Music

04 Feb 2024

Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Ties for Most Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200 by a Country Album

Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for an 18th nonconsecutive week, rising 2-1 on the list dated Feb. 10. In doing so, it ties Garth Brooks’ Ropin’ the Wind for the most weeks totaled No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart among country albums. Ropin’ the Wind logged 18 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1991-92. (Country albums are defined as those that have appeared on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.)

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One Thing at a Time earned 66,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 1 (up 4%), according to Luminate.

One Thing at a Time continues to have the most weeks at No. 1 among all albums since Adele’s 21 logged 24 nonconsecutive weeks atop the tally in 2011-12. One Thing at a Time debuted atop the chart dated March 18, 2023, and spent its first 12 weeks at No. 1 through early June. It then logged another three weeks in a row atop the list in late June and early July, nabbed its 16th week in charge on the Oct. 14 chart, followed by its 17th frame atop the Jan. 20 chart. In the album’s 48 weeks on the list, it has never dipped below No. 6. One Thing at a Time finished 2023 as both the No. 1 year-end Billboard 200 album and Luminate’s year-end top album.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Feb. 10, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 6. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of One Thing at a Time’s 66,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Feb. 1, SEA units comprise 64,000 (up 4%, equaling 87.32 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 1,500 (down 8%), and TEA units comprise 500 (down 1%).

Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956, only 15 albums have spent at least 18 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Here’s a recap.

Most Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200:
Weeks at No. 1, Title, Artist, Year(s)
54, West Side Story, soundtrack, 1962-63)
37, Thriller, Michael Jackson, 1983-84
31, Rumours, Fleetwood Mac, 1977
31, South Pacific, soundtrack, 1958-59
31, Calypso, Harry Belafonte, 1956-57
24, 21, Adele, 2011-12
24, Purple Rain, soundtrack, Prince and The Revolution, 1984-85
24, Saturday Night Fever, soundtrack, 1978
21, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, M.C. Hammer, 1990
20, The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston/soundtrack, 1992-93
20, Blue Hawaii, Elvis Presley/soundtrack, 1961-62
18, One Thing at a Time, Morgan Wallen, 2023-24
18, Ropin’ the Wind, Garth Brooks, 1991-92
18, Dirty Dancing, soundtrack, 1987-88
18, More of the Monkees, The Monkees, 1967

Two former No. 1s directly follow One Thing at a Time on the latest Billboard 200, as 21 Savage’s American Dream falls 1-2 in its third week (61,000 equivalent album units; down 23%) and Drake’s For All the Dogs is a non-mover at No. 3 (51,000; down 4%).

Noah Kahan’s Stick Season rises 5-4 with 47,000 equivalent album units, though down 2% for the week.

The rest of the top 10 comprises former chart-toppers: Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) climbs 6-5 (45,000 equivalent album units; down 3%), SZA’s SOS steps 7-6 (42,000; up 3%), Swift’s Lover bumps 10-7 (40,000; up 6%), Zach Bryan’s self-titled album ascends 9-8 (nearly 40,000; up 3%), Swift’s Midnights climbs 11-9 (38,000; up 1%) and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album goes 13-10 (37,000; up 6%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

04 Feb 2024

Ayo Edebiri Seemingly Apologizes for Jennifer Lopez Podcast Remarks in ‘SNL’ Sketch: Watch

Ayo Edebiri is poking fun at herself on Saturday Night Live.

The Emmy-winning The Bear actress, who hosted the Feb. 3 episode of the iconic NBC comedy show, appeared in the sketch “Why’d You Say It,” where game show contestants are asked to explain why they left unsavory comments on other people’s Instagram posts.

After being grilled by the game show’s host (played by SNL cast member Kenan Thompson) about why she left the comment “Die” under a video post where actress Drew Barrymore is enjoying a rainy day, Edebiri’s character Annie tries to give excuses for her negative reaction before finally admitting the truth.

“I meant die, like I’m dying! I love this vid so much,” she says while being interrupted by a wrong answer buzzer. “I meant slay, but I forgot the word. I saw someone being happy and wanted them to feel the exact opposite.”

Thompson quickly responds, “That’s close but it’s not the right answer,” to which Edebiri finally gives the correct reply. “I’m alone a lot, some days I don’t even interact with another human being. And I start wondering, am I dead? Is life even real? So I post comments that I think will get a response from someone because that’s the only way to be certain I am alive.”

Later in the skit, Edebiri’s Annie breaks down and seemingly addresses comments she made in real life about Jennifer Lopez — who also appeared as the SNL episode’s musical guest — during a 2020 appearance on the podcast Scam Goddess, where she told host Laci Mosley that J.Lo’s music career was “one long scam.”

“OK, OK! We get it. It’s wrong to leave mean comments or post comments just for clout — or run your mouth on a podcast and you don’t consider the impact because you’re 24 and stupid,” Edebiri’s Annie says in the sketch. “But I think I speak for everyone when I say, from now on, we’re going to be a lot more thoughtful about what we post online.”

Watch the “Why’d You Say It” SNL skit below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.

04 Feb 2024

BMAC x Billboard Action Awards: See the Photos

In celebration of Grammy Week and the kickoff of Black History Month, BMAC presented a trio of events in the name of service and fun. Capping the organization’s week of events in Los Angeles were the BMAC x Billboard Action Awards in conjunction with an Economic Justice Summit (Feb. 2) held at United Talent Agency (UTA) in Beverly Hills.

Representative Cori Bush (D-Missouri) and Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-New Yok) were special guests. A panel discussion moderated by BMAC CEO Willie “Prophet” Stiggers addressed ways to use the power of music to create economic justice. The conversation featured  Michael Tubbs, the former mayor of Stockton, Calif., Creatives Rebuild NY’s Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s John Sykes and Billboard editorial director Hannah Karp. An exclusive clip from the forthcoming documentary It’s Basic was also screened. The film spotlights families who have been empowered  by guaranteed  income programs. Tubbs, who established the first guaranteed income program during his tenure as Stockton’s mayor, is the executive producer of It’s Basic.

Earlier in the week, BMAC rolled out the first of its three events with the exclusive Music Maker Dinner (Jan. 31) hosted in collaboration with Grammy-winning production/songwriting team Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Stiggers doubled as emcee for the festivities, which included presentations to the winners of the 2024 BMAC x ASCAP x Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Music Maker Grant: Mikaili Ector and Zaire Porter. Current seven-time Grammy nominee Victoria Monét was on hand as well to announce the BMAC x Victoria Monét Music Maker Grant, which will award a Black emerging artist $5,000. Among the additional industry executives and artists gathered inside nightspot Delilah were Jermaine Dupri (who DJ’d too), Babyface, Muni Long, Flavor Flav, Teedra Moses and BMAC board members.

Black-owned media and Black journalists were saluted by BMAC and BOMESI (Black Owned Media Equity & Sustainability Institute) during a media mixer (Feb. 1) at Live Nation in Beverly Hills. The event’s centerpiece was a panel discussion moderated by Stiggers that provided insights from panelists Rhonesha Byng (CEO, Her Agenda; BOMESI co-founder), James DuBose (CEO, In the Black Network), Tasha Hilton (BET senior director of marketing) and Grouchy Greg Watkins (co-founder, AllHipHop).

See all of the behind-the-scenes photos from BMAC x Billboard Action Awards below.

04 Feb 2024

Jennifer Lopez Suffers Hair Malfunction While Performing With Latto & Redman on ‘SNL’: Watch

Jennifer Lopez delivered another pair of standout performances on Saturday Night Live.

During her Feb. 3 appearance on the iconic NBC sketch comedy show, hosted by Emmy-winning The Bear star Ayo Edebiri, the 54-year-old superstar singer and actress performed two songs from her upcoming ninth studio album, This Is Me… Now.

For her first dazzling performance, J.Lo was joined by rappers Latto and Redman on a new version of “Can’t Get Enough,” the first single from her forthcoming album. While performing the breezy, summery track in a stylish cropped black-and-white suit, Lopez suffered a slight hair malfunction and was spotted ripping out a hair extension as she expertly executed her impressive dance moves.

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For her second song, with an intro from Edebri, J.Lo stepped out in a jaw-dropping flowery pink dress to perform “This Is Me… Now,” the title track of her new album. This marked Lopez’s fourth appearance as musical guest on SNL. She last appeared on the late-night show as host in 2019 and most recently performed in 2010.

The singer-actress is promoting her upcoming album, This Is Me… Now, which is scheduled to arrive on Feb. 16. The project, dubbed a “musical experience,” serves as a sequel to 2002’s This Is Me… Then. Last month, she released the project’s first single “Can’t Get Enough,” followed by a remix with Latto. In January, Edebiri took home the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Sydney in The Bear as well as the Golden Globe for best actress – television series musical or comedy.

Watch Lopez’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=PRe9iNMlhcU&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent


https://youtube.com/watch?v=LpRL3qvSYzc&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

04 Feb 2024

Clive Davis’ Pre-Grammy Party Brings Memorable Performances by Green Day, Jelly Roll, Josh Groban & More

At Clive Davis’ and the Recording Academy’s annual pre-Grammy gala on Saturday night (Feb. 3), two-time Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks proved to be an incredibly effective hype man. The actor delivered a six-minute intro for the legendary record executive, listing more than 50 artists that Davis discovered or worked with, concluding with only slight irony that “the only reason the names Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky haven’t been mentioned is because they all died before Clive Davis graduated from Harvard [and] before he got a desk and a phone at Columbia Records.” 

Davis arrived on stage at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., to thunderous applause as he pledged once again to deliver an unforgettable evening, as he has since the party started 48 years ago. 

“So, this night is really so special for me and I hope for all of you,” Davis said. “I look out among you, and I see so many familiar faces. You know, the whole thing began long ago in 1976 and I really have to pinch myself that it’s going still so strong. I mean, the demand this year has just been incredible. I’m happy to say that music is alive and well and that you all see the best of the new tonight, as well as the best of those artists who inspire all of us with the truly electrifying length of their careers.”

As usual, the room included some of the biggest stars in the world, including Cher, Mariah Carey and Meryl Streep (sitting with her daughter Grace Gummer and Gummer’s husband, producer Mark Ronson), as well as Lenny Kravitz, Serena Williams, Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson; Scottie Pippen, Cameron Crowe, Peter Asher, Gayle King, Max Martin, Shania Twain, Adrian Brody, Jon Bon Jovi, Paris Hilton, Smokey Robinson and, attending for the 24th consecutive year, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband, Paul. 

Meryl Streep, Clive Davis, Cher, Tom Corson

Meryl Streep, Clive Davis, Cher, and co-chairman/COO of Warner Records Tom Corson attend the Pre-Grammy Gala & Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Jon Platt at The Beverly Hilton on February 3, 2024 in Los Angeles.

Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

But the brightest stars were on the stage as an incredibly diverse rosters of artists performed. Green Day, introduced by Williams, who called herself the band’s “mascot,” opened the evening with exhilarating performances of “American Idiot” and “Basket Case.”

Next, in a delightful gender twist, Ronson and his co-writer Andrew Wyatt were joined by Lainey Wilson filling in for Ryan Gosling, for a pitch-perfect take on “I’m Just Ken,” from Barbie. The Grammy- and Oscar-nominated Ronson joked he was going into awards season with some guidance from the song about “the beauty of being a runner-up, which is a lesson I’ll try to remember tomorrow night [at the Grammys].” (He’s already emerged a winner with the song triumphing as best song at the Critics Choice Awards in January). 

As promised, the evening heavily focused on developing acts, all of them nominated for best new artist this year, who have broken through with defining songs over the past several months. Ice Spice sassily strutted across the stage during “Deli,” while Noah Kahan introduced himself as “Mumford’s son,” a totally appropriate description for his folk sound, as he delivered strong, tuneful renditions of “Stick Season” and “Dial Drunk.” (His banjo-driven performance begs for him to tour with Mumford & Sons as a strong double bill). Victoria Monet, who is up for seven Grammys on Sunday (Feb. 4), danced through an energetic “On My Mama.”

Green Day attends Clive Davis pre-Grammy party in 2024

Green Day band members Mike Dirnt, Billie Joe Armstrong and Tre Cool arrive for the Recording Academy and Clive Davis’ Salute To Industry Icons pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 3, 2024.

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

But it was two fellow best new artist nominees who delivered truly starmaking turns. Following Josh Groban’s stirring, beautiful takes on two Stephen Sondheim numbers picked by Davis — Into the Woods‘ “Children Will Listen” and Sweeney Todd‘s “Not While I’m Around,” the Tony-nominated artist was joined by Michael Trotter, one-half of best new artist-nominated duo, The War and Treaty, for a soaring, breathtaking version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” with Trotter’s unwavering falsetto bringing the audience to it’s feet.

Though the Groban/Trotter pairing would have seemed impossible to follow, Jelly Roll took the crowd to church with two songs about his desperate search for redemption as he delivered scorching, pleading versions of “Need a Favor,” performed with a full choir, and “Save Me,” accompanied by Wilson.

Sony Music Publishing chairman and CEO Jon Platt was recognized as the 2024 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons honoree. Feted by energetic crowd-pleasing performances by Public Enemy and the Isley Brothers, two acts who had played pivotal roles in the early stages of his career, Platt took the stage shortly after midnight to receive his award. In a speech that spanned more than 30 minutes during which the fire alarm went off not once, but twice, Platt ran through a number of highlights in his illustrious career, calling the evening’s honor a full-circle moment. In 1998, Platt attended his first Davis pre-Grammy gala, then held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. There, he ran into the late former Motown president/CEO Jheryl Busby.

“He said, ‘Somebody was asking me, who do I see in the industry today that can achieve the things that I’ve achieved. …I told them, Big Jon could run the whole thing one day,’” Platt recounted. Busby’s words were life altering. “For someone to share the belief that they have in you is powerful, it is incredibly powerful. And from that day, I kind of like changed the course of my focus. I had a purpose after that, because this guy said I could run the whole thing. So, I just changed the way I acted change people I had around me, the  people I was around, so on and so forth. Everything had great intention. And so, to be here tonight, receiving the industry icon is an incredible full circle moment that I’m quite proud of.” 

In an extraordinary moment, Platt took time to acknowledge the rivalry between him and his former EMI Music Publishing colleague Jody Gerson, who is now CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group. “People think Jody and I have this complicated relationship. We do because we’re both intense competitors,” he said. “We compete incredibly hard. Beyond this competition is this deep love and respect that we have for each other. I mean you have to respect your competitors, but it goes deeper than that with me and Jody. Like I have this incredible amount of respect for her.  And Jody is the person that hired me at EMI, so in many ways she changed my life. And people always like to say when you achieve these things and you say how you did it, ‘Well, you would have did it anyway.’ Maybe not. The only thing you could do is focus on is how it happened. And that’s how it happened. Everything I’m telling you was how it happened. So, I appreciate you Jody and I truly hope that Marty [Bandier, former CEO/chairman of EMI Music Publishing and Sony/ATV Music Publishing] is proud of the legacy that we’re leaving for him.”

As the clock approached 1 a.m., the final performers took the stage to an appreciative audience as Colombian superstar Maluma sang a high-energy “Hawaii” and the iconic Gladys Knight performed “The Way We Were,” a song Knight and The Pips took to No. 11 nearly 50 years ago in 1975. She was then joined by Dionne Warwick — half the team who recorded the 1985 charity juggernaut, “That’s What Friends Were For” — with Andra Day and Keyshia Cole joining in. The crowd burst into applause when Stevie Wonder, who also appeared on the original song, played his instantly recognizable harmonica solo. Though that was supposed to be the last number, Wonder led the group in “What the World Needs Now Is Love” to usher the audience out into a rainy Los Angeles night. 

The setlist for Clive Davis and the Recording Academy’s 2024 pre-Grammy party:

Green Day — “American Idiot, “Basket Case”
Mark Ronson — “I’m Just Ken” with Lainey Wilson and Andrew Wyatt
Ice Spice — “Deli”
Noah Kahan — “Stick Season,” “Dial Drunk”
Victoria Monet — “On My Mama”
Josh Groban — Sondheim medley with “Children Will Listen” and “Not While I’m Around”
Josh Groban and Michael Trotter Jr. — “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Jelly Roll — “Need a Favor,” “Save Me” with Lainey Wilson
Public Enemy — “Can’t Truss It,” “Bring the Noise,” “Fight the Power”
Isley Brothers — “Shout”
Maluma —“Hawaii”
Gladys Knight — “The Way We Were”
Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Andra Day and Keyshia Cole —“That’s What Friends Are For,” “What the World Needs Now Is Love” 

04 Feb 2024

Gladys Knight, Members of N.W.A & More Accept 2024 Lifetime Achievement Awards From Recording Academy

The best thing about the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards, where they dispense Lifetime Achievement Awards and other career-capping honors, is the warm way the recipients reach across genres and generations to acknowledge each other. And so it was when the 2024 honors were presented on Saturday (Feb. 3) at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles.

Hip-hop innovator DJ Kool Herc, who received a Trustees Award, spied fellow honoree Gladys Knight in the front row and said of “Midnight Train to Georgia,” her 1973 classic with the Pips – “now, that’s flow.”

Ice Cube also praised Knight and the gospel singing group The Clark Sisters in his remarks, in which N.W.A received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We knew when we started to do music in 1985/1986 that a Grammy was not in the cards for the type of music we were doing, and we were cool with that. We can’t sing like Gladys or hold a note like The Clark Sisters. We wanted to make sense of the world around us, Long Beach, Compton, Watts.”

He noted that when N.W.A started out they had their lane all to themselves. “We didn’t think the whole world would be doing it. We thought it was ours. What it showed was when you do your thing, the world will come to you and you don’t have to go to the world.”

N.W.A is the fifth rap group to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in the past eight years, following Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Salt-N-Pepa. (In addition, Slick Rick, who rose to prominence in Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew, was honored on his own last year.)

In welcoming the audience to the Special Merit Awards, Ruby Marchand, the Academy’s chief awards and industry officer, said “This ceremony is a highlight of Grammy Week, so heartfelt.” That’s the right word for it. Especially since the Grammy Awards scaled up to arenas in 1997 when they were held at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time, the Special Merit Awards are seen as the warmer, more intimate show, with good feelings all around. Perhaps that’s because it’s not a competition and because these acknowledgements usually come late in the honorees’ careers, when they are in a reflective mood.

Four of the honors were presented posthumously – Lifetime Achievement Awards to Donna Summer, Tammy Wynette, Eazy-E of N.W.A and a Technical Grammy Award to sound engineer Tom Kobayashi. In addition, attorney Joel Katz, who received a Trustees Award, “[is] addressing his health concerns,” in the words of fellow attorney Jason M. Karlov, who accepted for him.

Dr. Dre, being honored as a member of N.W.A sent a text message, read by Harvey Mason, jr. CEO of the Recording Academy, in which he explained that the ceremony fell on his daughter’s birthday and he put family first, but nonetheless said “I’m honored to receive this award with my N.W.A brothers.”

Two well-chosen guest artists introduced segments. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who had a No. 1 smash on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996 with “Tha Crossroads,” a tribute to Eazy-E, presented the award to N.W.A. The members said that N.W.A “changed music, culture and America forever.” And Shelby Lynne presented the award to one of her idols, Wynette. Lynne also sang a good bit of Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” which she correctly called “a country classic for the ages.”

Wynette’s award was accepted by Tamala Jones, her daughter by George Jones. The daughter credited the Showtime miniseries George & Tammy for being a factor that may have helped Wynette, who died in 1998, finally receive this award. George Jones received the honor in 2012.

Bruce Sudano, who was married to Summer for more than 30 years, accepted Summer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, along with their daughters Mimi, Brooklyn and Amanda. He said the phone call in which he was notified of the honor stirred “feelings I didn’t anticipate. My body filled with pure joy, connected to a tear in my eye. It’s gratifying for us that, more than 10 years after her passing, her voice and music are still omnipresent in the zeitgeist.”

He credited Universal Music Group and Warner Chappell, among others, for coming up with creative ways to keep her music alive. “I’m grateful that she continues to inspire young fans, [whether newcomers or] beautiful Beyoncé and her Summer Renaissance.”

The Summer segment ended when her daughter Mimi sang a few ethereal lines from Summer’s 1977 dance/electronica classic “I Feel Love.”

Summer was the first female artist to win Grammy Awards in four different genres: R&B (“Last Dance”), rock (“Hot Stuff”), inspirational (“He’s a Rebel” and “Forgive Me”) and dance (“Carry On”).

Knight spoke emotionally about family in accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award. She noted that her mother would never allow her to sing “easy.” It had to come from a deeper place. All credit, then, to Gladys Knight’s mother for encouraging her daughter to find the perfect blend of “pain and glory” that has always been her trademark.

In 1974, Gladys Knight & the Pips became the first group to win Grammys in both pop and R&B categories the same night.

Laurie Anderson accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award with an eloquent speech. “I make music that doesn’t have a snappy name,” she said. “‘Multi-media’ is the one I dislike the least. ‘Experimental’ sounds like I’m making things in a laboratory that might explode.”

She also related three rules to live by that she and her late husband, Lou Reed, came up with.
“1) Don’t be afraid of anyone. 2) Get a really good bullshit detector. 3) Be really tender.”

Anderson could win a competitive Grammy on Sunday, one day after accepting this honorary one. She is nominated for best historical album for Words & Music, May 1965 (Deluxe Edition). Anderson is one of two of this year’s Special Merit Awardees who are current Grammy nominees. Karen Clark-Sheard of The Clark Sisters is nominated for best gospel performance/song for “God Is Good.”

Peter Asher, who received a Trustees Award, had scanned the list of previous recipients of that award, and said he found it “intimidating.” Citing in particular The Beatles, Mo Ostin, Ahmet Ertegun, Sir George Martin, Lou Adler, Carole King and Clive Davis, he said “the phrase ‘We are not worthy’ comes to mind when I get this award.”

In a video setting up the presentation, the Grammys reached back to a clip from the 1990 telecast where Asher won producer of the year, non-classical for the second time. “I would like to thank the artists I worked with,” he said. “They could very easily have made the records without me, but I certainly couldn’t have made them without them.”

There were moments of humor in the proceedings. Sound engineer Tom Scott, who received a Technical Grammy Award in tandem with his late partner Tom Kobayashi, had to sheepishly admit that even he sometimes has technical issues. “I had this [acceptance speech] on my cell phone, but it’s on a little red zone that says it has 5% power, so I had to fall back on analog,” he said, as he pulled out a printed copy of his remarks to read.

Jason M. Karlov, an attorney at Katz’s law firm, Barnes + Thornburg, said this in accepting Katz’s Trustees Award, which are generally given to non-performers. “I’ve heard Trustees Awards are not for performances but if you’ve ever known Joel, it’s a performance.”

Karlov also said that Katz feels that “his most prideful work is his 41 years of service on behalf of the Academy.” As an outside general counsel for the Recording Academy, Katz is credited with leading the negotiations for the Grammys’ 10-year, $500 million deal with CBS in 2016. (The Academy has rewarded a handful of Grammy insiders with Trustees Awards over the years, including Christine Farnon, the Academy’s first full-time employee; Pierre Cossette, who was instrumental in turning the Grammys into a live telecast; Walter C. Miller, the show’s longtime director; and Ken Ehrlich, who produced or executive produced the telecast for 40 years.)

K’naan’s “Refugee” was the Best Song for Social Change Award Honoree.This award, now in its second year, honors songwriter(s) of message-driven music that speaks to the social issues of our time and has demonstrated and inspired positive global impact.

“Refugee,” which K’naan co-wrote with Steve McEwan and Gerald Eaton, serves as a tribute to refugees around the world. K’naan, 45, was nominated in a comparable category, best video with a message, at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for “Is Anybody Out There?,” a collaboration with Nelly Furtado.

Annie Ray of Annandale High School in Annandale, Virginia, received the 2024 Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum. Ray serves as both the orchestra director and performing arts department chair at Annandale High School in the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system. “Orchestra is much more than just a class – it’s a second family,” Ray said.

03 Feb 2024

Jason Kelce Weighs In on NFL Showing Taylor Swift During Games: ‘The Audience Wants to See It’

Jason Kelce, Philadelphia Eagles center and the brother of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, praised Taylor Swift when a reporter asked how he feels about the NFL‘s unwavering attention toward her during this season’s Chiefs games.

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Taylor, who’s in a relationship with Travis, has been attending her beau’s games since late September — and the NFL’s network partners have made the most of televising cutaways to the pop star as she cheers him on. Her regular attendance at Chiefs games has boosted TV ratings, ticket sales and jersey sales, and resulted in an uptick in social media followers for NFL- and Chiefs-associated accounts.

“The attention is there because the audience wants to see it,” Jason told Caleb Noe, a reporter for Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO 9, in a recent interview. “I mean, if people didn’t want to see it, they wouldn’t be showing it. I know that.”

“She’s a world star,” Jason said. “She’s the quintessential artist right now in the world, singer-songwriter, immensely talented, unbelievable role model for young women across the globe. So I think that the NFL would probably be foolish not to, you know, show her and be a role model for all the young girls out there.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told CBS Mornings in November, “I think it’s great for the league to have that kind of attention. We welcome it.”

On the latest episode of their joint podcast New Heights, the Kelce brothers reflected on the Chiefs’ Jan. 28 AFC Championship win against the Baltimore Ravens.

Swift was in the crowd along with the Kelce family at M&T Bank Stadium in Maryland from start to finish, and afterward on the field to celebrate the Chiefs being Super Bowl-bound. She kissed Travis on live TV, and Travis audibly told her “I love you” on the field. 

“Shout-out to the newest members of the Chiefs Kingdom,” Jason joked on the Jan. 31 episode of the podcast. “Taylor Swift, who has officially reached the Super Bowl in her rookie year.” 

Swift has a show in Tokyo the day before the Super Bowl, which is taking place in Las Vegas. The Embassy of Japan is assuring fans that the superstar will have time to make it to the game after her Eras Tour plays at the Tokyo Dome from Feb. 7-10.

“The Embassy of Japan in the United States is aware of recent media reports concerning the steps Taylor Swift will need to take to travel from Tokyo after her concert on February 10th to Las Vegas in time to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play in Super Bowl LVIII,” a Feb. 2 statement read.

“Despite the 12-hour flight and 17-hour time difference, the Embassy can confidently Speak Now to say that if she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins. We know that many people in Japan are excited to experience Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, so we wanted to confirm that anyone concerned can be Fearless in knowing that this talented performer can wow Japanese audiences and still make it to Las Vegas to support the Chiefs when they take the field for the Super Bowl wearing Red.”

See the latest interview clip that had Jason Kelce talking about Swift below.

03 Feb 2024

Madonna Performs ‘This Used to Be My Playground’ Live for the First Time at Chicago Concert

Fans attending Madonna’s The Celebration Tour stop in Chicago Friday night (Feb. 2) got to hear something the Queen of Pop has never done before: perform her 1992 No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “This Used to Be My Playground” live. (Well, a bit of it, at least.)

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The song was written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone for the 1992 film A League of Their Own. Madonna co-starred in the baseball comedy-drama as “All the Way” Mae Mordabito, and the song played over the film’s end credits. Until last night, it was the only one of her 12 No. 1 Hot 100 hits that she had never performed live.

During the concert at The United Center, Madonna reminisced about filming the movie, which was a fictionalized story about the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

“I hope that you guys remember,” she told the audience, “I made a film called A League of Their Own, and I had to learn how to play baseball in this city. I was here for months! And, um, I kinda sucked in the beginning, but I got good. I got good at it. All the Way Mae, that’s right. Remember her? I learned how to play baseball in this goddamn city! And do you remember the song? While we’re taking a trip down memory lane in my retrospective [show].”

She then sang a few lines, a cappella, of the beginning of “This Used to Be My Playground,” with the crowd’s help, telling the audience, “Aww, bless you,” after they joined her. She then joked, “I thought only 10 of you would know it. Turns out 20 of you knew it. I’m just kidding.”


https://youtube.com/watch?v=s1yayUYiGoM&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

“I have very fond memories of this city, I’m just saying,” she said.

In addition to topping the Hot 100 for one week in 1992, “Playground” reached No. 2 on the Radio Songs chart and No. 4 on the Adult Contemporary airplay chart. It would also go on to score a Golden Globe Award nomination for best original song. In 2023, it ranked as Madonna’s 19th-biggest song of all time on the Hot 100 chart.

Fun fact: In 2019, Billboard asked Madonna to consider performing three songs on her then-upcoming Madame X Tour — her three Hot 100 top 10 hits that she, at that point, had never performed live before. They were “This Used to Be My Playground,” “I’ll Remember” and “Rescue Me.” During preparations for the Madame X Tour, she rehearsed “Rescue Me,” but ultimately included it in the show as a pre-recorded spoken word interlude while she was offstage.

03 Feb 2024

Justin Timberlake Performs Acoustic Version of ‘Selfish’ While Getting Over the Flu: ‘Excuse the Raspy Voice’

Justin Timberlake is under the weather but still hard at work promoting his new song “Selfish.”

The pop star posted a video of himself performing an acoustic version of the single on Instagram on Saturday (Feb. 3).

“Still getting over the flu which makes it silly to sing so excuse the raspy voice but messing around with an acoustic version of SELFISH,” Timberlake wrote to fans.

In the clip, Timberlake offered a quiet, stripped-down take of “Selfish” on acoustic guitar.

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JT has performed “Selfish,” his first solo release in more than five years, a number of times since its Jan. 25 release.

He debuted the song live at a free hometown concert in Memphis on Jan. 19. He then played a snippet of it with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots on classroom instruments for The Tonight Show on Jan. 25, and he brought the full track to the SNL stage on Jan. 27.

Timberlake also played “Selfish” for the crowd during his one-night-only show on Jan. 31 at New York City’s Irving Plaza, a concert that made headlines when he introduced his 2002 hit “Cry Me a River” by saying, “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f—ing nobody. “Cry Me a River” is believed to be about his split from Britney Spears, whom he dated from 1999 to 2002.

“Someone told me someone was talking s— about me on the streets,” Spears seemingly wrote in response on Instagram. “Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time ??? I’m not sorry !!!”

Timberlake’s remark came after Spears seemed to apologize for calling him out in her memoir, The Woman in Me, and praised his new single. “I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book. If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry,” Spears wrote in a since deleted post without naming names, before adding, “I am so in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish.’ It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard ???”

Watch Timberlake’s acoustic performance of “Selfish” in the Instagram video below. He’ll be heading out on tour beginning April 29 to support his upcoming sixth solo album, Everything I Thought It Was.

03 Feb 2024

Marilyn Manson Completes Community Service Sentence for Blowing Nose on Videographer

Marilyn Manson, who was sentenced to community service for blowing his nose on a videographer at a 2019 concert in New Hampshire, recently completed his time at an organization that provides meeting space for Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, according to court paperwork.

The shock rocker, 55, spent 20 hours last month at the Windsor Club of Glendale, a California nonprofit that provides meeting locations for Alcoholics Anonymous and families of alcoholics to “achieve a more meaningful life through recovery,” according to the group’s website.

A certificate of completion was filed by the Assistance League of Los Angeles with a New Hampshire court on Jan. 30. Manson had to file proof of his service by Feb. 4.

Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, pleaded no contest in September to the misdemeanor charge in Laconia, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Concord, the state capital.

A no contest plea means Manson did not contest the charge and did not admit guilt.

He initially was charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault stemming from the encounter with the videographer at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford on Aug. 19, 2019. The second charge, alleging that he spit on the videographer, was dropped.

Manson also was fined. He needs to remain arrest-free and notify local police of any New Hampshire performances for two years.

Prosecutor Andrew Livernois had said it was his first offense and he had no prior record.

Manson initially pleaded not guilty to both charges in 2021. His lawyer had said that the type of filming the videographer was doing commonly exposes videographers to “incidental contact” with bodily fluids.

Manson emerged as a musical star in the mid-1990s, known as much for courting public controversy as for hit songs like “The Beautiful People” and hit albums like 1996’s “Antichrist Superstar” and 1998’s “Mechanical Animals.”

Last year, a California judge threw out key sections of Manson’s lawsuit against his former fiancée, Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood, claiming she fabricated public allegations that he sexually and physically abused her during their relationship and encouraged other women to do the same. He is appealing the ruling. The judge recently ruled that Manson cover Wood’s legal fees, according to Rolling Stone.

Manson’s lawsuit, filed last year, alleges that Wood and another woman named as a defendant, Illma Gore, defamed Manson, intentionally caused him emotional distress and derailed his career in music, TV and film.

Several women have sued Manson in recent years with allegations of sexual and other abuse. Most have been dismissed or settled, including a suit filed by Game of Thrones actor Esmé Bianco.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly.