine Dion was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune and neurological disorder Stiff-Person Syndrome in 2022, six years after she lost the love of her life, husband René Angélil, to throat cancer. Now, in an People magazine cover story, the singer reveals that her three sons with Angélil are the driving force behind her relentless fight against the disease that can cause painful muscle spasms and difficulty breathing and walking.

“I barely could walk at one point, and I was missing very much living. My kids started to notice. I was like, ‘Okay, they already lost a parent. I don’t want them to be scared,’” said Dion, 56, of the reactions from René-Charles (23) and 13-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy. “I let them know, ‘You lost your dad, [but] mom has a condition and it’s different. I’m not going to die. It’s something that I’m going to learn to live with.”

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While the symptoms of the chronic disorder began appearing in the mid-2000s, they got progressively worse, until Dion made the announcement in Dec. 2022 that she’d been diagnosed with the incurable ailment that caused her to cancel a planned tour that year. Dion talks about the difficult road to recovery in the upcoming Prime Video documentary I Am: Celine Dion (June 25) in which she vows to find a way to make it back on stage for her fans. “If I can’t run, I’ll walk,” she says in the film. “If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl… I won’t stop.”

NBC has been previewing tonight’s (June 11) one-hour primetime special sit-down with Dion in which the powerhouse Canadian vocalist described the decision to come clean with her fans, saying, “the burden was like too much.” In a previous preview, Dion described the agonizing pain she’s endured, saying it feels like “somebody is strangling you… It’s like somebody is pushing your larynx/pharynx this way [raises voice]. It was like talking like that, and you cannot go high or lower. It gets into a spasm,” adding that she’s broken ribs as a result of the powerful spasms caused by the disorder.

In the latest teaser, Dion said she’s spent her entire life in the industry being a performer and “loving every moment of it,” pointedly adding, “this passion will never go away.” Speaking to the Today Show‘s Hoda Kotb, Dion says she began to feel like something was off when her body was getting “more rigid” during a show in Germany on her 2008-2009 Taking Chances tour when her vocal cords began to spasm and she described being “very, very, very scared.”

The panic led to more spasms and she immediately noticed her vocals were getting more nasal, so she lowered the keys on the songs in order to gain a measure of control over a situation she could tell she could not control. In the documentary, Dion admits to lying to her precious fans at the time and blaming her issues on a sinus infection, but in hindsight, she tells Kotb, she should have taken the time to figure out what was actually going on at a time when husband Angélil was fighting for his life.

“Lying for me… the burden was too much,” Dion tells Kotb. After a decade of testing and treatment Dion got her answer, which she shared with her fans in a 2022 statement. Now, after years of intense physical therapy, vocal rehab and medication, Dion vows to Kotb that she will be back on stage some day, “even if I have to crawl… even if I have to talk with my hands. I will. I will.” Kotb hints that Dion has already planned her return to stage, but has not yet announced when that will be.

The full interview will air during a one-hour primetime special on NBC on Tuesday (June 11) at 10 p.m. ET.

Watch a preview of tonight’s NBC special below.