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    Grammys Snubs and Surprises: Kacey Musgraves, Jon Batiste and Abba

    A jazz musician snagged the most nominations, and the Weeknd, an artist who said he’s boycotting the awards, found his name on the ballot.Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo — sure, of course.H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga — OK, fine, that makes some sense. These are the Grammys, after all.But Jon Batiste — the most-nominated artist overall? And … Abba? Who knew.The contenders for the 64th annual Grammy Awards in January were announced on Tuesday. The New York Times music team — reporter Joe Coscarelli, chief pop music critic Jon Pareles and pop music critic Jon Caramanica — are here to break them down.JOE COSCARELLI Let’s just start with the real shocker: A jazz pianist leads the field with 11 total nominations.Yes, Batiste is a genre-crossing multihyphenate who works as the bandleader and musical director for CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” He’s already won a Golden Globe and an Oscar (best original score for Pixar’s “Soul,” alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and is liable to pop up anywhere music is played — even alongside Madonna, as she promoted her “Madame X” concert movie in Harlem.Yet seeing him not only in the R&B, jazz, classical and American roots categories but also in the general field — record and album of the year — alongside those I considered shoo-ins (Rodrigo, Eilish, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat) was the sort of surprise that only the Grammys can consistently provide.Which is to say, was this actually a twist or was this the most Grammys thing that could have possibly happened? I’m torn, because on one hand, it felt like we were moving away from this. On the other, Jacob Collier got an album of the year nod last time around.JON CARAMANICA Last year, when talking about the ubiquity of the retro rock-soul band Black Pumas, we underscored a now-familiar Grammy sleight of hand: Rather than nominate older musicians well past their prime popularity, the show instead nominates younger musicians who make music in an old-fashioned way. That can mean Black Pumas, and it can mean Billie Eilish.This year, it means Jon Batiste, who is 35, but pointedly carries on the long tradition of New Orleans music, and who in recent years has become an institutionalist, a slightly less progressive version of his bandleader competitor, Questlove of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”The Grammys are, naturally, the ultimate institution — I would not be surprised if, a decade or two from now, Batiste becomes the show’s musical director. That he is also the bandleader on the marquee late-night show on CBS, the network that also broadcasts the Grammys, isn’t evidence of a fix, but it’s a reminder that the presumed and actual audiences for the awards show and the network both skew old — and that in this echo chamber, and perhaps only in this echo chamber, Batiste qualifies as a pop star..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}JON PARELES Batiste is an impressive musician and performer — pianist, singer, dancer — and his album, “We Are,” is a trove of good intentions and good playing, including New Orleans connections with appearances by Trombone Shorty and the Hot 8 Brass Band. Like Black Pumas (also nominated this year!), Batiste’s album harks back to vintage soul and R&B, clearly a sweet spot for Grammy voters, although it also ventures toward hip-hop. The album is a serious, thoughtful statement, celebrating New Orleans roots — Batiste is a member of a longstanding musical family — and his own memories of growing up. It also has positive-thinking message songs like “Freedom” and “We Are.” But Batiste’s nightly broadcast exposure clearly has a lot to do with all his nominations; someone’s still watching network TV.You get a lot of Grammy nominations by qualifying for multiple categories — and a lot of nominations does not guarantee a lot of wins. Batiste is in R&B, jazz, American roots, soundtrack (for “Soul”), music video and even contemporary classical for one of the album tracks, “Movement 11” — which is a stretch, since it shares far more similarity to a two-minute jazz improvisation with added strings than it does to its fellow nominees, like the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s knotty orchestral song cycle, “The Only One.”COSCARELLI Rounding out album of the year, in addition to Batiste’s “We Are,” you have “Love for Sale” by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, “Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)” by Justin Bieber, “Planet Her (Deluxe)” by Doja Cat, “Back of My Mind” by H.E.R., “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, “Montero” by Lil Nas X, “Sour” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Evermore” by Taylor Swift and “Donda” by Kanye West.Many of those artists are also represented in song and record of the year, where you also get a mix of Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran, Silk Sonic and Abba’s “I Still Have Faith in You,” which is apparently a record that moved people? That means no Halsey, Ariana Grande, BTS, Megan Thee Stallion, Chris Stapleton or Tyler, the Creator in the major categories, which plenty will see as galling.The 2019 best album winner, Kacey Musgraves, was also eligible again, for her latest LP, “Star-Crossed,” which wasn’t nominated as a body of work. Instead, she landed only two nods overall: best country song and best country solo performance for “Camera Roll,” despite the album being reportedly removed from the country categories by the Recording Academy’s genre police.PARELES One thing that struck me, as a writer for a sometime print publication, was the sheer typographical burden of this year’s Grammy nominations. The list simply has not looked like this before. The album of the year category goes on for three full pages to name all the songwriters, producers and engineers credited on albums by Batiste, Bieber, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Lil Nas X, Swift and West.It’s a reflection of how albums are made now. It’s not a band and a producer sequestered in the studio. It’s about beat-shopping, samples, songwriting camps, remote collaborations, multiple tweaks and iterations — and all the participants want those credits and publishing points. The nominees alone are going to be a sizable voting bloc for each album, especially in a category split 10 ways.COSCARELLI But then there’s Gaga and Bennett, Eilish and Rodrigo, whose credits are minuscule by comparison. That could potentially give them an edge with more conservative voters who remain concerned with the bespoke quality of the music.Along with expanding the Big Four categories to 10 nominees each — and lowering the bar for how much any one collaborator has to contribute to be among those recognized in the best album field (hello, Zadie Smith!) — this year also marked the end of the so-called Nominations Review Committees. (These were the source of the Weeknd’s frustration last year, after he was snubbed and eventually decided to boycott.)Rather than some shadowy cabal taking the members’ top vote-getters, considering them and then making their own final decision on the nominees anyway, the Recording Academy says these picks are pure: Whoever got the most votes from their music industry peers is who is appearing on the final ballot.Do you see that reflected here? My sense is that it benefits those with wide name recognition and enduring industry connections and respect — Bieber, Abba, maybe even Carlile, who has a record of the year nomination and two for song, including an Alicia Keys duet. At the same time, you could imagine the secret committees keeping out something like Lady Gaga and Bennett’s “Love for Sale,” because it’s so stereotypically Old and Stuffy Grammys — the kind of thing it felt like they were distancing themselves from in recent history.CARAMANICA I will not lie: my heart palpitated a little erratically (and worryingly) when I read the first name in the first category, record of the year: Abba. Now look, I exult at weddings just like the next sap, and I honor anyone whose albums were in my parents’ vinyl collection. But this new Abba music is thin, thin, thin. It exists primarily as an advertisement for the old Abba music, and the group’s avatar-led stage show that’s debuting next year.PARELES That’s obviously one of the Grammys’ better-late-than-never nominations. Abba never got a Grammy in its prime; this nomination is the apology.Meanwhile, count me surprised that Arooj Aftab turns up in the best new artist category. She is a Pakistani musician who studied at the Berklee School of Music and is based in Brooklyn, mingling South Asian music, jazz and chamber music; some of the songs on her (third) album, “Vulture Prince,” presumably the one that caught the Grammys’ attention, have lyrics by the 13th-century Persian mystical poet Rumi. It’s a lovely album, but I hardly expected to see her name alongside Rodrigo and Saweetie. Persian aside, there’s also still a language barrier for Grammy voters in this category; where are streaming blockbusters like Rauw Alejandro, whose debut album came out last November?COSCARELLI Best new artist is confusing, especially with the removal of the nomination committees taken into account. Enough people knew Aftab, Baby Keem and Japanese Breakfast to put them ahead of, say, Polo G, Tems, Jack Harlow and Maneskin (shudder)?I do miss the secret committees when it comes to rock. Last year, they seemed to make a point to shake up typically staid categories like best rock song, album and performance, the latter of which was all women for the first time, including Fiona Apple, Phoebe Bridgers and Haim. This year it’s back to basics: AC/DC, Black Pumas (for a live release), Chris Cornell, Deftones and Foo Fighters. Kings of Leon, Weezer and Paul McCartney also turn up in the rock field.That can’t help but feel like regression, even if it’s what the voters wanted.Kanye West’s “Donda” is up for album of the year.Randall Hill/ReutersCARAMANICA Joe, you see that shift also in the best rap album nominations. Last year, they consisted of purist-oriented artisanal albums at the intersection of process and aesthetic that the Grammys has long valorized in other genres. This year, the nominees are … reasonably popular and generally respected rap albums.That includes “Donda,” which is also nominated for album of the year. West received five total nominations this year, representing something of a coming in from the cold for someone who, in Grammy terms, now qualifies as a legacy artist. He has been nominated over 70 times in his career, but apart from last year’s win for best contemporary Christian music album, hasn’t taken home a trophy since 2013. He also hasn’t been nominated for album of the year for an album of his own since his 2007 album “Graduation.” (He has been nominated as a producer on others’ albums.)The nominations of “Donda” and “Hurricane” (best melodic rap performance) also means nominations for the Weeknd, even after his boycott. (He is also nominated for his contributions to Doja Cat’s album.)COSCARELLI The inclusion of “Donda” in album of the year can’t help but highlight the lack of Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy,” which earned a rap album and a rap performance nod (for “Way 2 Sexy”) but nothing in the top categories. Both are among the year’s biggest albums commercially.Also on that best-seller list? Morgan Wallen, who has outperformed both rappers but came away with absolutely no nominations amid his soft industry banishment for drunkenly shouting a racial slur in a video captured by a neighbor. Does that count as a snub, or just a cultural land mine avoided?CARAMANICA It’s also worth mentioning Taylor Swift here — a lonely nomination for album of the year, for “Evermore,” perhaps the least commercially impactful album of her career, and also another nomination in the same category by dint of her writing “contributions” to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour.”PARELES In a way, Swift’s album nomination is the appropriate one: “Evermore” is an old-fashioned full-length album, made to be heard as a whole. Also on the absentee list: Lana Del Rey and Lorde, even though their (and Swift’s) producer Jack Antonoff is nominated as producer of the year, in part for his work with them.COSCARELLI I see neither of you want to touch the subject of Wallen right now — just like the Grammys.CARAMANICA On the other hand, there are a handful of TikTok hits that have now led to Grammy nominations: Giveon’s slow and aching “Heartbreak Anniversary” is nominated for best R&B song, and the British rock band Glass Animals had a huge TikTok hit this year with “Heat Waves,” and now the band, which has been releasing music for several years, is nominated for best new artist. Walker Hayes’s goofy country stomper “Fancy Like” started its ascent on TikTok and now is nominated in best country song.PARELES Well, at least they’re trying. You have to sympathize, a little, with how difficult it is for the Grammys to try to sum up all of music when there are so many niche audiences that barely intersect. But we’re lucky that hardly anyone who cares about music takes the Grammys as the ultimate judgment. More

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    Grammy Nominees 2022: The Full List

    Artists, albums and songs competing for trophies at the 64th annual ceremony were announced on Tuesday. The show will take place Jan. 31 in Los Angeles.Nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday. Jon Batiste leads all artists with 11 nominations; Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. follow with eight; Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo have seven each.The ceremony will be the first since the awards made a major change to its nominating process: In late April, the board of the Recording Academy, the governing body of the Grammys, voted to eliminate the use of anonymous expert committees to whittle down the final ballot in dozens of categories, a practice that had been in place since 1989. The Grammys have been criticized in recent years by prominent artists including Jay-Z, Drake, Kanye West and Frank Ocean, who amplified concerns that Black artists have been routinely passed over in the top all-genre categories. In March, the Weeknd announced a boycott of the Grammys, citing the committees.The ceremony will be held on Jan. 31, 2022, at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center) in Los Angeles.Here is the full list of nominees.Record of the Year“I Still Have Faith in You,” Abba“Freedom,” Jon Batiste“I Get a Kick Out of You,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Peaches,” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile“Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat featuring SZA“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” Lil Nas X“Drivers License,” Olivia Rodrigo“Leave the Door Open,” Silk SonicAlbum of the Year“We Are,” Jon Batiste“Love for Sale,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe),” Justin Bieber“Planet Her (Deluxe),” Doja Cat“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Back of My Mind,” H.E.R.“Montero,” Lil Nas X“Sour,” Olivia Rodrigo“Evermore,” Taylor Swift“Donda,” Kanye WestSong of the Year“Bad Habits,” Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid and Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)“A Beautiful Noise,” Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry and Hailey Whitters, songwriters (Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile)“Drivers License,” Daniel Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)“Fight for You,” Dernst Emile Ii, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)“Kiss Me More,” Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell Ii, Solána Rowe and David Sprecher, songwriters (Doja Cat featuring Sza)“Leave the Door Open,” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile Ii and Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)“Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill and Roy Lenzo, songwriters (Lil Nas X)“Peaches,” Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha “Fury” King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman Aand Keavan Yazdani, songwriters (Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon)“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)Best New ArtistArooj AftabJimmie AllenBaby KeemFinneasGlass AnimalsJapanese BreakfastThe Kid LaroiArlo ParksOlivia RodrigoSaweetieBest Pop Solo Performance“Anyone,” Justin Bieber“Right on Time,” Brandi Carlile“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Positions,” Ariana Grande“Drivers License,” Olivia RodrigoBest Pop Duo/Group Performance“I Get a Kick Out of You,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“Lonely,” Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco“Butter,” BTS“Higher Power,” Coldplay“Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat featuring SZABest Traditional Pop Vocal Album“Love for Sale,” Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga“’Til We Meet Again (Live),” Norah Jones“A Tori Kelly Christmas,” Tori Kelly“Ledisi Sings Nina,” Ledisi“That’s Life,” Willie Nelson“A Holly Dolly Christmas,” Dolly PartonBest Pop Vocal Album“Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe),” Justin Bieber“Planet Her (Deluxe),” Doja Cat“Happier Than Ever,” Billie Eilish“Positions,” Ariana Grande“Sour,” Olivia RodrigoBest Dance/Electronic Recording“Hero,” Afrojack and David Guetta“Loom,” Ólafur Arnalds featuring Bonobo“Before,” James Blake“Heartbreak,” Bonobo and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs“You Can Do It,” Caribou“Alive,” Rüfüs Du Sol“The Business,” TiëstoBest Dance/Electronic Music Album“Subconsciously,” Black Coffee“Fallen Embers,” Illenium“Music Is the Weapon (Reloaded),” Major Lazer“Shockwave,” Marshmello“Free Love,” Sylvan Esso“Judgement,” Ten CityBest Alternative Music Album“Shore,” Fleet Foxes“If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power,” Halsey“Jubilee,” Japanese Breakfast“Collapsed in Sunbeams,” Arlo Parks“Daddy’s Home,” St. VincentBest Contemporary Instrumental Album“Double Dealin’,” Randy Brecker and Eric Marienthal“The Garden,” Rachel Eckroth“Tree Falls,” Taylor Eigsti“At Blue Note Tokyo,” Steve Gadd Band“Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2,” Mark LettieriBest Rock Performance“Shot in the Dark,” AC/DC“Know You Better (Live From Capitol Studio A),” Black Pumas“Nothing Compares 2 U,” Chris Cornell“Ohms,” Deftones“Making a Fire,” Foo FightersBest Metal Performance“Genesis,” Deftones“The Alien,” Dream Theater“Amazonia,” Gojira“Pushing the Tides,” Mastodon“The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition),” Rob ZombieBest Rock Song“All My Favorite Songs,” Rivers Cuomo, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson and Ilsey Juber, songwriters (Weezer)“The Bandit,” Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill and Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings of Leon)“Distance,” Wolfgang Van Halen, songwriter (Mammoth Wvh)“Find My Way,” Paul McCartney, songwriter (Paul McCartney)“Waiting on a War,” Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear, songwriters (Foo Fighters)Best Rock Album“Power Up,” AC/DC“Capitol Cuts – Live From Studio A,” Black Pumas“No One Sings Like You Anymore Vol. 1,” Chris Cornell“Medicine at Midnight,” Foo Fighters“McCartney III,” Paul McCartneyBest R&B Performance“Lost You,” Snoh Aalegra“Peaches,” Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon“Damage,” H.E.R.“Leave the Door Open,” Silk Sonic“Pick Up Your Feelings,” Jazmine SullivanBest Traditional R&B Performance“I Need You,” Jon Batiste“Bring It on Home to Me,” BJ The Chicago Kid, PJ Morton and Kenyon Dixon featuring Charlie Bereal“Born Again,” Leon Bridges featuring Robert Glasper“Fight for You,” H.E.R.“How Much Can a Heart Take,” Lucky Daye featuring YebbaBest R&B Song“Damage,” Anthony Clemons Jr., Jeff Gitelman, H.E.R., Carl McCormick and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Good Days,” Jacob Collier, Carter Lang, Carlos Munoz, Solána Rowe and Christopher Ruelas, songwriters (SZA)“Heartbreak Anniversary,” Giveon Evans, Maneesh, Sevn Thomas and Varren Wade, songwriters (Giveon)“Leave the Door Open,” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II and Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)“Pick Up Your Feelings,” Denisia “Blue June” Andrews, Audra Mae Butts, Kyle Coleman, Brittany “Chi” Coney, Michael Holmes and Jazmine Sullivan, songwriters (Jazmine Sullivan).css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-1g3vlj0{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1g3vlj0{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-1g3vlj0 strong{font-weight:600;}.css-1g3vlj0 em{font-style:italic;}.css-1g3vlj0{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0.25rem;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Best Progressive R&B Album“New Light,” Eric Bellinger“Something to Say,” Cory Henry“Mood Valiant,” Hiatus Kaiyote“Table for Two,” Lucky Daye“Dinner Party: Dessert,” Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder and Kamasi Washington“Studying Abroad: Extended Stay,” MasegoBest R&B Album“Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies,” Snoh Aalegra“We Are,” Jon Batiste“Gold-Diggers Sound,” Leon Bridges“Back of My Mind,” H.E.R.“Heaux Tales,” Jazmine SullivanBest Rap Performance“Family Ties” Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar“Up,” Cardi B“My Life,” J. Cole featuring 21 Savage and Morray“Way 2 Sexy,” Drake featuring Future and Young Thug“Thot ___,” Megan Thee StallionBest Melodic Rap Performance“Pride Is the Devil,” J. Cole featuring Lil Baby“Need to Know,” Doja Cat“Industry Baby,” Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow“Wusyaname,” Tyler, The Creator featuring Youngboy Never Broke Again and Ty Dolla Sign“Hurricane,” Kanye West featuring the Weeknd and Lil BabyBest Rap Song“Bath Salts,” Shawn Carter, Kasseem Dean, Michael Forno, Nasir Jones and Earl Simmons, songwriters (DMX featuring Jay-Z and Nas)“Best Friend,” Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Randall Avery Hammers, Diamonté Harper, Asia Smith, Theron Thomas and Rocco Valdes, songwriters (Saweetie featuring Doja Cat)“Family Ties,” Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Hykeem Carter, Tobias Dekker, Colin Franken, Jasper Harris, Kendrick Lamar, Ronald Latour and Dominik Patrzek, songwriters (Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar)“Jail,” Dwayne Abernathy, Jr., Shawn Carter, Raul Cubina, Michael Dean, Charles M. Njapa, Sean Solymar, Brian Hugh Warner, Kanye West and Mark Williams, songwriters (Kanye West featuring Jay-Z)“My Life,” Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph & Jermaine Cole, songwriters (J. Cole featuring 21 Savage and Morray)Best Rap Album“The Off-Season,” J. Cole“Certified Lover Boy,” Drake“King’s Disease II,” Nas“Call Me If You Get Lost,” Tyler, the Creator“Donda,” Kanye WestBest Country Solo Performance“Forever After All,” Luke Combs“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton“All I Do Is Drive,” Jason Isbell“Camera Roll,” Kacey Musgraves“You Should Probably Leave,” Chris StapletonBest Country Duo/Group Performance“If I Didn’t Love You,” Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood“Younger Me,” Brothers Osborne“Glad You Exist,” Dan + Shay“Chasing After You,” Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” Elle King and Miranda LambertBest Country Song“Better Than We Found It,” Jessie Jo Dillon, Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, songwriters (Maren Morris)“Camera Roll,” Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves and Daniel Tashian, songwriters (Kacey Musgraves)“Cold,” Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure, Derek Mixon and Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Chris Stapleton)“Country Again,” Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley and Thomas Rhett, songwriters (Thomas Rhett)“Fancy Like,” Cameron Bartolini, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins and Shane Stevens, songwriters (Walker Hayes)“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton, Blake Hubbard, Jarrod Ingram and Parker Welling, songwriters (Mickey Guyton)Best Country Album“Skeletons,” Brothers Osborne“Remember Her Name,” Mickey Guyton“The Marfa Tapes,” Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram“The Ballad of Dood & Juanita,” Sturgill Simpson“Starting Over,” Chris StapletonBest New Age Album“Brothers,” Will Ackerman, Jeff Oster and Tom Eaton“Divine Tides,” Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej“Pangaea,” Wouter Kellerman and David Arkenstone“Night + Day,” Opium Moon“Pieces of Forever,” Laura SullivanBest Improvised Jazz Solo“Sackodougou,” Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, soloist“Kick Those Feet,” Kenny Barron, soloist“Bigger Than Us,” Jon Batiste, soloist“Absence,” Terence Blanchard, soloist“Humpty Dumpty (Set 2),” Chick Corea, soloistBest Jazz Vocal Album“Generations,” The Baylor Project“Superblue,” Kurt Elling and Charlie Hunter“Time Traveler,” Nnenna Freelon“Flor,” Gretchen Parlato“Songwrights Apothecary Lab,” Esperanza SpaldingBest Jazz Instrumental Album“Jazz Selections: Music From and Inspired by Soul,” Jon Batiste“Absence,” Terence Blanchard featuring the E Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet“Skyline,” Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and Gonzalo Rubalcaba“Akoustic Band Live,” Chick Corea, John Patitucci and Dave Weckl“Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV),” Pat MethenyBest Large Jazz Ensemble Album“Live at Birdland!,” The Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart“Dear Love,” Jazzmeia Horn and her Noble Force“For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver,” Christian McBride Big Band“Swirling,” Sun Ra Arkestra“Jackets XL,” Yellowjackets + WDR Big BandBest Latin Jazz Album“Mirror Mirror,” Eliane Elias With Chick Corea and Chucho Valdés“The South Bronx Story,” Carlos Henriquez“Virtual Birdland,” Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra“Transparency,” Dafnis Prieto Sextet“El Arte Del Bolero,” Miguel Zenón and Luis PerdomoBest Gospel Performance/Song“Voice of God,” Dante Bowe featuring Steffany Gretzinger and Chandler Moore; Dante Bowe, Tywan Mack, Jeff Schneeweis and Mitch Wong, songwriters“Joyful,” Dante Bowe; Dante Bowe and Ben Schofield, songwriters“Help,” Anthony Brown & Group Therapy; Anthony Brown and Darryl Woodson, songwriters“Never Lost,” CeCe Winans“Wait on You,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music; Dante Bowe, Chris Brown, Steven Furtick, Tiffany Hudson, Brandon Lake and Chandler Moore, songwritersBest Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song“We Win,” Kirk Franklin and Lil Baby; Kirk Franklin, Dominique Jones, Cynthia Nunn and Justin Smith, songwriters“Hold Us Together (Hope Mix),” H.E.R. and Tauren Wells; Josiah Bassey, Dernst Emile and H.E.R., songwriters“Man of Your Word,” Chandler Moore and KJ Scriven; Jonathan Jay, Nathan Jess and Chandler Moore, songwriters“Believe for It,” CeCe Winans; Dwan Hill, Kyle Lee, CeCe Winans and Mitch Wong, songwriters“Jireh,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music featuring Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine; Chris Brown, Steven Furtick, Chandler Moore and Naomi Raine, songwritersBest Gospel Album“Changing Your Story,” Jekalyn Carr“Royalty: Live at the Ryman,” Tasha Cobbs Leonard“Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition,” Maverick City Music“Jonny X Mali: Live in LA,” Jonathan McReynolds and Mali Music“Believe for It,” CeCe WinansBest Contemporary Christian Music Album“No Stranger,” Natalie Grant“Feels Like Home Vol. 2,” Israel and New Breed“The Blessing (Live),” Kari Jobe“Citizen of Heaven (Live),” Tauren Wells“Old Church Basement,” Elevation Worship and Maverick City MusicBest Roots Gospel Album“Alone With My Faith,” Harry Connick, Jr.“That’s Gospel, Brother,” Gaither Vocal Band“Keeping On,” Ernie Haase and Signature Sound“Songs For the Times,” The Isaacs“My Savior,” Carrie UnderwoodBest Latin Pop Album“Vértigo,” Pablo Alborán“Mis Amores,” Paula Arenas“Hecho a la Antigua,” Ricardo Arjona“Mis Manos,” Camilo“Mendó,” Alex Cuba“Revelación,” Selena GomezBest Música Urbana Album“Afrodisíaco,” Rauw Alejandro“El Último Tour Del Mundo,” Bad Bunny“Jose,” J Balvin“KG0516,” KAROL G“Sin Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios),” Kali UchisBest Latin Rock or Alternative Album“Deja,” Bomba Estéreo“Mira Lo Que Me Hiciste Hacer (Deluxe Edition),” Diamante Eléctrico“Origen,” Juanes“Calambre,” Nathy Peluso“El Madrileño,” C. Tangana“Sonidos de Karmática Resonancia,” ZoéBest Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano)“Antología de la Musica Ranchera, Vol. 2,” Aida Cuevas“A Mis 80’s,” Vicente Fernández“Seis,” Mon Laferte“Un Canto por México, Vol. II,” Natalia Lafourcade“Ayayay! (Súper Deluxe),” Christian NodalBest Tropical Latin Album“Salswing!,” Rubén Blades y Roberto Delgado & Orquesta“En Cuarentena,” El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico“Sin Salsa No Hay Paraíso,” Aymée Nuviola“Colegas,” Gilberto Santa Rosa“Live in Peru,” Tony SuccarBest American Roots Performance“Cry,” Jon Batiste“Love and Regret,” Billy Strings“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” The Blind Boys of Alabama and Béla Fleck“Same Devil,” Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile“Nightflyer,” Allison RussellBest American Roots Song“Avalon,” Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson and Francesco Turrisi, songwriters (Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi)“Call Me a Fool,” Valerie June, songwriter (Valerie June featuring Carla Thomas)“Cry,” Jon Batiste and Steve McEwan, songwriters (Jon Batiste)“Diamond Studded Shoes,” Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Yola, songwriters (Yola)“Nightflyer,” Jeremy Lindsay and Allison Russell, songwriters (Allison Russell)Best Americana Album“Downhill From Everywhere,” Jackson Browne“Leftover Feelings,” John Hiatt with the Jerry Douglas Band“Native Sons,” Los Lobos“Outside Child,” Allison Russell“Stand for Myself,” YolaBest Bluegrass Album“Renewal,” Billy Strings“My Bluegrass Heart,” Béla Fleck“A Tribute To Bill Monroe,” The Infamous Stringdusters“Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions),” Sturgill Simpson“Music Is What I See,” Rhonda VincentBest Traditional Blues Album“100 Years of Blues,” Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite“Traveler’s Blues,” Blues Traveler“I Be Trying,” Cedric Burnside“Be Ready When I Call You,” Guy Davis“Take Me Back,” Kim WilsonBest Contemporary Blues Album“Delta Kream,” The Black Keys featuring Eric Deaton and Kenny Brown“Royal Tea,” Joe Bonamassa“Uncivil War,” Shemekia Copeland“Fire It Up,” Steve Cropper“662,” Christone “Kingfish” IngramBest Folk Album“One Night Lonely [Live],” Mary Chapin Carpenter“Long Violent History,” Tyler Childers“Wednesday (Extended Edition),” Madison Cunningham“They’re Calling Me Home,” Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi“Blue Heron Suite,” Sarah JaroszBest Regional Roots Music Album“Live in New Orleans!,” Sean Ardoin and Kreole Rock and Soul“Bloodstains & Teardrops,” Big Chief Monk Boudreaux“My People,” Cha Wa“Corey Ledet Zydeco,” Corey Ledet Zydeco“Kau Ka Pe’a,” Kalani Pe’aBest Reggae Album“Pamoja,” Etana“Positive Vibration,” Gramps Morgan“Live N Livin,” Sean Paul“Royal,” Jesse Royal“Beauty in the Silence,” Soja“10,” SpiceBest Engineered Album, Non-Classical“Cinema,” Josh Conway, Marvin Figueroa, Josh Gudwin, Neal H Pogue and Ethan Shumaker, engineers; Joe LaPorta, mastering engineer (The Marías)“Dawn,” Thomas Brenneck, Zach Brown, Elton “L10MixedIt” Chueng, Riccardo Damian, Tom Elmhirst, Jens Jungkurth, Todd Monfalcone, John Rooney and Smino, engineers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer (Yebba)“Hey What,” BJ Burton, engineer; BJ Burton, mastering engineer (Low)“Love for Sale,” Dae Bennett, Josh Coleman and Billy Cumella, engineers; Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone, mastering engineers (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga)Producer of the Year, Non-ClassicalJack AntonoffRogét ChahayedMike ElizondoHit-BoyRicky ReedBest Remixed Recording“Back to Life” (Booker T Kings of Soul Satta Dub); Booker T, remixer (Soul II Soul)“Born for Greatness” (Cymek Remix); Spencer Bastin, remixer (Papa Roach); track from: “Greatest Hits Vol. 2 The Better Noise Years”“Constant Craving” (Fashionably Late Remix); Tracy Young, remixer (K.D. Lang)“Inside Out” (3scape DRM Remix); 3scape DRM, remixer (Zedd and Griff)“Met Him Last Night (Dave Audé Remix); Dave Audé, remixer (Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande)“Passenger” (Mike Shinoda Remix); Mike Shinoda, remixer (Deftones); track from: “White Pony” (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)“Talks” (Mura Masa Remix); Alexander Crossan, remixer (PVA)Best Global Music Performance“Mohabbat,” Arooj Aftab“Do Yourself,” Angelique Kidjo and Burna Boy“Pà Pá Pà,” Femi Kuti“Blewu,” Yo-Yo Ma and Angelique Kidjo“Essence,” Wizkid featuring TemsBest Global Music Album“Voice of Bunbon, Vol. 1,” Rocky Dawuni“East West Players Presents: Daniel Ho and Friends Live in Concert,” Daniel Ho and Friends“Mother Nature,” Angelique Kidjo“Legacy +,” Femi Kuti and Made Kuti“Made In Lagos: Deluxe Edition,” WizkidBest Children’s Music Album“Actívate,” 123 Andrés“All One Tribe,” 1 Tribe Collective“Black to the Future,” Pierce Freelon“A Colorful World,” Falu“Crayon Kids,” Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam BandBest Spoken Word Album“Aftermath,” Levar Burton“Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation From John Lewis,” Don Cheadle“Catching Dreams: Live at Fort Knox Chicago,” J. Ivy“8:46,” Dave Chappelle and Amir Sulaiman“A Promised Land,” Barack ObamaBest Comedy Album“The Comedy Vaccine,” Lavell Crawford“Evolution,” Chelsea Handler“Sincerely Louis C.K.,” Louis C.K.“Thanks for Risking Your Life,” Lewis Black“The Greatest Average American,” Nate Bargatze“Zero ___ Given,” Kevin HartBest Musical Theater Album“Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella,” Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nick Lloyd Webber and Greg Wells, producers; Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel, composers/lyricists (Original Album Cast)“Burt Bacharach and Steven Sater’s Some Lovers,” Burt Bacharach, Michael Croiter, Ben Hartman and Steven Sater, Producers; Burt Bacharach, composer; Steven Sater, lyricist (World Premiere Cast)“Girl From the North Country,” Simon Hale, Conor Mcpherson and Dean Sharenow, Producers (Bob Dylan, composer and lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)“Les Misérables: The Staged Concert (The Sensational 2020 Live Recording),” Cameron Mackintosh, Lee Mccutcheon and Stephenmetcalfe, producers (Claude-Michel Schönberg, composer; Alain Boublil, John Caird, Herbert Kretzmer, Jean-Marc Natel and Trevor Nunn, lyricists) (The 2020 Les Misérables Staged Concert Company)“Stephen Schwartz’s Snapshots,” Daniel C. Levine, Michael J Moritz Jr, Bryan Perri and Stephen Schwartz, producers (Stephen Schwartz, composer and lyricist) (World Premiere Cast)“The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” Emily Bear, producer; Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, composers/lyricists (Barlow & Bear)Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media“Cruella,” (Various Artists)“Dear Evan Hansen,” (Various Artists)“In The Heights,” (Various Artists)“One Night In Miami…,” (Various Artists)“Respect,” Jennifer Hudson“Schmigadoon! Episode 1,” (Various Artists)“The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Andra DayBest Score Soundtrack for Visual Media“Bridgerton,” Kris Bowers, composer“Dune,” Hans Zimmer, composer“The Mandalorian: Season 2 – Vol. 2 (Chapters 13-16),” Ludwig Göransson, composer“The Queen’s Gambit,” Carlos Rafael Rivera, composer“Soul,” Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composersBest Song Written For Visual Media“Agatha All Along [From Wandavision: Episode 7],” Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, songwriters (Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez featuring Kathryn Hahn, Eric Bradley, Greg Whipple, Jasper Randall and Gerald White)“All Eyes On Me [From Inside],” Bo Burnham, songwriter (Bo Burnham)“All I Know So Far [From Pink: All I Know So Far],” Alecia Moore, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, songwriters (Pink)“Fight for You [From Judas and the Black Messiah],” Dernst Emile Ii, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home) [From Respect],” Jamie Hartman, Jennifer Hudson and Carole King, songwriters (Jennifer Hudson)“Speak Now [From One Night in Miami…],” Sam Ashworth and Leslie Odom, Jr., Songwriters (Leslie Odom, Jr.)Best Immersive Audio Album“Alicia,” George Massenburg and Eric Schilling, immersive mix engineers; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; Ann Mincieli, immersive producer (Alicia Keys)“Clique,” Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz, immersive mix engineers; Bob Ludwig, immersive mastering engineer; Jim Anderson, immersive producer (Patricia Barber)“Fine Line,” Greg Penny, immersive mix engineer; Greg Penny, immersive mastering engineer; Greg Penny, immersive producer (Harry Styles)“The Future Bites,” Jake Fields and Steven Wilson, immersive mix engineers; Bob Ludwig, immersive mastering engineer; Steven Wilson, immersive producer (Steven Wilson)“Stille Grender,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Anne Karin Sundal-Ask and Det Norske Jentekor)Best Immersive Audio Album (for 63rd Grammy Awards)“Bolstad: Tomba Sonora,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Stemmeklang)“Dear Future Self (Dolby Atmos Mixes),” Fritz Hilpert, immersive mix engineer; Jason Banks, Fritz Hilpert and David Ziegler, immersive mastering engineers; Tom Ammerman, Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger, immersive producers (Booka Shade)“Fryd,” Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Tove Ramlo-Ystad and Cantus)“Mutt Slang Ii – A Wake of Sorrows Engulfed in Rage,” Elliot Scheiner, immersive mix engineer; Darcy Proper, immersive mastering engineer; Alain Mallet and Elliot Scheiner, immersive producers (Alain Mallet)“Soundtrack of the American Soldier,” Leslie Ann Jones, immersive mix engineer; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; Dan Merceruio, immersive producer (Jim R. Keene and the United States Army Field Band)Best Engineered Album, Classical“Archetypes,” Jonathan Lackey, Bill Maylone and Dan Nichols, engineers; Bill Maylone, mastering engineer (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion)“Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears,” Richard King, engineer (Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax)“Beethoven: Symphony No. 9,” Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)“Chanticleer Sings Christmas,” Leslie Ann Jones, engineer (Chanticleer)“Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony Of A Thousand,’” Alexander Lipay and Dmitriy Lipay, engineers; Alexander Lipay and Dmitriy Lipay, mastering engineers (Gustavo Dudamel, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Luke McEndarfer, Robert Istad, Grant Gershon, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus, Pacific Chorale and Los Angeles Philharmonic)Producer of the Year, ClassicalBlanton AlspaughSteven EpsteinDavid FrostElaine MartoneJudith ShermanBest Orchestral Performance“Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives; Harmonielehre,” Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Nashville Symphony Orchestra)“Beethoven: Symphony No. 9,” Manfred Honeck, conductor (Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)“Muhly: Throughline,” Nico Muhly, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)“Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra)“Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra; Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy,” Thomas Dausgaard, conductor (Seattle Symphony Orchestra)Best Opera Recording“Bartók: Bluebeard’s Castle,” Susanna Mälkki, conductor; Mika Kares and Szilvia Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor (Nashville Symphony Orchestra)“Glass: Akhnaten,” Karen Kamensek, conductor; J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Zachary James and Dísella Lárusdóttir; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)“Janáček: Cunning Little Vixen,”” Simon Rattle, conductor; Sophia Burgos, Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley, Peter Hoare, Anna Lapkovskaja, Paulina Malefane, Jan Martinik and Hanno Müller-Brachmann; Andrew Cornall, producer (London Symphony Orchestra; London Symphony Chorus and LSO Discovery Voices)“Little: Soldier Songs,” Corrado Rovaris, conductor; Johnathan McCullough; James Darrah and John Toia, producers (The Opera Philadelphia Orchestra)“Poulenc: Dialogues Des Carmélites,” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Karen Cargill, Isabel Leonard, Karita Mattila, Erin Morley and Adrianne Pieczonka; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)Best Choral Performance“It’s a Long Way,” Matthew Guard, conductor (Jonas Budris, Carrie Cheron, Fiona Gillespie, Nathan Hodgson, Helen Karloski, Enrico Lagasca, Megan Roth, Alissa Ruth Suver and Dana Whiteside; Skylark Vocal Ensemble)“Mahler: Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’” Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; Grant Gershon, Robert Istad, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz and Luke McEndarfer, chorus masters (Leah Crocetto, Mihoko Fujimura, Ryan McKinny, Erin Morley, Tamara Mumford, Simon O’Neill, Morris Robinson and Tamara Wilson; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, National Children’s Chorus and Pacific Chorale)“Rising w/ the Crossing,” Donald Nally, conductor (International Contemporary Ensemble and Quicksilver; The Crossing)“Schnittke: Choir Concerto; Three Sacred Hymns; Pärt: Seven Magnificat-Antiphons,” Kaspars Putnins, conductor; Heli Jürgenson, chorus master (Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir)“Sheehan: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom,” Benedict Sheehan, conductor (Michael Hawes, Timothy Parsons and Jason Thoms; The Saint Tikhon Choir)“The Singing Guitar,” Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Estelí Gomez; Austin Guitar Quartet, Douglas Harvey, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Texas Guitar Quartet; Conspirare)Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance“Adams, John Luther: Lines Made By Walking,” JACK Quartet“Akiho: Seven Pillars,” Sandbox Percussion“Archetypes,” Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion“Beethoven: Cello Sonatas – Hope Amid Tears,” Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax“Bruits,” Imani WindsBest Classical Instrumental Solo“Alone Together,” Jennifer Koh“An American Mosaic,” Simone Dinnerstein“Bach: Sonatas and Partitas,” Augustin Hadelich“Beethoven and Brahms: Violin Concertos,” Gil Shaham; Eric Jacobsen, conductor (The Knights)“Mak Bach,” Mak Grgić“Of Power,” Curtis StewartBest Classical Solo Vocal Album“Confessions,” Laura Strickling; Joy Schreier, pianist“Dreams of a New Day – Songs by Black Composers,” Will Liverman; Paul Sánchez, pianist“Mythologies,” Sangeeta Kaur and Hila Plitmann (Virginie D’Avezac De Castera, Lili Haydn, Wouter Kellerman, Nadeem Majdalany, Eru Matsumoto and Emilio D. Miler)“Schubert: Winterreise,” Joyce DiDonato; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, pianist“Unexpected Shadows,” Jamie Barton; Jake Heggie, pianist (Matt Haimovitz)Best Classical Compendium“American Originals – A New World, A New Canon,” Agave and Reginald L. Mobley. Geoffrey Silver, producer.“Berg: Violin Concerto; Seven Early Songs and Three Pieces for Orchestra,” Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Jack Vad, producer.“Cerrone: The Arching Path,” Timo Andres and Ian Rosenbaum. Mike Tierney, producer.“Plays,” Chick Corea. Chick Corea and Birnie Kirsh, producers.“Women Warriors – The Voices of Change,” Amy Andersson, conductor; Amy Andersson, Mark Mattson and Lolita Ritmanis, producers.Best Contemporary Classical Composition“Akiho: Seven Pillars,” Andy Akiho, composer. (Sandbox Percussion)“Andriessen: The Only One,” Louis Andriessen, composer. (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Nora Fischer & Los Angeles Philharmonic)“Assad, Clarice and Sérgio, Connors, Dillon, Martin and Skidmore: Archetypes,” Clarice Assad, Sérgio Assad, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore, composers. (Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad and Third Coast Percussion)“Batiste: Movement 11,” Jon Batiste, composer (Jon Batiste)“Shaw: Narrow Sea,” Caroline Shaw, composer (Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish and Sō Percussion)Best Instrumental Composition“Beautiful is Black,” Brandee Younger, composer (Brandee Younger)“Cat and Mouse,” Tom Nazziola, composer (Tom Nazziola)“Concerto for Orchestra: Finale,” Vince Mendoza, composer (Vince Mendoza and Czech National Symphony Orchestra featuring Antonio Sánchez and Derrick Hodge)“Dreaming In Lions: Dreaming In Lions,” Arturo O’farrill, composer (Arturo O’farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble)“Eberhard,” Lyle Mays, composer (Lyle Mays)Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella“Chopsticks,” Bill O’Connell, arranger (Richard Baratta)“For The Love Of A Princess (From ‘Braveheart’),” Robin Smith, Arranger (Hauser, London Symphony Orchestra and Robin Smith)“Infinite Love,” Emile Mosseri, Arranger (Emile Mosseri)“Meta Knight’s Revenge (From ‘Kirby Superstar’),” Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman, arrangers (The 8-Bit Big Band featuring Button Masher)“The Struggle Within,” Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo Sanchez, arrangers (Rodrigo Y Gabriela)Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals“The Bottom Line,” Ólafur Arnalds, Arranger (Ólafur Arnalds and Josin)“A Change is Gonna Come,” Tehillah Alphonso, Arranger (Tonality and Alexander Lloyd Blake)“The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” Jacob Collier, Arranger (Jacob Collier)“Eleanor Rigby,” Cody Fry, Arranger (Cody Fry)“To The Edge Of Longing (Edit Version),” Vince Mendoza, Arranger (Vince Mendoza, Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Julia Bullock)Best Recording Package“American Jackpot / American Girls,” Sarah Dodds and Shauna Dodds, Art Directors (Reckless Kelly)“Carnage,” Nick Cave and Tom Hingston, Art Directors (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis)“Pakelang,” Li Jheng Han and Yu, Wei, Art Directors (2nd Generation Falangao Singing Group and the Chairman Crossover Big Band)“Serpentine Prison,” Dayle Doyle, Art Director (Matt Berninger)“Zeta,” Xiao Qing Yang, Art Director (Soul Of Ears)Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package“All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary Edition,” Darren Evans, Dhani Harrison and Olivia Harrison, art directors (George Harrison)“Color Theory,” Lordess Foudre and Christopher Leckie, art directors (Soccer Mommy)“The Future Bites (Limited Edition Box Set),” Simon Moore, art director (Steven Wilson)“77-81,” Dan Calderwood and Jon King, art directors (Gang of Four)“Swimming in Circles,” Ramón Coronado and Marshall Rake, art directors (Mac Miller)Best Album Notes“Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas,” Ann-Katrin Zimmermann, album notes writer (Sunwook Kim)“The Complete Louis Armstrong Columbia and RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1946-1966,” Ricky Riccardi, album notes writer (Louis Armstrong)“Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology,” Kevin Howes, album notes writer (Willie Dunn)“Etching the Voice: Emile Berliner and the First Commercial Gramophone Discs, 1889-1895,” David Giovannoni, Richard Martin and Stephan Puille, album notes writers (Various Artists)“The King of Gospel Music: The Life and Music of Reverend James Cleveland,” Robert Marovich, album notes writer (Various Artists)Best Historical Album“Beyond the Music: Her Complete RCA Victor Recordings,” Robert Russ, compilation producer; Nancy Conforti, Andreas K. Meyer and Jennifer Nulsen, mastering engineers (Marian Anderson)“Etching the Voice: Emile Berliner and the First Commercial Gramophone Discs, 1889-1895,” Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, compilation producers; Richard Martin, mastering engineer (Various Artists)“Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music,” April Ledbetter, Steven Lance Ledbetter and Jonathan Ward, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Various Artists)“Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967),” Patrick Milligan and Joni Mitchell, compilation producers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer (Joni Mitchell)“Sign O’ the Times (Super Deluxe Edition),” Trevor Guy, Michael Howe and Kirk Johnson, compilation producers; Bernie Grundman, mastering engineer (Prince)Best Music Video“Shot in the Dark,” (AC/DC); David Mallet, video director; Dione Orrom, video producer.“Freedom,” (Jon Batiste); Alan Ferguson, video director; Alex P. Willson, video producer.“I Get a Kick Out of You,” (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga); Jennifer Lebeau, video director; Danny Bennett, Bobby Campbell and Jennifer Lebeau, video producers.“Peaches,” (Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon); Collin Tilley, video director.“Happier Than Ever,” (Billie Eilish); Billie Eilish, video director; Michelle An, Chelsea Dodson and David Moore, video producers.“Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” (Lil Nas X); Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino, video directors; Frank Borin, Ivanna Borin, Marco De Molina and Saul Levitz, video producers.“Good 4 U,” (Olivia Rodrigo); Petra Collins, video director; Christiana Divona, Marissa Ramirez and Tiffany Suh, video producers.Best Music Film“Inside,” (Bo Burnham); Bo Burnham, video director; Josh Senior, video producer.“David Byrne’s American Utopia,” (David Byrne); Spike Lee, video director; David Byrne and Spike Lee, video producers.“Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles,” (Billie Eilish); Patrick Osborne and Robert Rodriguez, video directors.“Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix in Maui,” (Jimi Hendrix); John McDermott, video director; Janie Hendrix, John McDermott and George Scott, video producers.“Summer of Soul,” (Various Artists); Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, video director; David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent and Joseph Patel, video producers. 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    Jazz at Lincoln Center Reopens, With Four Young Players in the Spotlight

    The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returned to indoor performance with “Wynton at 60,” a program featuring Marsalis originals and a quartet of up-and-coming trumpeters.The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was amused as four trumpet players, all but one under the age of 30, took their position in the rehearsal room late Tuesday morning.“It’s the Young Lions!” called out the baritone saxophone player Paul Nedzela, referring to the coterie of sharp-dressed, tradition-minded bop up-and-comers who rose during the Reagan and Clinton administrations while edging jazz toward a concert art with a classical-music-style repertoire.That got a laugh.“We tried that in the ’90s,” said the bassist Carlos Henriquez.Another laugh.Soon, Wynton Marsalis, once the pride of those young lions, called the band to order from his perch in the trumpet section and the orchestra lit into “Windjammers,” a Marsalis cooker arranged to showcase the quartet of guest trumpeters, some of them students. The four swapped bars, breaks and occasionally expressions of wonderment, like they couldn’t believe they were — to borrow a title from Marsalis’s own repertoire — in this house, on this morning.The occasion: the kickoff to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 34th concert season — and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s first indoor New York City performance since the Covid-19 shutdowns. The season will include a tribute to Chick Corea, who died in February; a celebration of the centennial of Charles Mingus; and three concerts showcasing extraordinary women singers, Dianne Reeves, Catherine Russell and Cécile McLorin Salvant.Excitement about the reopening pulsed through the band. “To look at and see our audience, and to feel that energy, I’m going to be overwhelmed,” said Ted Nash, a saxophonist and composer. “We’ve been doing all this virtual stuff, but to create together a sound field and an energy field in person, where all the sounds meld together — this is why I do this.”From left: Carlos Henriquez, Obed Calvaire and Marsalis rehearsing earlier this week.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesMarsalis was quick to say he didn’t name this weekend’s concerts — “Wynton at 60” — which celebrate his new status as a sexagenarian with a program of his originals from four decades.Still, despite a warm, even gentle demeanor, there was no doubt he was in charge, announcing the order of soloists at rehearsal, or small tweaks to the charts. But when a soloist occasionally asked how to approach a section, he replied, “Just do what you all want.” Or, “It’s you playing it.”Freedom within a structure, of course, separates Jazz at Lincoln Center from other major performing arts institutions with a repertoire. So does Marsalis’s tradition of inviting young musicians to play on its biggest stage, the Rose Theater in the Columbus Circle complex.“It shows the generations working together,” he said. “When we started the orchestra, surviving members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra played. Marcus Belgrave played with Ray Charles. Sir Roland Hanna played with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Jerry Dodgion and Frank Wess played with Basie. They passed on a lot of the feeling of the music and its identity and meaning to us. So, this is a continuation.”Chris Crenshaw, a trombonist, composer and arranger who has been in the orchestra since 2006, said, “We have a charge to keep. We have a responsibility. There’s so many things in all traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation orally or with music.”The responsibilities that come with serving as the artistic director and public face of a major arts organization has meant that, for Marsalis, the shutdown was never truly a shutdown. He pulled out his phone and thumbed through dozens of photos of score pages for upcoming projects (a tuba concerto, a bassoon piece).Versions of the band have toured the United States and the world, taking endless Covid-19 tests and often playing music from his politically engaged “The Democracy! Suite,” which boasts song titles like “Sloganize, Patronize, Realize, Revolutionize (Black Lives Matters).” Streaming concerts, from the vault and some fresh, have abounded and will continue — this season, any concert can be streamed for a donation of $10.The work helps distract from the losses that have mounted since March 2020, including Marsalis’s musician father, Ellis, and his friend and mentor, the critic Stanley Crouch, in addition to more musicians than any institution could fully memorialize. “I tend not to dwell,” he said. “My dad, he said ‘Everybody’s losing people. And when you focus too much on yours …’” He let that thought drift away and then recalled something the pianist John Lewis once said to him. “‘To focus too much on even something negative is a form of deep ego.’”“You got to keep moving forward, keep being productive and trying to create the world you envision,” Marsalis added.The saxophonist Walter Blanding with Marsalis as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra prepared for its return to indoor performances.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesAt 60, Marsalis, who won a Pulitzer in 1997 for “Blood on the Fields,” his oratorio about slavery, sees a world in which democracy itself is imperiled, and “the intellectual class still always wants the Black man to be a fool on all levels.” His humanism, though, buoys him. “You can subvert the Constitution and make it harder for people to vote, make it more difficult for government to work,” he said. “But there’s always voices that defend the integrity of the document, which is changeable — it’s not set in stone.”He shifted quickly back to the subject upon which he has most often stirred controversy. “Music is the same. You can be glib enough to undermine the integrity of it and be successful. But there’s always just enough voices who believe in the integrity of it.”Those young trumpeters, in his estimation, count among those voices. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission has always focused on jazz education and advocacy, and the guest artists at “Wynton at 60” — Summer Camargo, Giveton Gelin, Tatum Greenblatt and Anthony Hervey — demonstrate the power of that outreach.Camargo caught Marsalis’s attention when her South Florida high school placed in the institution’s annual “Essentially Ellington” contest, which invites school bands to record themselves playing free Duke Ellington charts and then brings the finalists to New York City to perform. Now a Juilliard student, Camargo said she never would have attempted composition without the impetus of the contest, where, in 2018, she won awards for composing as well as for soloing.“When people ask me what was one of the best days of your life, I always go back to that moment,” she said. “Wynton took me backstage and gave me compliments and advice. He doesn’t sugarcoat it — he tells you what you need to do to get better.”Gelin, a recent Juilliard graduate who self-released his debut album, also praised Marsalis’s generosity as a mentor — and his practical advice. Visiting New York from the Bahamas during his high school years, Gelin attended a free Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra concert in Queens and afterward worked his way through the line to meet Marsalis. The next day, Gelin played for him at his home and was surprised that so famous a figure invested such energy in urging a kid to dig deeper into developing his own voice.“I spent a lot of time in the Haitian church,” Gelin said. “One of the first things Wynton said to me was to listen closely to the singers there and how their vocal qualities reflect where they’re from.”Marsalis nodded when reminded of this encounter. “Your sound will be organic when who you are doesn’t fight with who you want to be,” he said.“To create together a sound field and an energy field in person, where all the sounds meld together — this is why I do this,” said the saxophonist Ted Nash.Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesOn opening night Thursday, the four up-and-comers got their shot onstage. The orchestra’s 90-minute set surveyed some of Marsalis’s most crowd-pleasing compositions, including big-band stompers, ballads and percolating curios marked by his fondness for musical onomatopoeia, with muted horns aping the buzz of bees and the keening of train whistles.The 15-member ensemble tackled “The Holy Ghost,” from Marsalis’s “Abyssinian Mass,” and he delivered a bracing, unamplified solo on a quartet treatment of Gordon Jenkins’s “Goodbye” that he dedicated “to all the people who have lost someone and didn’t get to tell them goodbye.”But the most boisterous crowd response came soon after those young trumpeters took the stage. Camargo’s gutsy opening solo brought patrons to their feet and inspired Marsalis — her hero — to muse afterward, “She ain’t playing around at all.”The four ringers’ joyous clamor brought the house down. Marsalis called their presence “a birthday present to myself,” but their performances suggested it’s not just a gift for him. More

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    Earl Sweatshirt Exhibits His Evolution, and 14 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by FKA twigs, Makaya McCraven, Hazel English and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.Earl Sweatshirt, ‘2010’In 2010, Earl Sweatshirt released his debut mixtape, “Earl,” and his new song titled for that moment in time shows how much he’s evolved while still retaining his sagely iconoclastic spirit. Earl’s more recent releases — “Some Rap Songs” from 2018; “Feet of Clay” from 2019 — have represented his music at its most avant-garde, moving through murky, collagelike atmospheres in a constant state of transformation. “2010,” though, is more straightforward and sustained, with an understated beat from the producer Black Noise that allows Earl to lock into a hypnotic flow. The succinctly poetic imagery (“crescent moon wink, when I blinked it was gone”) and strangely satisfying plain-spoken admissions (“walked outside, it was still gorgeous”) pour out of him as steadily as water from a tap. LINDSAY ZOLADZFKA twigs featuring Central Cee, ‘Measure of a Man’This song’s distinctive descending chord progression, dramatic swells and even its lyrics — “the measure of a hero is the measure of a man” — could make it a James Bond theme. That’s a sign of FKA twigs’s overarching ambitions, her willingness to engage carnality and idealism, and how carefully she gauges the gradations of her voice in every phrase. JON PARELESHazel English, ‘Nine Stories’Call it a meet twee: “You lent me ‘Nine Stories,’ while you starred in mine,” the Australian-born, California-based musician Hazel English sings at the beginning of her ode to every artsy teen’s favorite J.D. Salinger book. The track is a three-minute dream-pop reverie, obscuring lyrics wryly bookish enough for a Belle & Sebastian song beneath a swirl of jangly guitars and shyly murmured vocals. It’s also something of an act of nostalgia, finding the 30-year-old conjuring the sounds and memories of her high school days: “Now that I’m falling, I can’t ignore it,” she sings sweetly, sounding as blissfully crush-struck as a teenager. ZOLADZHorsegirl, ‘Billy’The young Chicago trio Horsegirl is proof that the shaggy-dog spirit of Gen X indie rock is alive and well within a certain subset of Gen Z. Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein’s overlapping vocals are buried beneath a dissonant avalanche of “Daydream Nation”-esque guitars, but enough lyrical imagery comes to the surface to create a strangely poetic impression of their titular character on this stand-alone single, their first release since signing to Matador Records. “He washes off his robes in preparation to be crucified,” Cheng intones, while Lowenstein’s more melodic vocal line adds additional texture to the song’s enveloping, shoegaze-y atmosphere. ZOLADZBen LaMar Gay featuring Ayanna Woods, ‘Touch. Don’t Scroll’On “Touch. Don’t Scroll,” Ben LaMar Gay and Ayanna Woods, two musical polymaths from Chicago, sing about trying to stay connected to each other in an overcorrected world. “Now, baby, I will never leave you ’lone/Oh, can you hear me or are you on your phone?” they drone in unison, an octave apart, over a syncopated beat and lightly twinkling electronics. The track is nestled deep within “Open Arms to Open Us,” Gay’s latest album and probably his most broadly appealing, pulling together influences from country blues, Afro-Brazilian percussion, puckish Chicago free jazz and 2000s indie-rock. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOCardi B, ‘Bet It’“Bet It,” from the soundtrack to Halle Berry’s directorial debut “Bruised,” is only the second solo single Cardi B has released this year. And while it’s nowhere near as fun or inspired than that previous hit, “Up,” “Bet It” is more like a braggadocios status update on Cardi’s recent past, taking in her Grammy wins and her memorable Met Gala appearance in a dress with a “tail so long it drag 30 minutes after.” ZOLADZMorray featuring Benny the Butcher, ‘Never Fail’An impressively feverish turn from Morray, whose 2020 breakout single “Quicksand” leaned toward the spiritual. Here, though, he’s ferocious, rapping with a scratchy yelp and a sense of defiance. He’s accompanied by Benny the Butcher, who is among the calmest-sounding boasters in hip-hop. An unexpected and unexpectedly effective pairing. JON CARAMANICAFrank Dukes, ‘Likkle Prince’The producer Frank Dukes — who’s made understated, hauntingly melodic work with Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Rihanna and many others — is releasing “The Way of Ging,” his first project under his own name. It’s an album of beats — a beat tape, as they used to say — that’s available for a limited time online, and will eventually be removed from the internet and available only as a set of NFTs. “Likkle Prince” channels early ’80s electro along with some squelched disco majesty. It’s spooky and propulsive. CARAMANICAunderscores, ‘Everybody’s Dead!’A rousing and trippy burst of hyperpop mayhem, “Everybody’s Dead!” is a new single from underscores, who earlier this year released “Fishmonger,” an excellent, scrappy, and puckish debut album. CARAMANICAMicrohm, ‘Spooky Actions’The Mexico City sound artist Microhm, born Leslie Garcia, produced “Spooky Actions” and its accompanying EP using only modular synths. The result feels like hurtling through a Black Hole, where sound and time warp into quantum dislocation. Ambient textures swirl over the lurch of steady drum kicks, as the moments drip into oblivion. ISABELIA HERRERALeon Bridges featuring Jazmine Sullivan, ‘Summer Rain’Leon Bridges looks back to Sam Cooke’s soul; Jazmine Sullivan can go back to the scat-singing of bebop. They trade verses over a slow-motion beat and rhythm guitar in “Summer Rain” to evoke endless conjugal bliss, urging each other “don’t stop now,” for less under minutes of suspended time meant to play on repeat. PARELESIbeyi featuring Pa Salieu, ‘Made of Gold’Ibeyi’s music has always harnessed a sense of ancestral knowledge: The Afro-Cuban French twins grew up listening to Yoruba folk songs that channel the spirit of enslaved people brought to the Caribbean over the middle passage. But their new single, “Made of Gold,” featuring the Ghanian British rapper Pa Salieu, trades the simple but potent piano and cajón for a celestial, spectral otherworldliness. Culling references to the Yoruba deities Shango and Yemaya, as well as Frida Kahlo and the ancient Egyptian “Book of the Dead,” the duo summons power from intergenerational sources to shield them. “Oh you with a spine, who would work your mouth against this Magic of mine,” they intone. “It has been handed down in an unbroken line.” HERRERASting, ‘Loving You’Sting’s new album, “The Bridge,” often harks back to the jazz-folk-Celtic-pop hybrids he forged on his first solo albums in the 1980s; one song, “Harmony Road,” even features a saxophone solo from Branford Marsalis, who was central to “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” in 1985. Many of the new songs lean toward parable and metaphor, but not “Loving You,” a husband’s confrontation with the cheating wife he still loves: “We made vows inside the church to forgive each others’ sins,” he sings. “But there are things I have to endure like the smell of another man’s skin.” Written with the British electronic musician Maya Jane Coles, the track confines itself to two chords and a brittle beat, punctuated by faraway arpeggios and tones that emerge like unwanted memories; it’s memorably bleak. PARELESSingle Girl, Married Girl, ‘Scared to Move’With patient arpeggios and soothing bass notes, the harpist and composer Mary Lattimore builds a grandly meditative edifice behind Chelsey Coy, the songwriter and singer at the core of Single Girl, Married Girl, in “Scared to Move.” It’s from the new album “Three Generations of Leaving.” Cale’s multitracked harmonies promise, “In a strange new half-light, I will be your guide” as Lattimore’s harp patterns construct a glimmering path forward. PARELESMakaya McCraven, ‘Tranquillity’“Deciphering the Message,” Makaya McCraven’s first LP for Blue Note Records, could easily get you thinking of “Shades of Blue,” Madlib’s classic 2003 album remixing old tracks from that label’s jazz archive. On “Deciphering,” McCraven — a drummer, producer and beat dissector — digs through 13 tracks from the label’s catalog and attacks them through his personal method of remixing and pastiche. “Deciphering” crackles with McCraven’s sonic signatures: viscid ambience, restlessly energetic drumming, the recognizable sounds of his longtime collaborators (Marquis Hill on trumpet, Matt Gold on guitar, Joel Ross on vibraphone, et al). “Tranquillity” stems from a track by the vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, from his 1966 album “Components,” and McCraven’s intervention is two-pronged: He doubles down on the original’s curved-glass effect, adding whispery trumpet and fluttering flute atop the original track, but his own drums — kinetic, unrelenting — keep the energy at a rolling boil. RUSSONELLO More

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    Dave Frishberg, Writer of Songs Sardonic and Nostalgic, Dies at 88

    A gifted jazz pianist and a singer with a limited range but a distinctive voice, he wrote mostly for grown-ups but reached his largest audience on “Schoolhouse Rock!”Dave Frishberg, the jazz songwriter whose sardonic wit as a lyricist and melodic cleverness as a composer placed him in the top echelon of his craft, died on Wednesday in Portland, Ore. He was 88.His wife, April Magnusson, confirmed the death.Mr. Frishberg, who also played piano and sang, was an anomaly, if not an anachronism, in American popular music: an accomplished, unregenerate jazz pianist who managed to outrun the eras of rock, soul, disco, punk and hip-hop by writing hyper-literate songs that harked back to Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, by way of Stephen Sondheim.His songwriting wit was for grown-ups, yet he reached his widest audience with sharpshooting ditties for kids as a regular musical contributor to ABC-TV’s long-running Saturday morning animated show “Schoolhouse Rock!”Merely being aware of Dave Frishberg and his songs conveyed an in-the-know sophistication. He poked fun at this self-congratulatory hipness in his lyrics for “I’m Hip,” a classic of clueless with-it-ness that he wrote to a melody by his fellow jazz songwriter Bob Dorough:See, I’m hip. I’m no square.I’m alert, I’m awake, I’m aware.I am always on the scene.Making the rounds, digging the sounds.I read People magazine.‘Cuz I’m hip.Mr. Frishberg’s original lyric for “I’m Hip,” written in 1966, was “I read Playboy magazine,” but he later changed it.People magazine never did get around to profiling him (though it did briefly review one of his albums in the 1980s). But his niche in the niche-songwriting world of the cabaret smart set (when such a breed still existed) was lofty. Superb saloon singers came to be identified with the Frishberg tunes they sang. One of those singers was Blossom Dearie, whose rendition of his “Peel Me a Grape” was, in Mr. Frishberg’s view, definitive.Still, no one quite sang a Dave Frishberg song like Dave Frishberg, with his thin, reedy voice and compellingly constricted vocal range. Mr. Frishberg’s performance of his acerbic paean to “My Attorney Bernie” was unsurpassed, particularly his laconic crooning of the song’s refrain:Bernie tells me what to doBernie lays it on the lineBernie says we sue, we sueBernie says we sign, we sign.Mr. Frishberg’s songwriting gift extended well beyond the satirical jab. He composed some beautiful ballads, and he was an elegant nostalgist who wrote longingly (though also knowingly) about the mists of time and loss. There was the bittersweet Frishberg of “Do You Miss New York?,” the aching Frishberg of “Sweet Kentucky Ham” and the ingeniously eloquent Frishberg of “Van Lingle Mungo,” a touching wisp of a ballad constructed solely from the strung-together names of long-ago major league baseball players.Mr. Frishberg at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan in 2002. His niche in the cabaret songwriting world was lofty. Richard Termine for The New York TimesDavid Lee Frishberg was born on March 23, 1933, in St. Paul, Minn., the youngest of three sons of Harry and Sarah (Cohen) Frishberg. His father, who owned a clothing store, was an émigré from Poland; his mother was a native-born Minnesotan.He began sketching athletes from news photos when he was 7 and hoped to become a sports illustrator, but he also listened closely to music growing up and could sing the entire score of “The Mikado” and other Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. His brother Mort, a self-taught blues piano player, soon steered him toward jazz and blues records, and to the keyboard, where the teenage Mr. Frishberg replicated by ear the boogie-woogie styles of Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis before discovering the modernist pianism of bebop.“Jazz musicians were hip,” Mr. Frishberg wrote in his memoir, “My Dear Departed Past” (2017); “they were funny, they were sensitive, they were clannish, and they seemed to have the best girlfriends.”After graduating from St. Paul Central High School, Mr. Frishberg briefly attended Stanford University before returning home to enroll at the University of Minnesota. Though he was already a semiregular on the local jazz scene, his sight reading skills were too poor for a formal music degree. Instead he flirted with majoring in psychology before gravitating to journalism and securing his degree in 1955.He served two years in the Air Force as a recruiter, to fulfill his R.O.T.C. obligations, and then, in 1957, was hired by the New York radio station WNEW to write advertising scripts and other material for its disc jockeys and announcers. He quickly forsook WNEW to write catalog copy for RCA Victor Records, then finally stepped out as a working solo pianist with a late-night slot at the Duplex cabaret in Greenwich Village.Mr. Frishberg became an in-demand sideman at jazz spots like Birdland and the Village Vanguard for jazz luminaries including the saxophonists Ben Webster, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims and the drummer Gene Krupa. He also accompanied an array of great singers, including Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day and, for one dizzying night while backing Ms. O’Day at the Half Note, a timid Judy Garland, who tremulously sat in and sang “Over the Rainbow,” then asked Mr. Frishberg to become her musical director. He demurred.“I’m Just a Bill,” which Mr. Frishberg wrote for the animated children’s show “Schoolhouse Rock!,” brought him unexpected acclaim and long-lasting residuals for what he later ruefully acknowledged to be his “most well-known song.”Kari Rene Hall/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesIn the early 1960s, Mr. Frishberg began writing songs — “all kinds of songs,” as he recalled in “My Dear Departed Past.” When the singer Fran Jeffries asked if he could write her a bit of special material, something she could “slink around while singing,” he responded with “Peel Me a Grape”:Peel me a grapeCrush me some iceSkin me a peach, save the fuzz for my pillowStart me a smokeTalk to me niceYou gotta wine meAnd dine me.Written in 1962, “Peel Me a Grape” became Mr. Frishberg’s first published tune — though the publishing company that acquired it, Frank Music, owned by the illustrious Frank Loesser, did little with it. “As far as I knew, the song was a pretty confidential item,” Mr. Frishberg later wrote, “until Blossom Dearie’s version.” Still, it launched Mr. Frishberg as a songwriter.“I’m Hip” followed in 1966, leading to a swelling portfolio of songs. The demos that he cut to teach singers his songs began to tickle the insular jazz recording industry’s ear. Finally, Mr. Frishberg went into the studio himself to record an album, consisting of his own compositions. The record was released in 1970 on the recently formed CTI label under the title “Oklahoma Toad.”Mr. Frishberg decamped to Los Angeles in 1971, ostensibly to write material for “The Funny Side,” a new NBC variety show starring Gene Kelly. The show lasted only nine episodes, but work as a studio musician kept Mr. Frishberg afloat. He also began to perform his songs regularly in local clubs.In 1975, Mr. Dorough invited him to contribute to “Schoolhouse Rock!,” for which Mr. Dorough was the musical director and one of the writers. Mr. Frishberg’s first contribution, in the show’s third season, was “I’m Just a Bill,” an explanatory swinger about the legislative process sung by the jazz trumpeter and vocalist Jack Sheldon. It brought him unexpected acclaim and long-lasting residuals for what he later ruefully acknowledged to be his “most well-known song.”“The Dave Frishberg Songbook, Volume No. 1” earned Mr. Frishberg the first of his four Grammy Award nominations. “The Dave Frishberg Songbook, Volume No. 1” garnered a 1982 Grammy Award nomination for best male jazz vocal performance. The next year, “The Dave Frishberg Songbook, Volume No. 2” did the same. In support of that album, Mr. Frishberg appeared on “The Tonight Show.” Two more Frishberg albums were nominated for Grammys, “Live at Vine Street” in 1985 and “Can’t Take You Nowhere” in 1987.Mr. Frishberg’s marriage in 1959 to Stella Giammasi ended in divorce. He later married Cynthia Wagman.In 1986, he, his wife and their year-old son, Harry, moved to Portland, fleeing the freeway traffic and what he once referred to as the “malignant environment” of Los Angeles. He lived on in Portland, more or less contentedly, for the rest of his life, producing a second son, Max; divorcing for a second time; and, in 2000, marrying Ms. Magnusson. In addition to her, he is survived by his sons.In Portland, he collaborated regularly with the vocalist Rebecca Kilgore. As often as not, though, Mr. Frishberg reveled in playing solo piano in crowded hotel bars. When ill health overtook him late in life, he never stopped writing, just as he had mordantly predicted in 1981 in “My Swan Song”:Once I popped them out like wafflesThe good ones and the awfulsA new one every day. But nowI find I’m uninspired, my wig’s no longer wiredI’ve nothing left to say. …But I’ll say it anyway.Alex Traub More

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    Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers’s ‘Red’ Duet, and 14 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Beyoncé, Let’s Eat Grandma, Beach House and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.Taylor Swift featuring Phoebe Bridgers, ‘Nothing New’Like “Fearless” before it, Taylor Swift’s rerecorded and reclaimed “Red (Taylor’s Version),” out Friday, features a trove of newly recorded material from the vault. One of the best offerings is “Nothing New,” a melancholic meditation Swift wrote in 2012 and returned to nearly a decade later, enlisting the singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers as her very capable duet partner. The song is kind of a shadow version of “The Lucky One,” Swift’s incisive but ultimately peppy track about the price of fame on the original release of “Red.” “Nothing New” is much darker in tone and more sharply critical of a culture that moves from one young ingénue to the next: “How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?” Swift asks, foreshadowing some of the themes she’d explore on her 2020 album “Folklore.” Most striking, though, is the bridge, in which she imagines meeting the Eve Harrington to her Margo Channing, a predecessor with “the kind of radiance you only have at 17.” It’s hard not to picture the longtime Swiftie Olivia Rodrigo (“She’ll know the way and then she’ll say she got the map from me”), who seems to have fulfilled this prophecy to a T. But in the time that has passed from when Swift wrote this song to when she finally recorded it, the mournful “Nothing New” has transformed into something triumphant: It’s proof that Swift has outlasted her novelty and stuck around longer than her detractors imagined. Plus, she doesn’t seem to mind Rodrigo calling her “mom.” LINDSAY ZOLADZBeach House, ‘Superstar’Beach House’s music contains many gifts, but it’s the group’s ability to magnify life’s small dramas into sky-sized emotions that glitters. “Superstar” is a prodigious torch song that fits comfortably among other beloved anthems in the band’s catalog: the blissed-out “Myth,” the romance of “Lover of Mine.” Here, the duo immerses itself in the cosmos, the trick of light of a falling star guiding the nightmare of a relationship’s end. “When you were mine/We fell across the sky,” sings Victoria Legrand as the band once again harnesses an indescribable feeling and bottles it. ISABELIA HERRERABeyoncé, ‘Be Alive’There’s nothing subtle about the message of Black striving and ambition in “Be Alive,” Beyoncé’s song for “King Richard,” the movie about the father and tennis coach of Venus and Serena Williams. “This is hustle personified/Look how we’ve been fighting to stay alive,” she sings. “So when we win we will have pride.” The beat is blunt, steady and determined, and as Beyoncé pushes her voice toward a rasp, she girds herself in vocal harmonies, a multitracked family. The song insists on the community effort behind the triumph. JON PARELESIrreversible Entanglements, ‘Open the Gates’“Open the gates, we arrive — energy time,” Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) commands in the title track to the new album by Irreversible Entanglements, which backs her spoken words with a shape-shifting jazz quartet. “Open the Gates” is a concise but packed two-and-a-half minutes, with a six-beat bass vamp holding together prismatic, multilayered percussion and horns — a welcome that promises eventful times ahead. PARELESGirl Ultra, ‘Amores de Droga’“Amores de Droga” doesn’t require much to glow: a steady four-on-the-floor rhythm, the weightless melodies of the Mexican R&B chanteuse Girl Ultra, a couple of bleeding-heart lyrics. “A mi nadie me enseñó a querer,” Girl Ultra sings. “Yo no nací pa’ enamorarme.” (“No one taught me how to love/I wasn’t born to fall in love.”) It’s a refutation — a detox from poisonous love and all its dangers. HERRERATeddy Afro, ‘Armash (Stand Up)’Ethiopia is consumed in a civil war as its Tigray ethnic minority, formerly in control, moves against a democratically elected government that has been taking its own brutal measures. On Nov. 2, the government declared a state of emergency. That was the day Teddy Afro released “Armash,” a nine-minute plea for Ethiopian unity sung in Amharic. It has two chords, an expanding horn line and a voice with deep sadness and a tinge of Auto-Tune, as he sings, “Longing for a country, here, in my own motherland.” It has logged more than three million listens on YouTube, but music can’t heal everything. PARELESMelanie Charles, ‘All Africa (The Beat)/The Music Is the Magic’In 2017 Melanie Charles self-released “The Girl With the Green Shoes,” a tantalizing, 30-minute mixtape that sampled Kelela, Nina Simone and Buddy Miles, and shined a light on Charles’s rangy talents as a vocalist, flutist and producer. She returns this week with “Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women,” her debut for the major jazz label Verve, and this one is a mixtape too, of sorts: She samples or reworks a song by a different Black woman ancestor on nearly every track. Abbey Lincoln gets covered twice, in a medley that starts with “All Africa,” a rolling rumination on the ancient power of the drum originally on “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.” Charles layers four-part harmony and swathes of effects onto an incantation of “The beat!” and her band kicks into a scorching, slow-motion groove. It opens onto a blasted-out cover of “The Music Is the Magic,” one of Lincoln’s most enchanted compositions, but after just over a minute, it fades out. The proof of concept is there. Now we’re waiting for more. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOShamir, ‘Cisgender’Most of Shamir’s songs have been wrapped in sweetness. Not this one. “Cisgender” is an uncompromising declaration of gender fluidity: “I don’t wanna be a girl, I don’t wanna be a man,” Shamir declares. “I’m just existing on this God-forsaken land/You can take it or leave it.” The track is industrial, with brute-force drums and distorted guitar, insisting that limits are being pushed; variations of a four-letter word pop up in the lyrics. In the video, the singer has deer horns and cloven hooves. PARELESMitski, ‘The Only Heartbreaker’There’s sleek, poppy sheen to Mitski’s latest single, the second from her newly announced sixth album, “Laurel Hell,” but beneath the distortion-scorched surfaces of her early work, she’s been writing melodies this catchy and anthemic since her great 2014 album “Bury Me at Makeout Creek.” Co-written with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, “The Only Heartbreaker” is propelled by punchy percussion and retro-sounding synthesizers that explode into a dramatic conflagration during the song’s bridge. Like so many of Mitski’s best songs, this one is about embracing emotionality and the inevitability of messiness: “I’ll be the bad guy in the play,” she tells a relatively reserved partner. “I’ll be the water main that’s burst and flooding/You’ll be by the window, only watching.” ZOLADZPinegrove, ‘Alaska’“Last month in Alaska,” Evan Stephens Hall sings at the beginning of the latest song from Pinegrove, stretching out those vowels with a twangy sense of yearning. (In the next verse, impressively, he’ll wring a similar kind of musicality out of the word “Orlando.”) Taken from the New Jersey indie-rockers’ forthcoming album “11:11” (out Jan. 28), “Alaska” is one of those cozy winter songs you want to wrap around yourself like a wool blanket. The lyrics showcase the vivid poeticism of Hall’s writing (“like a ladder to the atmosphere, the rungs each come again and again”) while the song’s driving rhythm and fuzzy guitars create an atmosphere that’s at once emotionally restless and as warm as a hearth. ZOLADZCamp Cope, ‘Blue’Following the righteous punk anger of Camp Cope’s great 2018 album “How to Socialize & Make Friends,” the Australian trio’s first single in three years is something of a departure: “Blue” is a twangy, acoustic-driven reflection, its sonic palette akin to something off Waxahatchee’s “St. Cloud.” But subsequent listens reveal singer Georgia Maq’s emotional perception to be as receptive and unflinching as ever, as the song depicts a relationship in which both partners are struggling with their own forms of depression: “It’s all blue, you know I feel it and I bet you do.” ZOLADZLet’s Eat Grandma, ‘Two Ribbons’“Two Ribbons,” the title song of an album due in April, puts a serene facade on all-consuming grief. It backs Jenny Hollingworth’s voice with, mostly, two chords from a calmly strummed electric guitar, along with underlying tones; Velvet Underground songs like “Pale Blue Eyes” are predecessors. Her voice and her words cope with suffering, death, mourning, survival, and moving on; the song is quietly shattering. PARELES.Mdou Moctar, ‘Live at the Niger River’Mdou Moctar, a Tuareg guitarist and singer born in Niger, and the other three members of his band, set up to perform on a bank of the Niger River during a scenic sunrise to play four songs — “Tala Tannam,” “Bissmilahi Atagh,” “Ya Habibti” and “Chismiten” — from the album they released this year, “Afrique Victime.” With just two guitars, bass and calabash, the music is live, unadorned and pristinely recorded. Drone harmonies make it meditative, even as the rhythms and guitar lines streak ahead. PARELESAdam O’Farrill, ‘Ducks’The trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill has a way of showing his ambition by turning the volume down, asking the members of his quartet, Stranger Days, to play their spare but not-simple parts with measured intention, so that all four instruments can be heard at the same volume. On “Ducks,” from “Visions of Your Other,” O’Farrill’s just-released album with Stranger Days, the drummer Zack O’Farrill (his brother) leaves space around every drum stroke. The busiest it gets is at the end of the track, when O’Farrill and the tenor saxophonist Xavier Del Castillo hold long notes together in taut harmony. RUSSONELLO More

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    Post Malone and the Weeknd’s Emo Synth-Pop, and 12 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Jenny Lewis, TNGHT, Dawn Richard and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.Post Malone and the Weeknd, ‘One Right Now’Oh, the fragile male ego. “Don’t call me baby when you did me so wrong” is one of the milder jibes hurled at a straying girlfriend by Post Malone as he trades verses with the Weeknd. She may want to get together, but the guys have already moved on, with “one coming over and one right now.” A very 1980s track — springy synthesizer bass line and hook, programmed beat — carries pure, focused resentment about how much damage she’s done to “my feelings.” JON PARELESCharli XCX featuring Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek, ‘New Shapes’“What you want/I ain’t got it,” Charli XCX snarls over a blast of ’80s pop gloss. The British pop provocateur unleashes her ultrapop persona, brooding over cinematic new wave synths. “New Shapes” leverages the kind of vulnerability and insecurity that defines some of Charli’s best work, thanks to pointed verses from her guests (and previous collaborators), the sad girl supergroup of Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek. The whole thing doesn’t quite measure up to the irresistible drama of the beloved 2019 anthem “Gone,” but hey, the girls will take it. ISABELIA HERRERATerrace Martin featuring Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Ty Dolla Sign and James Fauntleroy, ‘Drones’The polymathic musician and producer Terrace Martin is widely known for helping Kendrick Lamar sculpt his jazz-tinted masterpiece, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” but he’d been an asset in Los Angeles studios since the mid-2000s, when he first fell in with Snoop Dogg. The title track from Martin’s new solo album, “Drones,” is something like a reading of his résumé, with features from four resounding names in L.A. hip-hop. The dapper, G-funk beat is a braid of plunky guitar, pulsing electric piano and 808 percussion; the lyrics — sung partly by Lamar, in a sly shrug — describe a booty-call relationship that’s exactly as shallow as it looks to the outside world, and maybe not much more satisfying. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLODawn Richard, ‘Loose Your Mind’Following her eclectic album “The Second Line,” released earlier this year, Dawn Richard’s new track for the Adult Swim Singles series is all bass-heavy, aqueous funk. Her voice shape-shifts throughout “Loose Your Mind,” so at times it almost feels like she’s duetting with different sides of her prismatic personality. “Ain’t really nothing wrong when the feeling is golden,” she spits at the beginning, before a melodic chorus of Dawns responds in agreement: “Solid gold.” LINDSAY ZOLADZTNGHT, ‘Tums’Few songs defined the hypermaximalist sound of the 2010s as succinctly as the electronic duo TNGHT’s “Higher Ground,” that brassy, ever-escalating EDM anthem that was sampled by Kanye West on “Yeezus” and — I will die on this hill — has to be the inspiration behind the “Arby’s: We Have the Meats” jingle, right? After a long hiatus, the producers Hudson Mohawke and Lunice reunited as TNGHT in 2019, and have now released a new track called “Tums,” which Lunice says was created according to the duo’s guiding principles: “Keep it really fun. Dumb. Hard-hitting. Don’t overwork it.” Sampled giggles and slide whistles keep things fizzy on the surface, while the track’s booming low end guides it through a series of roller-coaster drops. “Tums” might not be as innovative as the pair’s earlier work, but maybe that’s because everything else has been sounding like them for years now. ZOLADZSimi, ‘Woman’With “Woman,” the Nigerian singer and songwriter Simi offers a tribute, corrective and update to Fela Anikalupo Kuti, who invented Afrobeat in the 1970s in songs including “Lady,” which scoffed at European feminism. “Woman” mixes current electronic Afrobeats with the funk of Kuti’s 1970s Afrobeat, while quoting Kuti songs between her own assertions about women’s strengths: “She won’t pay attention to the intimidation.” The rhetoric is tricky; the beat is unstoppable. PARELESGregory Porter featuring Cherise, ‘Love Runs Deeper’The standard elements of Gregory Porter’s style run through “Love Runs Deeper”: lyrics that linger on the difficulties — and the bounties — of care and connection; twinkling orchestral strings; a gradual build that allows his burly, baritone voice to unfurl itself with just enough tension and release. But this is more of a direct-delivery power ballad than most of Porter’s tunes: The melody wouldn’t feel out of place on an Adele or Halsey record, and it’s liable to get lodged in your head quickly and stay there. With supporting vocals from the young British singer Cherise, “Love Runs Deeper” serves as the soundtrack to Disney’s annual holiday-season advertisement, which this year is a short film (full of self-referential touches, like a Buzz Lightyear cameo) titled “The Stepdad.” The song is also included on a new Porter compilation, “Still Rising,” which features a mix of his greatest hits, B-sides and new songs. RUSSONELLOJenny Lewis, ‘Puppy and a Truck’“My 40s are kicking my ass, and handing them to me in a margarita glass” — how’s that for an opening line? Something about the gentle country strum and laid-back croon of Jenny Lewis’s new stand-alone single recalls her old band Rilo Kiley’s great 2004 album “More Adventurous,” though her perspective has been updated with the unglamorous realities and hard-won wisdom of middle age. After chronicling the wreckage of a few recent relationships, the eternally witty Lewis arrives at a mantra of tough-talking self-reliance: “If you feel like giving up, shut up — get a puppy and a truck.” ZOLADZChastity Belt, ‘Fear’Lydia Lund spends much of the Washington indie-rock band Chastity Belt’s new song “Fear” hollering until she’s hoarse, “It’s just the fear, it’s just the fear.” Apparently she recorded the vocals while she was staying at her parents’ house, and her commitment to the song was so intense that her mother knocked on the door to make sure she was OK because she “thought I was doing some kind of primal scream therapy,” Lund said. “And I guess in a way I am.” Lund’s impassioned delivery and the song’s soaring guitars turn “Fear” into a cathartic response to overwhelming anxiety, and provide a powerful soundtrack for slaying that dreaded mind killer. ZOLADZRadiohead, ‘Follow Me Around’“Kid A Mnesia,” the new, expansive compilation of Radiohead songs from their paradigm-shifting sessions in 1999-2000, has unearthed studio versions of songs that the band performed but never committed to albums, notably “Follow Me Around,” a guitar-strumming crescendo of paranoia. The video, apparently made with a small but persistent camera drone, nicely multiplies the dread. PARELESLorde, ‘Hold No Grudge’Lorde whisper-sings through the first half of “Hold No Grudge,” a bonus track added to her album “Solar Power.” It’s a memory of an early love that ended without a resolution; later messages went unanswered. Midway through, she’s still bouncing syllables off guitar strums, but the sound of the song comes into focus and Lorde realizes, “We both might have done some growing up.” She’s ready to let the passage of time offer solace. PARELESOmar Apollo featuring Kali Uchis, ‘Bad Life’Omar Apollo is known for combining cool funk grooves, slick charisma and sensual falsettos. But on “Bad Life,” his new single featuring Kali Uchis, the young singer-songwriter peels back the layers and puts his armor aside for a bare-bones exercise in vulnerability. “Bad Life” revels in contempt, burning slow and low alongside a soft-focus electric guitar. Apollo opens the track with a heart-piercer: “You give me nothing/But I still change it to something.” Ouch. The singer’s voice curls into anguished melismas, and when the orchestral strings soar in halfway through, the resentment cuts crystal clear. HERRERAAlt-J, ‘Get Better’Alt-J created a serene and almost unbearably mournful song with “Get Better,” a fingerpicked chronicle about the profundity and mundanity of a loved one’s slow death like Paul Simon’s “Darling Lorraine” and Mount Eerie’s “Real Death.” It’s profoundly self-conscious, citing the similarly acoustic arrangement of Elliott Smith; it offers personal moments, stray events, reminiscences, belongings, thoughts of “front line workers,” admissions that “I still pretend you’re only out of sight in another room/smiling at your phone.” The loss is only personal, but shattering. PARELES More

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    Pat Martino, Jazz Guitarist Who Overcame Amnesia, Dies at 77

    He was one of the genre’s most acclaimed players when brain surgery left him with no memory. But he recovered and made music for another three decades.Pat Martino, whose trailblazing career as a jazz guitarist seemed to end prematurely in 1980 when brain surgery left him with no memory, but who then painstakingly relearned the instrument, and his own past, and went on to three more decades of innovative musicianship, died on Monday at his home in South Philadelphia. He was 77.Joseph Donofrio, his longtime manager, said the cause was chronic respiratory disorder, which had forced Mr. Martino to stop performing after a tour of Italy in November 2018.Mr. Martino’s playing began drawing attention when he was still a teenager. Having been expelled from a Roman Catholic high school in 10th grade (“Something took place between me and one of the priests there,” he wrote years later. “If I remember correctly, it had something to do with bubble gum.”), he became a professional musician, joining the singer Lloyd Price’s big band and then, in 1962, the saxophonist Willis Jackson’s combo.In 1967, when he was in his early 20s, he released his first album, “El Hombre,” on the Prestige label, and a series of well-regarded records followed. At the start of his career he often drew comparisons to earlier jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery, but by the 1970s he was forging his own sound. “Pat Martino: Breaking Barriers Between Rock & Jazz,” a 1975 headline in The San Francisco Examiner read.On a tour supporting his first albums for Warner Bros., “Starbright” (1976) and “Joyous Lake” (1977), Mr. Martino began experiencing frequent headaches and seizures, something he had dealt with occasionally since childhood. One seizure came while he was onstage in France in 1976.“I stopped playing and stood there for about 30 seconds,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Here and Now!” (2011, with Bill Milkowski). “During these moments of seizure, it feels like you’re falling through a black hole; it’s like everything just escapes at the moment.”Mr. Martino at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater in 2006, accompanied by Albert Heath on drums.Hiroyuki Ito for The New York TimesIn the book, he described going through a series of misdiagnoses and ill-advised treatment, including electroshock. He retired from performing and turned to teaching at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, but his problems worsened; at one point, he wrote, a doctor told him he had two hours to live.A condition called arteriovenous malformation, a tangling of arteries and veins, was diagnosed. An aneurysm resulted in emergency surgery to remove a large tumor; when he awoke, he had no memory.“When you don’t remember something, you have no idea of its existence,” he wrote. “And upon awakening after the surgery, I remembered nothing.“But it wasn’t a disorienting feeling,” he continued. “If I had known I was a guitarist, if I had known those two people standing by my bedside in the hospital were in fact my parents, I then would’ve felt the feelings that went along with the events. What they went through and why they were standing there looking at me then would’ve been very painful for me. But it wasn’t painful because to me they were just strangers.”His parents helped him relearn his past, showing him family photographs and playing him his own albums. Picking up the guitar again was another form of memory recovery.“I had to start from Square 1,” he told The Edmonton Journal of Alberta, Canada, in 2004. “But once I made the decision to try, it activated inner intuitive familiarities, like a child who hasn’t ridden their bicycle for many years and tries to do so again to reach a destination. There are moments of imbalance, but it’s subliminal, and it emerges after some mistakes, and then it strengthens.”By the mid-1980s he was performing again. Jon Pareles, reviewing one performance, at Fat Tuesday’s in Manhattan in 1986, found Mr. Martino as virtuosic and unpredictable as ever.“He can play chorus after chorus of bebop lines, zigzagging through the chromatic harmonies of his own tunes,” Mr. Pareles wrote. “But more often than not, he turns bebop conventions sideways. He starts a line on an unexpected beat, breaks his runs up to insist on a single note or riff, inserts odd-length leaps into standard licks and shifts accents around the beat. His playing is articulately wayward, approaching tunes from odd angles and taking rewarding tangents; he makes song forms seem slippery and mysterious.”In 1987, Mr. Martino released a new album. It was called “The Return.”Mr. Martino at a nightclub in Asbury Park, N.J., in 1967, the year he released his first album, “El Hombre.”Pat Martino CollectionPatrick Azzara (he took Martino, which his father had also used, as a stage name) was born on Aug. 25, 1944, in Philadelphia to Carmen and Jean (Orlando) Azzara. His father, known as Mickey, was a tailor who also worked as a guitarist and singer. He would hide his guitar from young Pat, though in the autobiography Mr. Martino suggests that this “was a bit of reverse psychology on his part” — once the boy took up the instrument, his father encouraged his career and introduced him to various musicians.Mr. Martino was in bands as a boy, including one with the future pop star Bobby Rydell, who lived nearby. One of the guitar greats Mr. Martino’s father took him to meet, backstage after a concert in Atlantic City, was Les Paul, who asked young Pat to play a little something.“What came out of that guitar was unbelievable,” Mr. Paul wrote in the liner notes to Mr. Martino’s 1970 album, “Desperado.” “His dexterity and his picking style were absolutely unique. He held his pick as one would hold a demitasse … pinkie extended, very polite. The politeness disappeared when pick met string.”As Mr. Martino grew more experienced, his view of jazz evolved, largely shaped by Eastern philosophies; he did not, he told The Examiner in 1975, consider himself a jazz musician.“Jazz is a way of life,” he said. “It’s not an idiom of music. Jazz is spontaneous improvisation. If you ever leave your house with nowhere to go, and just walk for pleasure, observing and looking around, you’ll find that you improvise.”And he did not consider himself a “guitar player,” he said, though he once did.“I no longer view myself that way because I don’t want to be depersonalized by my instrument,” he said. “I’m an observer of my environment, including the guitar; I see the guitar in everything.”In his autobiography, he described the process of recovering the ability to play.“As I continued to work out things on the instrument,” he wrote, “flashes of memory and muscle memory would gradually come flooding back to me — shapes on the fingerboard, different stairways to different rooms in the house. There are secret doorways that only you know about in the house, and you go there because it’s pleasurable to do so.”The records he made after his surgery included “All Sides Now” (1997), on the Blue Note label, an album on which he shared tracks with other famed guitarists, including Mr. Paul. Two of his albums, also on Blue Note, were nominated for Grammy Awards, “Live at Yoshi’s” (2001) and “Think Tank” (2003).His surgery and the recovery period, Mr. Martino said, changed what he was after in his music.“It used to be to do everything I possibly could to become more successful in my craft and my career,” he told the Edmonton paper. “Today, my intention is to completely enjoy the moment and everything it contains.”Mr. Martino is survived by his wife of 26 years, Ayako Asahi.Mr. Martino had other health issues over the years, but Mr. Donofrio, his longtime manager, said his resilience was remarkable.“Every time I thought he was going to be down and out,” he said, “he came back stronger than before.”Jeff Roth contributed research. More