Music

13 Nov 2023

10 Cool New Pop Songs to Get You Through The Week: Cannons, Måneskin, King Mala & More

Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered.

These 10 tracks from artists including Cannons, Måneskin, King Mala and more will get you energized to take on the week. Pop any of these gems into your personal playlists — or scroll to the end of the post for a custom playlist of all 10.

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Cannons, “Heartbeat Highway”

“Heartbeat Highway” — the title track of Cannon’s fourth album — sounds just as one would expect: like the steadying soundtrack to a windows-down highway cruise. Over its career, the dance-pop act has perfected the craft of mid-tempo, breezy songs that are irresistibly soothing — and sound equally at home blasting from a car or a festival stage. – Lyndsey Havens

Sheer Mag, “Playing Favorites”

Philly rockers Sheer Mag recently announced its first album in four years, Playing Favorites, coming out this March on Third Man Records. “We put everything we’ve got into these songs and can say with confidence that it’s our best work yet,” reads an Instagram caption announcing the project. The title track is proof enough, with frontwoman Christina Halladay confidently declaring: “God it’s been such a long time / Since we laughed so hard that we cried.” – L.H.

Flowerovlove, “A Girl Like Me”

South London teen Flowerovlove has cited Tame Impala, Frank Ocean and SZA has inspiration. And yet, her sound isn’t a copy paste of any one influence, as “A Girl Like Me” blends airy psych rock production with alt-pop melodies. But the song’s strength is in her writing, which not only asks a question every girl once has (“Would a boy like you like a girl like me?”) but happily carries on without any concern over what the answer may be. – L.H.

Måneskin, “Valentine”

Italian rockers Måneskin started the year with the release of its third album Rush! and now, the band is closing the year with the release of an expanded edition titled Rush! (Are U Coming), which adds five new songs to the tracklist. The creeping, slow burn “Valentine” stands out for the way in which the entire song — from the vocals to the riffs to the tempo — seems to ache, putting a darker spin on the notion of a valentine. Classic Måneskin. – L.H.

Will Linley, “Magic”

Will Linley is an emerging South African alt-pop artist who, at the age of 22, infuses his music with a contagious and youthful feel-good energy best heard on latest single “Magic.” On the song, he describes the magical chemistry felt with a love interest — singing of the “moonlight across your face” and how they “both missed the last train home” — painting a picture of young love that is both new and nostalgic all at once. – L.H.

Girli, “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl” 

In Rita Mae Brown’s trailblazing 1973 book Rubyfruit Jungle, her protagonist likens switching from straight sex to lesbian sex as “the difference between a pair of roller skates and a Ferrari” — and the out-and-proud music of girli is very much a synth-pop celebration of that feeling. On “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl,” however, the London-based artist bemoans the fact that higher highs are followed by harder falls, and the “heart breaks harder” on a queer breakup. But with a throbbing bass line, crisp guitar riffs and a sparkling assortment of synths, girli is dancing the pain away on this preview of upcoming album Matriarchy (May 17). – Joe Lynch 

Alan Walker feat. Daya, “Heart Over Mind”

Seven years ago, Daya scored the highest-charting hit of her career so far with “Don’t Let Me Down,” an EDM smash with The Chainsmokers; now, the pop star is back in the dance world playing muse to Norwegian producer Alan Walker on the sleek, glittery “Heart Over Mind.” While Walker brings some post-chorus fireworks with laser-beam synths, Daya controls the collaboration, her vulnerability in each verse blossoming into the siren cry of the chorus. – Jason Lipshutz

Rosie Darling, “The Longest Goodbye”

“The Longest Goodbye” treads a similar piano-ballad path as “Boxes” from Rosie Darling’s recently released debut album, Lanterns, but the singer-songwriter sounds comfortably affecting in that pocket, allowing her voice to linger on phrases that help process post-breakup pain. “If all these walls could talk, you wouldn’t hear a thing / ‘Cuz all I do is cry, and no one’s listening,” Darling begins, the meter rising and falling with each dejected syllable. – J. Lipshutz

King Mala, “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad”

While “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” contains plenty of blurted-out confessions, jittery questions and defiant declarations that could power any number of TikTok trends, the standout track from King Mala’s new EP Spilt Milk also works as a snappy pop song, each hook all loose strums and handclaps. Don’t sleep on the production details, though — King Mala’s tucked-in ad-libs in particular help “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” feel like a lived-in transmission. – J. Lipshutz

Alex Warren, “Yard Sale”

One scene from the music video to Alex Warren’s new single “Yard Sale” finds the social media star hoarsely belting out the chorus while driving at dusk — purging the physical remnants of a breakup by spilling his guts from behind the wheel. With its oversized chorus and “hey!” punctuations, “Yard Sale” includes a strain of the early-2010s folk boom that make Warren’s latest a natural fit for alternative radio; this song sounds like it could be huge, and deserves to be. – J. Lipshutz

13 Nov 2023

Billie Eilish Opens Up About Being ‘Physically Attracted’ to Girls & How She’s Never ‘Felt Like a Woman’

Billie Eilish‘s sexuality, self-expression and femininity have been scrutinized under a microscope since the pop star was a teenager. Now 21, she’s ready to talk about it.

In a new cover story for Variety published Monday (Nov. 13), the “Bad Guy” singer revealed that she’s both attracted to and intimidated by other women, with the publication writing that she’s struggled in the past to feel like a “girls girl.” “I’ve never really felt like I could relate to girls very well,” she told the outlet.

“I love them so much,” she continued. “I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real … I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”

Eilish has only ever been in public relationships with men, most recently The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford before their breakup in May. The musician has been the target of queerbaiting allegations in the past, something she addressed in a 2021 interview with Elle in which she said her sexuality was no one else’s business.

And although she penned the Grammy-nominated Barbie soundtrack hit “What Was I Made For?” — which inspired an empowering trend on social media celebrating individual experiences with womanhood — Eilish says she still struggles with her identity as a woman. “I’ve never felt like a woman, to be honest with you,” she said the Variety interview. “I’ve never felt desirable. I’ve never felt feminine.”

“I have to convince myself that I’m, like, a pretty girl,” she added. “I identify as ‘she/her’ and things like that, but I’ve never really felt like a girl.”

13 Nov 2023

Graham Nash Set to Receive John Lennon Real Love Award

UPDATE (Nov. 13): Marc Cohn and Bettye LaVette have been added to the lineup for the 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Town Hall in New York. Rosanne Cash and Judy Collins were already announced as performers at the event, where Graham Nash will become the ninth recipient of the John Lennon Real Love Award.

LaVette will sing a stripped-down version of “Watching the Wheels,” a song from the 1980 Lennon/Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy that became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. She will also perform “It’s So Hard” from Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine. LaVette is making her seventh appearance at the annual tribute event.

Cohn will be making his second tribute appearance and his first in five years.

PREVIOUSLY (July 10): Graham Nash will become the ninth recipient of the John Lennon Real Love Award at the 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute on Saturday, Dec. 2, at Town Hall in New York. Previous recipients include Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, Ani DiFranco, Donovan and Rosanne Cash.

The event, staged by the nonprofit Theatre Within, will be held days before the 43rd anniversary of Lennon’s murder on Dec. 8, 1980. The award draws its name from The Beatles’ 1996 hit “Real Love,” which Lennon wrote and recorded in the 1970s.

Nash will play some of his favorite Lennon/Beatles classics and will be joined by such artists as Cash, Judy Collins and Rita Coolidge. Drummer/percussionist Rich Pagano, a founding member of the Fab Faux, will serve as music director for the 15th consecutive year.

“This is a very special award,” Nash said in a statement. “I thank Yoko [Ono] and the Theatre Within for thinking of me. Over many years, I watched John and Yoko ‘fight the good fight’ for many whose voices were not being heard, a fight that Yoko continues to this day. I’m proud to be associated with the many fine artists who were previously honored with the John Lennon Real Love Award.”

In a statement, Ono said, “With its joyful annual John Lennon Tribute and John Lennon Real Love Project, Theatre Within is furthering the vision that John and I shared for a better world.”

Nash, 81, won a Grammy in 1970 as part of Crosby, Stills & Nash, which were voted best new artist. He is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was inducted as a member of CSN in 1997 and as a member of The Hollies in 2010.

Proceeds from the Tribute support Theatre Within’s ongoing free workshops in creative expression and mindfulness, including the John Lennon Real Love Project songwriting program.

In 2023, for the fourth consecutive year, Theatre Within is providing 200 free workshops for children and adults impacted by cancer through the Red Door Community (formerly Gilda’s Club NYC) and other regional cancer support communities.

Since the John Lennon Real Love Project’s elementary and middle school program launched in the spring of 2021, Theatre Within has brought the program to 17 schools.

Tickets for Theatre Within’s 43rd Annual John Lennon Tribute will go on sale on July 22 at 12 p.m. ET at LennonTribute.org. Fans are invited to join “Friends of the Annual John Lennon Tribute” at LennonTribute.org/join-friends, where VIP packages are available.

The annual tribute is produced in association with Music Without Borders. It remains the only Lennon tribute concert in the world that is sanctioned by Ono.

13 Nov 2023

Mana & Belanova to Headline the 2024 Vive Latino Festival: See the Lineup

Maná and Belanova are headlining the 2024 Vive Latino Festival, marking the former’s debut at the emblematic rock festival and the latter’s long-awaited return to the Mexican stages. The varied Vive Latino lineup also includes Scorpions, Jorge Drexler, Silvana Estrada, Paramore, Greta Van Fleet, Fito Páez, Hombres G, and Babasónico.

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Taking place March 16 and 17, and held for the first time at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City (headquarters of Formula 1 and the Corona Capital Festival), the official announcement was made on Sunday (Nov. 12) by OCESA via social media and the official Vive Latino page, where Internet users discovered who was part of the lineup through an interactive online game.

Bad Religion, James, Semisonic, Gogol Bordello, Mexican Institute of Sound, Los Lobos, Portugal. the Man, Junior H, The Warning and San Pascualito Rey is also part of the festival’s lineup, which will gather ’80s rock, ska, Balkan music, reggae, punk and metal bands.

Although Vive Latino has opened its doors to genres such as regional Mexican and cumbia, the music festival is one of the largest and longest running festivals dedicated to Latin rock, and currently the one with the longest tradition in Mexico with 24 editions held. Given its history, the presence of Maná for the first time was a pending issue.

“CDMX, see you soon,” expressed the quartet from Guadalajara, Jalisco, on its X account, in which the group shared the festival poster.

Belanova, on the other hand, will make its comeback to the Vive Latino stage after an almost six-year hiatus. Vocalist Denisse Guerrero, keyboardist Édgar Huerta and bassist Ricardo Arreola will arrive at Mexico City after their participation in the Bésame Mucho festival, in Austin, Texas, on March 2.

In its 2024 edition, Vive Latino joined forces with Amazon, which is already preparing several innovations for the festival through its technology and multiple services. Ticket presale for Citibanamex cardholders will take place at 2 p.m. (Central Mexico time) on Wednesday (Nov. 15) through Ticketmaster Mexico.

See the full 2024 lineup below:

13 Nov 2023

Morgan Wallen to Perform at 2023 Billboard Music Awards From Atlanta Braves’ Ballpark

Morgan Wallen is the leading male finalist at the Billboard Music Awards, set for Sunday, Nov. 19, and he was just announced Monday (Nov. 13) as the latest performer on the 2023 awards show.

Wallen has 17 nods across 16 categories at the 2023 BBMAs, including top male artist, top Billboard 200 artist, and top Hot 100 artist. And he’ll use his performance on Sunday’s show not to highlight a radio single, but a fan-favorite track.

Knoxville, Tenn., native Wallen will take the stage during the awards to perform “98 Braves” and will perform at the Braves’ home field, Truist Park in Atlanta, while the country singer is in the middle of his sold-out U.S. tour.

“’98 Braves” peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, the week Wallen’s One Thing at a Time album debuted. The country superstar’s latest album spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, while its single “Last Night” spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks atop the all-genre Hot 100.

“’98 Braves” applies the similar philosophies of chance in baseball to life in lyrics such as “You win some and lose some/ It ain’t always home runs, and that’s just the way life plays.” The song was written by John Byron, Josh Miller and Travis Wood.

Wallen’s other BBMA nods include “Last Night” for top Hot 100 song, top streaming song and top country song, while he earned a second nod in the top country song category with “You Proof.”

Previously announced 2023 BBMA performers include Bebe Rexha & David Guetta, Karol G, NewJeans and Peso Pluma.

Wallen has previously won BBMA honors, including top country artist and top country male artist in 2020, as well as top country album that same year, for his 30-song project Dangerous: The Double Album.

Taylor Swift is the top finalist at the 2023 BBMAs with nods in 20 categories. Wallen and SZA are tied with 17 entries each, followed by The Weeknd (16); Drake and Zach Bryan (14); Luke Combs (10); 21 Savage, Metro Boomin and Miley Cyrus (nine each); Beyoncé and Rema (seven each); Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma (six each); and Ariana Grande, Guetta, Eslabon Armado, Karol G, NewJeans and Selena Gomez (five each).

The 2023 Billboard Music Awards Presented by Marriott Bonvoy — which will be produced by dick clark productions — will have a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Spotify “Fans First,” which will bring fans up close and personal with their favorite artists. Performances and awards will roll out across the BBMAs and Billboard social channels, as well as via BBMAs.watch on Sunday, Nov. 19. Billboard Music Awards performers will be revealed daily on BBMAs social channels.

One special BBMAs performance and two exclusive acceptance speeches will be hosted at hotel brands within the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. Additionally, Marriott Bonvoy will be providing a select group of fans access to attend five BBMAs performances via Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Other sponsors include Lexus, who will be surprising one lucky fan with VIP treatment with a private ride in a luxury Lexus vehicle to the one-of-a-kind performance.

13 Nov 2023

Dua Lipa Reveals Her Favorite Olivia Rodrigo Songs: ‘Just Super, Super Talented and Sweet’

Dua Lipa is all about spreading the love around. During an interview with the UK’s Capital FM, the singer took some calls from young listeners (aka Big Questions From Little People) who wanted to get to know her better, including a delightful young girl who just had to know which Olivia Rodrigo song is Dua’s favorite.

“So cute! I love Olivia. I think she’s so cool and just super, super talented and sweet,” the singer said about the 20-year-old “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” singer who just scored six Grammy nominations for her sophomore album, Guts. For Dua, the click to pick has to be the new album’s slashing first single, “Vampire,” though she also can’t get enough of Rodrigo’s O.G. hit, “drivers license.”

“I think the O.G. is just such a good song,” Dua said.

The singer also talked about her brand new single, “Houdini,” which she said she decided to drop right now because it felt like a “fun, dancey, clubby track to get people dancing from the kickoff.” More importantly, the singer said the banger also felt like a “clear departure” from her smash 2020 Future Nostalgia album, showing off a more psychedelic side of her music that she’s exploring on her upcoming LP with a band that includes Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, longtime collaborator Caroline Allin and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr..

“We were just buzzing on this song, it’s one of our favorites,” she said of the single.

Dua also chatted about having her song in the Barbie film and making a cameo in the summer’s biggest blockbuster and why the film’s star, Margot Robbie, is her “ultimate girl crush.”

Rodrigo is nominated in the top female artist category at the upcoming 2023 Billboard Music Awards. You can watch the BBMAs here, and via Billboard and the BBMA’s social media channels on Nov. 19.

Watch the interview below.

13 Nov 2023

Watch Taylor Swift Celebrate ‘Extraordinary’ Grammy Nominations With a Happy Dance at Eras Show

Taylor Swift performed her weekend shows in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on an awards season high following the news she’d received six Grammy nominations for her album Midnights — something she cheerfully celebrated onstage with the thousands of fans at Estadio River Plate.

Sitting at her moss-covered piano during the Evermore set of her ongoing Eras Tour, the 33-year-old pop star took a moment to thank Swifties for rallying so hard around her 2022 album. “I started off my morning by getting the extraordinary news that because of you, and because of the way you’ve supported my album Midnights, it just got nominated for six Grammys!” she told the crowd.

Swift went on to do an adorable happy dance to convey how she feels about the half-dozen nods, holding up six fingers and pumping her fists in triumph.

Midnights, which spent six weeks atop the Billboard 200 and became the first album to occupy all 10 of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, received Grammy nominations for album of the year and best pop vocal album in the Friday (Nov. 10) announcement. Its lead single, “Anti-Hero,” is also up for record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance, while “Karma” featuring Ice Spice is in the running for best duo/group performance.

Swift set a couple Grammy records this year, becoming the first songwriter in history to earn seven nods for song of the year — although she still hasn’t won in the category — while also tying Barbra Streisand for the most album of the year nominations for a female artist, Midnights marking her sixth AOTY candidate. In addition to the Grammys, the pop superstar is also the top finalist with 20 nods for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, which will stream on Sunday, Nov. 19. (The BBMAs will stream from BBMAs.watch, as well as Billboard and the BBMAs social channels.)

The Grammy recognition was far from the only newsworthy thing about Swift’s Argentina shows, however. Not only did the singer perform her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) chart-topper “Is It Over Now?” for the first time at the Saturday (Nov. 11) show, but she also changed up the lyrics to “Karma” to give her new beau Travis Kelce a special shoutout: “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me.”

Kelce and Swift were spotted kissing after the show, with the musician running into the Kansas City tight end’s arms.

Watch Swift react to her Grammy nominations onstage below:

13 Nov 2023

Follow-Ups to Grammy Album of the Year Winners That Were Also Nominated in That Category (Full List)

Jon Batiste got some very good news on Friday (Nov. 10). World Music Radio, his follow-up to We Are, which won album of the year at the Grammy Awards two years ago, was nominated in that same category.

The victory for We Are two years ago surprised most observers, as did the nomination this year for World Music Radio. The album has so far peaked at No. 104 on the Billboard 200.

In the Grammys’ 66-year history, 20 follow-ups to album of the year winners have been nominated for that same award. Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Adele each did it multiple times.

The follow-ups to several other recent album of the year winners have been nominated in their own right, including Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, her follow-up to When We All Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and Taylor Swift’s evermore, her follow-up to Folklore. (The fact that the number of nominees in each of the Big Four categories expanded from five to eight in 2018, and went as high as 10 before dropping back to eight again this year, is one of the reasons for this, along with Grammy voters’ longtime tendency to stick with a familiar favorite.)

Note: Before 1970, artists often released multiple albums in the same Grammy eligibility year. In some cases, the albums we show were not the artists’ direct follow-up albums, but they were released in the following eligibility year. For example, Barbra Streisand‘s follow-up to the Grammy-winning The Barbra Streisand Album was The Second Barbra Streisand Album, which was released in the same eligibility year (1963). In the following eligibility year, she released The Third Album, followed by People. The latter got an album of the year nod. Since it was the very next year after she won, we’re counting it. It doesn’t seem fair to leave artists out of the conversation just because at that time, albums were released at what we would now consider a torrid pace.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for the follow-up albums to three album of the year winners – Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic and Harry Styles’ Harry’s House.

Here are all the follow-ups (or following year releases) to album of the year Grammy winners that were nominated in that same category. We show the title of the follow-up that was nominated in this category, mention the Grammy winner for album of the year that it followed, and reveal how this follow-up did in the category.

13 Nov 2023

Which Song Should Win Record of the Year at the 2023 Latin Grammys? Vote!

A total of 11 songs are in the running for record of the year at the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards. The nominated tracks up for one of the most coveted awards of the night are Christina Aguilera‘s “No Es Que Te Extrañe”; Pablo Alborán‘s “Carretera y Manta”; Paula Arenas “Déjame Llorarte” featuring Jesús Navarro; Bizarrap‘s “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” featuring Shakira; Fonseca and Juan Luis Guerra’s “Si Tú Me Quieres”; Karol G‘s “Mientras Me Curo Del Cora”; Natalia Lafourcade‘s “De Todas Las Flores”; Lasso’s “Ojos Marrones”; Maluma and Marc Anthony‘s “La Fórmula”; Rosalía‘s “Despechá”; and Alejandro Sanz‘s “Correcaminos” featuring Danny Ocean.

Unlike the song of the year category, which recognizes songwriters, the recording of the year is awarded on the basis of the quality of the recording versus the composition itself regardless of whether the song is new or previously recorded. The award is presented to the artist, as well as the producer and recording engineer.

This year, Mexican songwriter-producer Edgar Barrera leads the list of nominees for the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards with 13 nods. He is followed by Camilo, Karol G, Shakira and Keityn with seven nominations each; Bizarrap with six nods; and receiving five nominations each are Pablo Alborán, Bad Bunny, Maria Becerra, Feid, Dave Cutch and Natalia Lafourcade.

The 2023 Latin Grammys — taking place for the first time internationally from the Conference and Exhibition Centre (FIBES) in Sevilla, Spain — will air at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 16, on Univision, UniMás and Galavisión in the U.S. and at 10:30 p.m. CET on Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) in Spain.

Which song should win the record of the year at the 2023 Latin Grammys? Vote in the poll below.

13 Nov 2023

Richard Bravo Talks Bittersweet Latin Grammy Bid Without Friend & Co-Nominee Camilo Valencia

When Richard Bravo attends the Latin Grammy Awards in Seville, Spain on Thursday (Nov. 16), the ceremony will be a somewhat bittersweet moment. Nominated for the first time for his own work with his dear friend Camilo Valencia, for their instrumental album Made In Miami, the Venezuelan drummer and percussionist — a three-time-Latin Grammy winner — couldn’t be more proud. But he will have to travel without the composer and main architect of the album: After undergoing a third heart transplant, Valencia died on Sept. 6, just a few days before the nominations were announced.

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“It made me very happy” to receive the nomination, Bravo tells Billboard Español, saying that he found out from friends who sent him screenshots in which his and Valencia’s names appeared. “I was in Europe and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this!’

“The first person I thought of was Camilo,” adds the artist, who is currently on tour with Juanes and will also perform with the Latin Grammys band at the awards show. “I said, ‘Wow, all the effort on this record and all the sacrifice, the time, the energy, the money, everything, and it happened.’”

Valencia, an award-winning Miami-based multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer born in Cuba, worked throughout his career with stars like Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin, Shakira, José Feliciano and many others. He was also the musical director of TV shows such as La Voz Kids, A Oscuras Pero Encendidos and Viva El Sueño, and created countless jingles for commercials with Bravo and Carlos Oliva.

“Here in Miami, not a day goes by that I turn on the radio or the TV and something that he did doesn’t come out,” says his brother, bassist Rafael Valencia, also an experienced musician who worked on the album and received a nomination for best arrangement for “Songo Bop,” his only song on Made In Miami.

He says that, before he was hospitalized, Camilo went to his house for lunch and told him that they had submitted Made In Miami for the Latin Grammy nomination for best instrumental album, and that they also sent his song for the best arrangement category. “I thought, ‘Why!?’ I liked his arrangements better,” he recalls with a laugh, before adding with emotion: “That was a gift that Camilo gave me before he left.”

Nominations were announced on Sept. 19, 13 days after his death due to unexpected complications. He was about to turn 64.

Camilo Valencia and Richard Bravo.

Camilo Valencia and Richard Bravo.

Made In Miami is the only album of his own that Camilo Valencia got to record. Comprised of 11 songs, the project pays tribute to the cultural diversity of his adoptive Miami, fusing elements of pop, jazz, funk, R&B, bebop, songo, salsa, samba and Afro-Cuban. Renowned musicians from Arturo Sandoval and Ed Calle, to Milton Salcedo, Philip Lassiter and Luis Enrique, participated in the album. All of the songs, except for “Songo Bop,” were written by Valencia over the course of two decades.

It all started with the first heart transplant, says Bravo, his friend for over 30 years: “I told him, ‘Camilo — because he always had music in his head — why don’t you make use of your time in the hospital, while you recover, and start writing songs?’ The first one he wrote was called ‘CCU,’ which is the hospital’s cardio unit, and that’s how it started. Little by little he wrote the songs, and in recent years we started recording the entire album.”

In addition to “CCU (Coronary Care Unit),” which opens Made In Miami, there are songs like “Hurricane Jiménez,” dedicated to his cardiologist, and “One Heart at a Time,” dedicated to his second donor, “a teenager from Puerto Rico who was murdered by robbers to steal his car,” says his brother Rafael. But there are also titles that pay tribute to the family, such as “Café Union,” which is named after the restaurant his father owned in Cuba, and “Papadin,” a song in honor of Bravo’s father, with whom Valencia was also close.

Family is an important element that’s also very present musically on the album. “It’s very special, because not only are all the Valencias, but all the Bravos here,” explains Bravo. “There’s my brother, my son and my nephew, who recorded the same song [‘Papadin’],” as well as Rafael and his son Ralfy.

When talking about his feelings the day of the nomination, Bravo recalls that he always thought that he and Valencia would travel to Seville together. “I thought he was going to leave the hospital,” he says. “He did it three times [before], and I thought it was going to happen.”

Valencia is survived by his son Eric, his brother Rafael, his sisters Barbara and Maria, and a large extended family. In his honor, many of them will attend the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony.

Stream Made In Miami below: