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      Best and Worst Moments From the 2024 Grammys:

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      Young women brought the drama, Jay-Z surprised with a barbed speech and heroes long absent from the show’s stage made welcome returns at the 66th annual awards.The most awards at the 66th annual Grammys went to Phoebe Bridgers, who picked up three with her band boygenius and one for a feature on a SZA song. SZA, who came into the night with the most nominations, was shut out of the biggest honors — for album (which went to Taylor Swift’s “Midnights”), record (Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers”) and song (Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”) — but took home three trophies. Victoria Monét was named best new artist, and Swift’s album win broke a Grammy record for the category. The show was particularly joyous, slick and thoughtful, featuring several striking performances and a few raw acceptance speeches. All in all, it captured pop music as it actually is — centerless, and subject to change at any moment.Best Theatrical Pop Stars: Billie Eilish and Olivia RodrigoFrom left: Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo brought powerful vocals and a bit of theater to the Grammy stage. Photographs by Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesTwo of the night’s strongest performances came from young women using pianos to accompany the wispy, stratospheric upper reaches of their registers — and to comment on the tyranny of fragility and prettiness. The first was Billie Eilish, stunning the crowd to silence with a sparse, deeply felt reading of “What Was I Made For?,” her “Barbie” ballad that later picked up song of the year. The second was Olivia Rodrigo, who nailed the vertiginous high notes that punctuate her rock-operatic smash “Vampire,” and then riffed on the song’s theme as she smeared herself with spurting fake blood. Each performance, in its own way, felt like a rebuttal to the constricting standards to which so many young women are held. Eilish’s was about the pain of being perceived as an object; Rodrigo’s reimagined the same kind of pressure as a horror movie. Both understood the power of a little theatricality. LINDSAY ZOLADZBest Debut Grammy Performance: Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell won a Grammy for best folk album, then performed with a group of musicians.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJoni Mitchell, 80, has been singing her prismatic folk ballad “Both Sides Now” since she was 23, and yet every time she performs it, she seems to be interpreting its infinitely wise lyrics anew. The rendition she performed at the Grammys — her first-ever performance on the award show, which makes sense given how underestimated and slighted by the industry Mitchell has felt throughout most of her career — was at once elegiac and nimble, backed by a loose jazz arrangement that allowed her to riff on its familiar melody. Showing off a resonant tone and impressive range that she has worked diligently to strengthen since suffering an aneurysm in 2015, Mitchell’s performance was like a brief, magical visitation from a musical deity. ZOLADZBest Surprise Roast: Jay-ZJay-Z brought his daughter Blue Ivy Carter onstage during his acceptance speech at the Grammys.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Victoria Monét Wins Grammy for Best New Artist

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      In an eclectic field, honors for best new artist — one of the Grammys’ four most coveted awards — went to the pop and R&B singer-songwriter Victoria Monét.The win for Monét, 34, underscores her evolution from a behind-the-scenes hitmaker for performers like Ariana Grande to a decorated artist in her own right.Monét was up against nominees from many styles and backgrounds, including the category’s oldest nominee in 25 years, the rapper turned country singer Jelly Roll, 39. Another prominent competitor was Ice Spice, the Bronx drill-meets-pop rapper whose cultural ubiquity last year extended to a Taylor Swift collaboration and a “Barbie” soundtrack appearance. The other nominees in the category were the pop-folkie Noah Kahan, the British dance producer Fred again.., the R&B singer Coco Jones, the rootsy married duo the War and Treaty, and the singer Gracie Abrams, who opened for Swift on the Eras Tour.Monét was nominated for seven Grammys at the 2024 awards, tied for second-most overall. Her full-length debut, “Jaguar II,” won for best R&B album and for best engineered album, non-classical.“On My Mama,” the album’s third single, was up for record of the year as well as best R&B song. From the same album, “How Does It Make You Feel” was a nominee for best R&B performance, while “Hollywood,” a collaboration with Earth, Wind & Fire, scored a nod for best traditional R&B performance. “Hollywood” also features Monét’s daughter, Hazel, who at 2 years old became the youngest Grammy nominee ever.Beyond the Grammy accolades for Monét, her longtime collaborator and “Jaguar II” producer Dernst Emile II, known as D’Mile, also got his second straight nomination for producer of the year, non-classical. D’Mile has won five Grammys, including record of the year and song of the year in 2022 for his contributions to Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” and song of the year in 2021 for H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe.”Monét came into the 2024 Grammy season with three previous nominations for her work as a songwriter. In 2020, her Grande tunesmithing landed nominations for album of the year for “Thank U, Next” and record of the year for “7 Rings,” while in 2021 her work with Chloe x Halle was up for best R&B song for “Do It.”“I think my entire story has been leading up to this moment,” Monét told The New York Times in November after learning she’d earned seven nominations. “I felt like an underdog for so long.” More

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      Michael Watford, a Minister of Gospel House Music, Dies at 64

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      His signature hit, “So Into You,” was omnipresent in 1994 — the rare record “you heard at every club,” one D.J. said. But his time at the top was brief.Michael Watford, a church-trained club singer whose baritone boomed over the world’s dance floors for much of the early 1990s, and in the process helped birth a subgenre of club music known as gospel house, died on Jan. 26 in Newark. He was 64.His cousin Lorie Watford said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was dementia.Mr. Watford’s signature hit was “So Into You,” a jubilant ditty that paired his romantic, yearning vocal, inspired by Luther Vandross, with insistent strings, a lush piano line, and frequent handclaps and drum rolls. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard dance chart in April 1994, only to be replaced a week later by Barbara Tucker’s “Beautiful People” — on which Mr. Watford provided backing vocals.“There were different styles among house D.J.s, and different songs that appealed to their particular crowds,” said Tony Humphries, a D.J. and producer who helped push Mr. Watford to the top of the dance-music heap by playing his early records on his weekly radio show on WRKS (Kiss-FM) and during his marathon sets at Club Zanzibar in Newark (where the video for “So Into You” was shot). “But there was a smaller number of records everyone had to have, songs you heard at every club, and ‘So Into You’ was absolutely one of those.”Little Louie Vega, a producer and D.J. who between 1992 and 1994 had his hand in more than a dozen songs that reached the top of the dance charts, said of Mr. Watford: “He comes from church. You could tell that from the way he sings, and he brought that to the music.” Mr. Vega worked with Mr. Watford on “My Love,” a song from his first and only album, “Michael Watford,” released by EastWest/Atlantic in 1994.Michael Wayne Watford was born in Suffolk, Va., on July 20, 1959, but grew up largely in Newark. His mother, the Rev. Betty Brower of the Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church, was a gospel singer who performed in the 1970s with the Alvin Darling Ensemble. His stepfather, George Brower, was also a gospel singer.He is survived by his mother; two younger brothers, Duncan and Terrance Artis Watford; his children, Michael Watford Jr., Symphony Watford and Taylor Watford; and two stepsiblings, Ruby Washington and Erroll Brower. His marriage to Joanne Collins ended in divorce. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Meet the 2024 Grammys’ Best New Artist Nominees

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      Listen to songs by Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Victoria Monét and five more competitors for one of the show’s big four awards.Ice Spice.Nina Westervelt for The New York TimesDear listeners,Some people swear there’s a curse that comes with winning the Grammy for best new artist, but it’s difficult to believe that when you remember who has actually taken home the trophy.In the past five years, the award has gone to quite a few bona fide superstars-in-the-making, including Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo — all of whom are currently nominated for song of the year. Toggle the winners list back another decade and you’ll see some established industry power players like John Legend (best new artist 2006), Carrie Underwood (2007) and Adele (2009). The Grammys even got it right as far back as 1965, when the award went to a group of worthy Liverpudlian newcomers called the Beatles.Today’s playlist is an introduction to the eight artists who stand a chance to join their ranks at this Sunday’s Grammys. They include some names you might already be familiar with, like the overnight rap sensation Ice Spice and the gravel-throated country crooner Jelly Roll, and a few you might not be, like the married Americana duo the War and Treaty and the R&B stylist Coco Jones.The current betting favorite is Victoria Monét, a trusted pop songwriter who has garnered previous Grammy nominations for her work on hits recorded by Ariana Grande and Chloe x Halle. Monét has a total of seven nominations as a solo artist this year, including two for her breakout album “Jaguar II” and one for a collaboration with Earth, Wind and Fire. Personally, I’d be happy to see the 34-year-old mom take home best new artist; I love when someone who’s been toiling in semi-obscurity for years finally gets her moment in the spotlight.But, as you’ll see below, Monét isn’t the category’s elder — one of these artists turns 40 this year, and stands a chance to become the oldest solo act ever to be crowned best new artist.As the Justin Bieber fans who unleashed unnecessary wrath on Esperanza Spalding will tell you, though, the category always holds the potential for an upset. For that reason, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the rootsy 27-year-old singer-songwriter Noah Kahan accept the award, even if his yelpy emotionalism isn’t exactly my thing. Still, best new artist is a rare Grammy category that skews female, which means that if Kahan wins he’d be the first male artist to do so since Chance the Rapper in 2017.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Billy Joel’s Long-Awaited Return to Pop, and 8 More New Songs

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      Hear tracks by Camera Obscura, Yaya Bey, Paramore and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes), and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Billy Joel, ‘Turn the Lights Back On’In his first new rock song in nearly two decades, Billy Joel sings about striving to rekindle a romance that has faded to indifference or worse. He blames himself; he longs for forgiveness; he wonders if there’s a second chance; he vows not to give up on “trying to find the magic that we lost somehow.” It’s a stately piano ballad, an heir to “Piano Man,” with Joel’s forthright, unmistakable voice and an orchestral buildup to match the narrator’s rising heartache. JON PARELESCamera Obscura, ‘Big Love’“It was a big love, she said,” Tracyanne Campbell sings on Camera Obscura’s new single. “That’s why it took 10 years to get her out of your head.” It’s been 11 years, actually, since the beloved Scottish indie-pop band released its last album, “Desire Lines,” but Camera Obscura is back in fine form here, combining foot-stomping percussion, electric guitar embroidery, and the clarion tone of Campbell’s voice into a lightly country-tinged sound. A new album, “Look to the East, Look to the West,” will follow on May 3. LINDSAY ZOLADZParamore, ‘Burning Down the House’We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Grammys 2024: How to Watch, Time and Streaming

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      A guide to everything you need to know for the 66th annual awards on Sunday night.The 66th annual Grammy Awards, taking place on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, is poised to be a big night for young women.SZA is the top nominee, with nine nods for her album “SOS,” which topped the Billboard 200 for 10 straight weeks. Taylor Swift, who rocked the entertainment world with her record-breaking Eras Tour, and Olivia Rodrigo, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter with a proclivity for rock, are both competing with SZA for the three major all-genre categories: best album, record and song. Joining them are a host of other female artists, including boygenius, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish and Victoria Monét. The sole male performer contending for the top three competitions? Jon Batiste.But the biggest winner of the night could be the musicians behind “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig’s meditation on what it means to be a woman today. The film’s soundtrack garnered 11 nominations across seven categories, with a mix of artists that includes Eilish, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj and Sam Smith.This emphasis on female representation is notable because the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys, has been criticized in the past for failing to adequately recognize women. In recent years, the Grammys have worked to bring in a younger, more diverse membership, with the goal of making the voting process more transparent and fair.The awards show on Sunday will honor recordings released from Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 15, 2023. Here’s how to watch and what to expect.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Taylor Swift, SZA, Billie Eilish: Who Will Have a Big Grammys?

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      Taylor Swift and SZA could make history at the 66th annual awards on Sunday night, where young women dominate the nominations, and revered older artists will take the stage.The 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday are poised to be a celebration of a dominant year for women in pop music, with female stars like SZA, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish facing off in the major categories.SZA, whose “SOS” was a critical and chart smash, leads with nine nominations; the pop and R&B singer and songwriter Victoria Monét has seven; and Swift, Rodrigo, Eilish, Miley Cyrus and the indie-rock trio boygenius have six apiece. Swift and SZA each have the potential for landmark wins.For an award show that in the past has been criticized for its treatment of female stars, its lineup alone is being interpreted as a sign of progress. But the show this year is taking place in the shadow of lawsuits against two former Grammy leaders, accusing each of sexual assault. Neil Portnow, a former Recording Academy president, has denied the allegations against him; Michael Greene, his predecessor, has not commented.Never bet on the Grammys’ being too predictable. Industry politics, vote-splitting and a shifting membership have the potential, as always, to scramble outcomes, despite expectations about who may win or lose.Whoever wins, the night will have a roster of performers that mixes young and old, fresh faces and classics, including SZA, Eilish, Rodrigo, Joni Mitchell, Luke Combs, Dua Lipa, Travis Scott, Burna Boy, Billy Joel and U2. The host, for a fourth straight year, is the comedian Trevor Noah.Here is a look at some of the night’s major story lines.Will Taylor Swift Make History?Swift was a gale-force power in pop culture last year, and she has the potential to make a major mark at the Grammys.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      Was 1968 the Grammys’ Best Year Ever?

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      Before the 2024 awards on Sunday, revisit a ceremony where the Recording Academy got it right, honoring the Beatles, Bobbie Gentry, Aretha Franklin and more.In 1968 the Beatles won their first and only album of the year Grammy for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” PA Images, via Getty ImagesDear listeners,The 66th annual Grammy Awards take place on Sunday, and this year’s lineup of performers is pretty exceptional. I mean, Joni Mitchell is performing! For the first time ever at the Grammys! I could really just stop there, but Billy Joel, Billie Eilish, SZA, U2, Olivia Rodrigo, Burna Boy, Luke Combs, Dua Lipa, Travis Scott and more are scheduled to grace the stage. Will Joel and Eilish take this opportunity to start a supergroup called the Billies? Will SZA and U2 start an all-caps collaborative side project called SUZA2? Will Travis Scott meet Joni Mitchell, and if so, what will they talk about? The possibilities of this year’s ceremony are endless, and a little weird.To kick off Grammy week, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at another exceptional-if-slightly-odd year in Grammy history: the 10th annual ceremony, which took place on Feb. 29, 1968 and honored the music of 1967.The Grammys, infamously, do not always get it right. Sometimes their slights are laughably egregious (like when Metallica lost the 1989 award for best hard rock/heavy metal recording to … Jethro Tull); other times, they play things annoyingly safe (see: Beyoncé’s last three losses for album of the year). But just as a broken clock is right twice a day, sometimes justice actually is served at the Grammys. And 1968 was one of those years.Consider that album of the year went to a release that pushed the format forward into the future, and one that’s still often (and rightly) mentioned in lists of the greatest albums of all time. Some incredibly worthy artists won their first-ever Grammys that year: Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Tammy Wynette. Many of the songs and artists awarded have — gasp — actually stood the test of time.Today’s playlist is culled entirely from the winners of the 10th annual Grammys. Feed your meter, inflate that beautiful balloon and prepare to hop in a time machine ready to take you up, up and away.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More