His accolades began with the CMT performance of the year award for his gospel-assisted rendition of “Need a Favor” at the 2023 CMT Music Awards nearly a year ago to the day. It also was his first-ever awards show performance.

“In that last year you changed my life in every way I never thought my life could be changed,” the tattooed rapper-turned-country breakout star said in an emotional acceptance speech live from the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. The show was broadcast live on CBS and Paramount+.

The music video for “Need A Favor” earned him male video of the year and the biggest award of the night, video of the year.

“I’m having one of the best nights of my life,” he said, before focusing his speech on people who are looking for “second chances,” specifically those in juvenile detention facilities. “I once heard a man say that ‘you don’t change until the pain to remain the same is greater than the pain it takes to change,’ and that’s what it takes. I love you, Texas.”

In some ways, it was déjà vu from the 2023 awards show, where Jelly Roll also took home three awards, winning over audiences for his larger-than-life personality and outsider songs.

Kelsea Ballerini hosted the awards for fourth time in a row, opening with a comedic sketch about reading the minds of country music’s biggest names that ended with Keith Urban hugging the beaver mascot of beloved Texas gas station chain Buc-ee’s.

Her many outfit changes were only the first of a few surprises, which also included Melissa Etheridge appearing on a duet of “Come to My Window” with Ballerini.

Early on, Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton won collaborative video of the year for their song, “We Don’t Fight Anymore.” She thanked Stapleton, who wasn’t in attendance, and “Fans, fans, fans, fans, fans!”

Ashley Cooke won breakthrough female video of the year for “Your Place,” her first-ever award. “I just won a CMT award, oh my god, good night!” she cheered as she headed off stage. Warren Zeiders took home the male equivalent for “Pretty Little Poison,” thanking God and his best friend: his dad.

Live performances were fast and furious. Three-time CMT award winner and Texas native Cody Johnson opened the 2024 show with his ode to the lone star state, “That’s Texas.” Jason Aldean performed “Let Your Boys Be Country” in front of the University of Texas at Austin, a less controversial choice than his radio hit “Try That in a Small Town.” Its music video was removed from CMT last year.

Wilson spent a lot time on stage, taking home female video of the year for “Watermelon Moonshine.” “Thank you for supporting women in country,” she told the audience.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush of Sugarland reunited on the CMT stage for the first time since 2011 in a collaborative performance with Little Big Town. The six voices teamed up for a cover of Phil Collins’ “Take Me Home.”

Trisha Yearwood was awarded the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award, which honors musicians or industry veterans who demonstrate “an exceptional dedication to community and their fellow artists, embodying June’s spirit as a fierce advocate and initiator in paying it forward,” a statement said.

The country star was honored for her charitable contributions, including longstanding work with Habitat for Humanity and the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Week Project.

“I don’t think anyone who’s ever gotten a humanitarian award has thought they deserve it,” she began, agreeing with the sentiment before turning her attention to the woman the award is named after.

“June Carter Cash was a force, and she was married to a force. I know a little bit about that,” she said, in reference to her husband Garth Brooks, before applauding Carter Cash’s ability to keep shining a light on her own successes. “She was strong in a very human way,” Yearwood said.

Later in the night, she debuted a new song from her forthcoming album, the acoustic ballad, “Put It in a Song.”

The emotional center of the award show no doubt came later, in an all-star tribute to the late Toby Keith, with Brooks & Dunn tackling Keith’s 1993 breakout hit, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” Sammy Hagar doing “I Love This Bar” and Lainey Wilson covering “How Do You Like Me Now.” They all were backed by Keith’s longtime band.

Keith, a hit country crafter of pro-American anthems who riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans, died in February at 62 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

In the crowd, artists including Ashley McBryde and Jelly Roll raised their red solo cups in a cheerful tribute to the singer, who immortalized the humble plastic cups in his 2011 hit, “Red Solo Cup.”

After the musical tributes on stage, Keith’s longtime friend and baseball star Roger Clemens, his eyes watering, thanked Keith’s wife and children in the audience for sharing their husband and father with the world.

Clemens led a toast to those on stage, in the crowd, and at home: “Repeat after me. ‘Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses,’” a reference to a comedic song by Keith featuring Willie Nelson.

It was a fitting homage: a little funny, with a whole lot of country heart.

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Megan Moroney brought her breakup anthem, “No Caller ID,” to the CMT stage and Parker McCollum teamed with Brittney Spencer for “Burn It Down.” NEEDTOBREATHE and Jordan Davis teased “CMT Crossroads” by tackling each other’s “Brother” and “Next Thing You Know,” respectively.

Lainey Wilson reminded the audience that “Country’s Cool Again,” leading into an outdoor performance of “Where It Ends” by Bailey Zimmerman. Veteran Keith Urban brought the first single of his forthcoming album, “Straight Line.”

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The Grammy-award winning artist says he’s proud of his heritage and wants others to “feel proud of something so great.” His latest tour is a testament to this, celebrating his family and the fans who watched him grow into a household legend across the Mexican diaspora.

Last Friday night, the Texas-born, Mexico-raised 55-year-old swooped into the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on top of a majestic white horse. Fans across generations waved Mexican flags, threw up their cowboy hats and let out thunderous applause as Aguilar rode throughout the concert arena and began to sing “100% Mexicano,” his first performance on the “Jaripeo: Hasta Los Huesos” tour.

The tour is a blend of both Mexican rodeo and concert performances from Aguilar’s family. Fans can enjoy set lists from two of Aguilar’s children, Leonardo Aguilar and Latin Grammy nominee Ángela Aguilar, along with Antonio Aguilar Jr., Aguilar’s older brother.

In between each performance, audience members cheered at bull riding competitions, circus acts, folklórico dancers, and lasso throwers.

“Jaripeo: Hasta Los Huesos” continues Aguilar’s previous tour, “Jaripeo Sin Fronteras, but takes on a new twist focusing on the Day of the Dead.

“I’m very proud of everything Mexico. The food, the colors, the traditions, the culture, the family, charrería, mariachi, tequila, don’t get me started,” Aguilar told The Associated Press, laughing, before the show. “And one of the most admirable traditions for me is the Day of the Dead.”

But don’t you dare compare it to Disney’s “Coco.”

“‘Coco’ would be a little afraid of this Day of the Dead,” he says.

Aguilar’s Day of the Dead celebration included an altar, marigolds, plenty of skulls, papel picado, and even a few heartfelt moments remembering his late parents, legendary musicians and actors Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre. Aguilar and his brother grew up performing alongside their parents.

“What my father and mother started, back in the ‘60s, even before I was born, inspired what I’m doing here, but it’s still very different,” he says.

Ángela Aguilar amped up the crowd right before her father’s performance, riding in at full speed on top of a black horse, wearing a long black gown covered in marigolds and performing some fan-favorite hits including her cover of “La Llorona.”

“It’s pretty cool to work with your family, whether it’s an older generation or a younger one,” Aguilar says. “For me, it’s a privilege to be close to the people you love the most.”

For Aguilar, his work always goes back to culture and family. It’s not about him. It’s about amplifying the sounds that define his community.

“I mean, how can I ever compare my stupid, little irrelevant life to a bigger than anything culture and tradition as Mexican music?” he asks.

Fans of what’s commonly referred to as the Aguilar Dynasty have loved Pepe since before he was born, proving it time and time again with sold-out shows and album sales. Aguilar says that looking into the audience — feeling their energy and watching people sing his lyrics — never gets old.

“Sometimes I got to think about something else in order not to cry,” he says. “I have to concentrate many, many, many times. I have to just go and focus on what I’m doing, otherwise the feelings kick in, and I wouldn’t be able to sing.”

On opening night, Aguilar repeatedly thanked the crowd and even took the time to announce that, with the next day’s performance, he would become the artist who has played the most shows at the Honda Center.

“It fills me with a lot of pride that Mexican music is the genre that has presented itself the most at the Honda Center,” he said in Spanish as fans erupted in a loud cheer.

“It is for real that I’m proud. It’s for real that I know what I’m talking about,” Aguilar told the AP. “I’m a national charro champion, for Christ’s sake. I was born on a tour out of Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre. So, yeah, I guess I am really Mexican. I’m very proud of what I show, and I want to show it more and more and more and more and more so people understand why I’m so proud.”

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Spotify’s fourth annual report, which originally launched in 2021 following criticism over its lack of transparency, noted record accomplishments, including the highest annual payment from any retailer to the music industry.

“This is everything we know about how much is being paid out, how many artists are achieving different levels of success,” says Charlie Hellman, the vice president and global head of music product at Spotify. “So, everyone can have access to the information and be sort of up to date with the state of the industry.”

According to the data, 1,250 artists generated over $1 million each in recording and publishing royalties in 2023; 11,600 generated over $100,000 and 66,000 generated over $10,000 — numbers that have almost tripled since 2017.

More than half of those 66,000 artists came from countries where English is not the primary language, the report says, reflecting an increasingly global music landscape.

And “indie” artists — the self-distributed, do-it-yourself acts and those on independent record labels, according to Hellman — accounted for $4.5 billion, half of all royalties paid out by Spotify.

“There are millions of people who’ve uploaded a song at least once but that doesn’t really speak to whether they’re an artist, or if they’re doing this more as a hobby,” Hellman says.

Spotify zooms in on artists that have “at least put up an album’s worth of music once they seem to have some indication that they’re trying to build a fan base.” He estimates there are “about 225,000 professionally aspiring artists” on the platform.

“They have a little bit of a following. They might, you know, have gigs listed on Spotify or things like that,” he says.

In December, Spotify announced it was axing 17% of its global workforce, the music streaming service’s third round of layoffs in 2023 as it moved to slash costs while focusing on becoming profitable.

The previous month, Spotify announced it would eliminate payments for songs with less than 1,000 annual streams, starting in 2024.

“Songs that generate less than a thousand streams in a year would be generating pennies, a few cents in royalties,” Hellman explains. “So what we’re seeing was that there was an increasing amount of uploaders that had $0.03, $0.08, $0.36 sitting there.”

For those DIY artists, there’s a minimum threshold to withdraw money from a distributor — $5.35 at DistroKid and $1 at TuneCore, two such distributors — and Hellman argues the withdrawal fees would eclipse the royalties.

Spotify — and most other streaming services — pay royalties to the rights holders of the music on its platform, a number which is determined by “streamshare.” That’s calculated by adding up how many times music owned or controlled by a particular rights holder was streamed and dividing by the total number of streams in that market.

In short: Larger rights holders have a larger percentage of the market share. And a listener streaming an artist 25% of the time does not mean the act receives 25% of the listener’s subscription fee.

“All those pennies sitting in bank accounts all over the place was siphoning money away from artists that were really doing this, as an aspiring professional,” says Hellman of the decision. “And so, those royalties are now being put in the pot so that they can be redirected to artists that are getting more than a thousand streams a year.”

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She began and ended the Super Bowl 57 halftime show hovering high above the field at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The performance delivered on fan expectations but it included a major surprise — the singer is pregnant with her second child.

She wore a puffy, bright red jumpsuit with tight, rubbery garb underneath as she stood on a transparent rectangular platform that raised and lowered as she belted out the lyrics to “Bitch Better Have My Money” over the turf where the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs were battling moments earlier.

Dancers wearing white ski-style suits and shaded goggles had their own suspended platforms that moved in concert with hers.

She and the dancers were lowered to a long stage that matched her outfit as she sped through hits including “Work,” “Where Have You Been,” and “Only Girl,” belting out “Want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world.”

Rihanna performs at halftime. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
There were none of the instant costume changes, scene shifts or surprise guest appearances that have been a constant at other Super Bowl halftimes. (Her set included songs that were studio collaborations with Drake and Ye, but neither suddenly showed up.)

The theme — and the color scheme — stayed the same throughout the 13-minute show, with red lights bathing the stage at times and golden fireworks exploding in the air above her.

The long stage allowed for extended pull-away shots as she stared down the camera and overhead tracking shots of Rihanna and her dancers.

At one point she powdered her face and checked it in a mirror before getting back on the mic.

Lights sparkled from the stands as she was hoisted alone back into the air and sang “Diamonds” — with its refrain of “shine bright like a diamond” — as the set closed.

Rihanna’s performance was her first live event in years, and her first since becoming a mother nine months ago.

A SIMPLY SPANGLED BANNER

Country star Chris Stapleton made the national anthem a simple affair at Super Bowl 57, standing alone on the field accompanied by only his electric guitar as he sang “The Star Spangled Banner” moments before the Kansas City Chiefs kickoff to the Philadelphia Eagles to start the game.

Dressed simply in smooth black denim and sunglasses, with neatly combed hair instead of his signature feathered cowboy hat, he sang the anthem as a plaintive ballad, picking it up to rock only briefly as he delivered the final lines “banner yet wave” and “land of the free!”

His anthem felt slow, but it clocked in at 2 minutes, 2 seconds, under the 2 minutes, 5 seconds predicted by oddsmakers. But it was more than 10 seconds longer than last year’s sung by another country star, Mickey Guyton.

Chris Stapleton sings the national anthem. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and starting center Jason Kelce both had tears in their eyes during Stapleton’s emotional performance.

As the eight-time Grammy winner sang, “CODA” star Troy Kotsur, the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar, signed the anthem lyrics.

OTHER ANTHEMS

Before Stapleton’s anthem, “Abbot Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Wearing a flowing red velvet gown, Ralph began the song dubbed the Black national anthem as a reflective ballad, and it became a soaring hymn as it went on, with military-style drums joining her and a choir dressed all in white chiming in behind her on the field at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Sheryl Lee Ralph performs “Lift Every Voice.” (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
And R&B legend Babyface delivered “America the Beautiful” as a soulful folk song, playing an acoustic guitar painted with an American flag and blue flowers as he stood alone on the field. A backing track with drum machines and singers kicked in before he was done.

FAMOUS FANS, PERFORMERS AND PITCH PEOPLE

Die-hard Chiefs fan Paul Rudd was on the field before the game, sporting a big smile and a team jersey.

Philadelphia native Bradley Cooper, wearing an Eagles T-shirt, celebrated from the stands as his team put the game’s first points on the board. Another famous Philly fan, Kevin Hart, wearing a jersey, stood and flapped his arms.

Jay-Z, Tiffany Haddish, rapper GloRilla and chef Gordon Ramsay were also spotted in the stadium.

Pregame performances came from DJ Snake and Jason Derulo, whose backup dancers included synchronized robot dogs.

Many stars have made the scene at Super Bowl week parties.

And many others, including Serena Williams, Adam Driver and John Travolta, are showing up in the big game’s big commercials.

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Pregnant Rihanna soars in Super Bowl halftime performance
 

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“I was curious what the process would be, because my process in English is very like me on a mic, and I just sing whatever kind of comes to my head, including lyrics. So I was like, ‘I wonder what’s gonna come out in Spanish,’” she said in a recent interview via Zoom from Los Angeles.

The first thing that came out was “Hasta Los Dientes” (Spanish for “to the teeth”), a pop tune featuring Argentine urban singer María Becerra about feeling jealousy for a boyfriend’s past. And then “Celia,” a rhythmic song that seems to reference Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa, in the chorus: “Ha vivido toa la vida sin azúcar / Conoció a Celia sin ir pa’ Cuba” (“He has lived his whole life without sugar / He met Celia without going to Cuba”).

With 12 songs in English, Spanish and Spanglish, including the singles “Don’t Go Yet” and “Bam Bam” with Ed Sheeran as well as collaborations with WILLOW (“psychofreak”) and Cuban singer Yotuel (“Lola”), Cabello released her third solo record under Epic Records on Friday.

“My heritage and roots are such a big part of who I am, and more and more something that makes me feel really connected and joyful and something I wanna get closer with as I get older,” she said referring to her parents and grandparents when asked about the title of the album, which in English means “family.”

But she also mentioned her close friends and collaborators, her “family by choice,” as she called them. “It’s like really about community and how important relationships are for me, and I think for all of us,” she said.

Musically, the pop album features classic rhythms like mariachi, mixing the old and the new in songs like “La Buena Vida” (“The Good Life”), which Cabello sings in English accompanied by Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuellar, with a Spanish chorus sang by the Mexican band and the singer’s father, Alejandro Cabello. She debuted it last October on an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, where she presented it as one of her favorites from her then-upcoming album.

“That was one of the songs I wrote with (producers) Ricky (Reed), Cheche Alara and Edgar Barrera. We were playing songs that I listened to when I was a kid: I played some Alejandro Fernández, we were listening to mariachi songs that my dad would play when I was younger. We were like, ‘What can we do that is like interesting and weird?’”

They tried combining a rhythmic pop song with mariachi and were excited with the result. “Yeah, they killed it on the production,” she said.

There’s also “Lola” with Yotuel — which she co-wrote with Mike Sabath and Scott Harris — about a woman that wants “patria y vida” (homeland and life) as opposed to “homeland or death,” Fidel Castro’s motto. The line comes from the Latin Grammy-winning song of 2021 “Patria y Vida,” by Yotuel, Descemer Bueno, El Funky, Gente de Zona, Yadam González, Beatriz Luengo and Maykel Osorbo. It became an anthem of the demonstrations in Cuba that year after some of its authors dared to express their disagreement with the government for the first time.

“I was so excited when Yotuel said yes to writing on that song (‘Lola’) and collaborating on it with me because, to me, “Patria y Vida” changed history and gave people a lot of bravery and hope that things could change in Cuba,” Cabello said.

To her, “Lola” represents not only the people from her native country but from any other nation with systemic oppression where “talented, smart people don’t get the same opportunities because of where they were born and where they live,” said the singer, who moved to Miami at the age of 6. “I was just reflecting about what my life would have been like if my family hadn’t come to the United States and all the possible kind of alternatives.”

As for “Bam Bam,” which many fans think is a song about Cabello’s break-up with Shawn Mendes, she said that “of course is something personal, every song (on the album) is whatever I was feeling that day (I wrote it).”

But with the catchy chorus “Así es la vida, sí / Yeah, that’s just life, baby,” how did it come to be?”

“Well, I feel like in Latin music there are so many songs that have these kinds of life lessons in them, … like the impermanence of things and of hard times and good times. I think love and relationships impermanence is a really common thing too; you just never know what’s around the corner, you never know what’s gonna happen, how things are gonna progress and change and transform,” Cabello said, adding that, when she hits a bad time or a good time, her mom always says “así es la vida (that’s life) … things catch you by surprise.”

After writing the song with her team based on that principle, she said they sent it to Ed Sheeran, who made some “amazing” changes and sent her the chord progression that we now hear.

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Camila Cabello finds joy in her roots for new studio album

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Since releasing “After Hours” in March 2020, The Weeknd has, like the rest of the world, lived through an isolating pandemic. His latest album, “Dawn FM,” carries listeners out of that darkness into a dance-worthy ’80s fantasy.

Left behind is the blood-slashed, manic super-villain singing about overindulgence and self-loathing we last saw in “After Hours” for a more mature and playful persona most interested in dancing off the pain of melancholia (and the pandemic) through the many dance-pop and escapist songs from the Toronto-born singer’s latest 16-track album.

“Dawn FM” is certainly the singer’s most creative project yet. The album plays like a radio station, featuring autobiographical storytelling from musical icon Quincy Jones and a DJ voiced by actor and comedian Jim Carrey. The album even includes advert breaks selling fictional afterlife products and a catchy radio jingle playing every few songs.

“You are now listening to 103.5 Dawn FM… you’ve been in the dark way too long,” Carrey’s voice quips in the first track. “It’s time to walk into the light.”

Collaborations sweep across the album, including features from Tyler, the Creator in “Here We Go…Again” featuring backup vocals by the Beach Boys’ Bruce Johnston; Calvin Harris and Lil Wayne in “I Heard You’re Married” and Swedish House Mafia in “How Do I Make You Love Me?” “Sacrifice” also contains a sample from Alicia Myer’s “I Want to Thank You,” another reference to the dance-pop-infused ’80s.

Thankfully, The Weeknd’s angelic voice and dark lyricism remain. The track order reflects the arc of a relationship. In “Gasoline,” the lovestruck Grammy-winner sings, “I love it when you watch me sleep.” By the album’s mid-point, he is deep in regret on “Out of Time” and love-scarred and hardened on “Don’t Break My Heart.” Despite the pain, the album’s maturity is expressed in the closing track, “Phantom Regret,” written by Carrey who says, “Heaven’s for those who let go of regret.”

The singer, who is known for making even the most content soul feel deep heartache, has produced an escapist fantasy that makes it hard to sit still. The chaotic combination of sorrowful lyrics, dance pop, and at times, birds tweeting above the sound of gushing waterfalls shouldn’t theoretically work, except that there are no such rules for our world as it now is.

Carrey’s parting words at the album’s end sum it up spiritually: “May peace be with you.”

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Review: The Weeknd curates an escapist fantasy in ‘Dawn FM’

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Justin Bieber was not happy with the Recording Academy last year when his “Changes” album was categorized as pop rather than R&B. But “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon from this year’s “Justice” album, not only doubled down on the R&B sound, but became one of music’s most dominant songs, debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and topping the global charts. It’s a feel good, two-stepping record that was needed as the coronavirus pandemic still forced much of the world to stay home. Some critics say Bieber can’t decide between being a pop star or an R&B heartthrob. However, what seems clear is that many times — even still in 2021 — the only difference between a pop song and an R&B record is the skin color of the artist singing it. — Gary Gerard Hamilton

“DRIVERS LICENSE,” OLIVIA RODRIGO

Anyone who’s ever had their heart broken will feel how 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo feels on this aching Grammy-nominated hit: “You said forever, now I drive alone past your street.” The power ballad broke the Spotify record for most one-day streams for a non-holiday song and spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also won Apple Music and MTV Video Music awards for song of the year. It reached No. 1 around the world, from Australia and Denmark to Indonesia and South Africa because it is angry, hurt, frustrated, loving, tearful perfection, complete with car chime. — Mark Kennedy

“INDUSTRY BABY,” LIL NAS X AND JACK HARLOW

To anyone who thought “Old Town Road” was all you’d be hearing from Lil Nas X, he’s got this to say: “I told you long ago on the Road/ I’ve got what you’re waiting for.”

“Industry Baby” was one of the biggest hits of 2021 and for good reason. The track is the 22-year-old rapper’s victory lap after having one of the most talked-about music videos of the year with “Montero” and having 11 songs from his new LP make Billboard’s Hot 100.

By continuing to be unflinching in his sexuality — “I don’t (expletive) (expletive), I’m queer” — Lil Nas X makes it clear that he won’t play by the established rules of his genre to make his way to the top.

His choice to feature Jack Harlow on a verse is also ingenious — as a 23-year-old from Kentucky, Harlow also feels like an underdog, allowing the two to revel in the fact that they made it, against all odds. From the infectious horns to the confidence oozing out of the verses and chorus, Lil Nas X is having fun proving doubters wrong and it’s hard not to have fun listening. — Ragan Clark

“HURRICANE,” KANYE WEST, THE WEEKND AND LIL BABY

Kanye West’s “DONDA” made waves with several gems, but the most standout track that created the perfect storm was “Hurricane,” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby. With stellar production, the trio offer different perspectives of overcoming their own storms on the holy hip-hop track. The Weeknd harmonizes about his faith withstanding life’s obstacles while Lil Baby raps about losing close friends and repentance. After them, West alludes to his own infidelity and him being less judgmental. — Jonathan Landrum Jr.

“SEROTONIN,” GIRL IN RED

The opening track of the debut album from girl in red, a Norwegian alt-pop singer-songwriter, pulses along a frenetic pace that reflects the impulsive thoughts of a mind unable to rest. “Dig deep, can’t hide, from the corners of my mind,” writes Marie Ulven. “I’m terrified of what’s inside.” The verses escalate into manic thoughts of self-harm and a rapid descent into madness until she’s just spitting out nonsense words. Written and co-produced with Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas O’Connell, the track crescendos with a pulsing beat and ends with an audio recording of Ulven speaking with a doctor. It’s a raw, unflinching inner look at that uncontrollable id part of our personalities. — Kristin M. Hall

“TO BE LOVED,” ADELE

While “Easy On Me” and “I Drink Wine” have gotten the most attention from Adele’s “30,” it’s “To Be Loved” that is the underappreciated standout of the album. There’s a rawness to the track that is rare for the singer. The 33-year-old’s powerhouse vocals usually sound polished, but in “To Be Loved,” her voice teeters on cracking.

Coming in at 6:43, tied for the longest song on the record, it’s clear Adele wasn’t positioning the song for radio. Rather, it acts as a cathartic release on the album. Coming out of a divorce, Adele acknowledges on the song that there is strength in loving and strength in leaving: “It’s about time that I face myself/All I do is bleed into someone else.”

The song finds Adele standing on her own two feet, vulnerable but leaning into the growth that her heartbreak will bring. “I’ll be the one to catch myself this time,” she sings. — Ragan Clark

“WE WIN,” LIL BABY AND KIRK FRANKLIN

The Lil Baby and Kirk Franklin tandem may seem like an odd combo. Lil Baby is known for his street rap lyrics, while Franklin built his legendary career on gospel music. Despite their different musical approaches, they form a strong duo on the inspirational Just Blaze-produced “We Win,” a song from the “Space Jam: A New Legacy” soundtrack. Franklin served as the hype man with a choir singing background while Lil Baby rapped about how prayer ultimately brought him through during a time when he felt cursed. — Jonathan Landrum Jr.

“KISS ME MORE,” DOJA CAT featuring SZA

This blissful ’90s disco-pop throwback with a hip-hop heart earned three Grammy nominations for record of the year, song of the year, and best pop duo/group performance. The song by Doja Cat, featuring SZA, also won an American Music Award (collaboration of the year) and an MTV Video Music Award for best collaboration. “Kiss Me More” even surpassed Brandy and Monica’s iconic 1998 duet “The Boy Is Mine” for the longest-running all-female top 10 collaboration in Billboard Hot 100 history. If you listen close, you’ll hear a Gwen Stefani-ish refrain but also an interpolation of Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical.” But don’t work too hard, just let this steamy, smooth song wash over you. — Mark Kennedy

“LAY IT ON ME,” MICKEY GUYTON

There are so many gems on Mickey Guyton’s Grammy-nominated debut album that it’s hard to pick one, but what Guyton does with such excellence is open her heart and show empathy. “Lay It On Me” is in that sweet spot of gospel and country that lets Guyton’s roof-shaking vocals soar from note to note. Written for her husband, Guyton is asking to carry his burdens and lean on her strength to carry them both through the fire. Especially in long-term relationships, that offer of emotional support is an intimate and vital conversation that Guyton captures so beautifully. — Kristin M. Hall

“ESSENCE,” WIZKID featuring TEMS

“Essence” by afrobeat superstar WizKid, featuring Tems, was another of the year’s undeniable songs. Reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop airplay and the adult R&B airplay chart, the sultry, melodic duet record was crowned by many as the song of the summer. “Essence,” which beckoned listeners to find their significant other — or perspective crush— to get up and dance, would explode and become so gigantic that the Nigerian native welcomed a remix from another R&B star: Justin Bieber. — Gary Gerard Hamilton

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Top Songs of 2021 include ‘Peaches,’ ‘Drivers License’

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“I do not take this for granted,” Lil Nas X said while accepting the night’s final award for the music video for his song, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”

Much of the early show belonged to Bieber, who for his first VMAs performance in six years rappelled from the ceiling of the Barclays Center at the start of the show for an energetic performance of “Stay” with Kid LAROI and then his single “Ghost.”

The VMAs celebrated MTV’s 40th anniversary, mixing moments between early network stars like Cyndi Lauper and show opener Madonna with high-octane performances by newer stars like Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Camila Cabello and Chloe.

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Bieber was the leading nominee going into the ceremony. He took home the best pop honor for “Peaches,” a song that featured Daniel Caesar and Giveon – who accompanied him onstage.

Sporting baggy clothes and a hoodie, Bieber showed his appreciation for the awards being in-person and thanked his wife, Hailey, for supporting him.

“As we know, there’s so much going on in the world as we speak,” Bieber said during his acceptance speech after winning artist of the year. “I know you guys have probably heard it a lot. We are in unprecedented times with this COVID thing that’s happening right now. It’s a big deal. Music is such an amazing outlet to be able to reach people and bring us all together. That’s why we are here right now. We’re all here together.”

Opening the show, Madonna told the screaming crowd: “They said we wouldn’t last. But we’re still here.”

Moments after Olivia Rodrigo performed her hit “good 4 u,” she collected the night’s first award for her massive hit song “Drivers License.” She later won best new artist.

“I feel so grateful that I get to write music, make stuff that I love and call it my job,” said Rodrigo, the first-time nominee. Earlier in the awards, the singer called this the “most magical year of my life.”

Jennifer Lopez, who three days earlier made her re-kindled romance with Ben Affleck official on the red carpet of his new film “The Last Duel” at the Venice International Film Festival, presented Rodrigo her trophy.

Billie Eilish won the fan-voted video for good for her song “Your Power.” In her acceptance speech, she said Alicia Keys kissed her on the cheek, spoke about the satisfaction of writing the song and women empowerment.

Eilish and Rosalía won best Latin video for their song “Lo Vas A Olvidar.” BTS won three awards including group of the year, best K-pop and song of summer for “Butter.”

“We need to protect our own women at all costs,” said Eilish, while her brother-producer Finneas applauded his sister from his seat. “We need to remember that we all have power. We have to remember not to abuse it.”

Lauper, who presented Bieber with his first award, advocated for equal rights for women.

“Girls still want to have fun,” said Lauper, known for classic melody “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” “But we also want to have funds, equal pay, control over our bodies, you know, fundamental rights.”

Lil Nas X hit the stage with Jack Harlow, then he performed his controversial song “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).” Kacey Musgraves and Shawn Mendes also hit the stage.

Olympic gymnastic champion Simone Biles introduced Doja Cat — the show’s host — who went aerial during her performance. With wires holding her up, Doja Cat glided over the crowd and landed on stage as she performed “Been Like This” and “You Right.”

Before the show, Machine Gun Kelly got into a heated argument on the red carpet with UFC fighter Conner McGregor. Video showed McGregor being held back by security from Kelly who later won best alternative for his song “My Ex’s Best Friend,” featuring Blackbear.

Kelly said he initially didn’t want to release the song, but thanked his label for going against his wishes. He also gave thanks to the director of the song’s music video, despite their squabble on set.

“I haven’t talked to you since we did because we got into a fight on set, but it’s a great video and I’m so glad we won,” he said. “We won!”

Megan Thee Stallion entered the show as the second-leading nominee with six nominations. BTS, Doja Cat, Drake, Giveon, Lil Nas X and Rodrigo each had five nods.

The Foo Fighters performed and then accepted the Global Icon Award, an honor handed out for the first time at the VMAs. The award recognizes an artist or band “whose unparalleled career and continued impact and influence has maintained a unique level of global success in music and beyond.”

The prestigious award was previously presented at the annual MTV Europe Music Awards. Past recipients include Queen, Eminem and Whitney Houston.

The rock band – comprised of Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee – performed several of their hits including “Learn to Fly” and “Shame Shame.” It was their first performance at the VMAs since 2007.

Eilish presented the Global Icon Award to the group, who thanked MTV veterans from Kurt Loder to Tabitha Soren.

“Thank you very much for this award,” Grohl said. “We’ll see you in another 26 years.”

Photo gallery

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Lil Nas X, Justin Bieber top star-packed MTV VMAs

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Imagine a giant all-you-can-eat buffet, row after row of hot, steaming offerings. The thing is, there are only 12 items on the menu, like seven trays of meatballs each cooked by a different chef.

That’s what you get with “The Metallica Blacklist,” a 53-song orgy of covers of Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album better known as “The Black Album.” Because there are so many different artists contributing, there’s a ton of repetition here; no fewer than 12 different artists cover “Nothing Else Matters.” The most attention-grabbing collaboration is by Miley Cyrus with instrumentation from Elton John and Yo-Yo Ma.

Ghost drenches “Enter Sandman” with as much piano as guitar, while Weezer offers a nearly note-for-note replication of the original.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit take the pounding “Sad But True” and turn it into a country-fried romp that could be the backing track for a hundred movie pickup truck chase scenes.

There is punk, pop, classical, jazz, rap, electronica, a Mongolian folk-metal band (yes, that’s a thing), and more here. But here’s something else that’s sad but true: If you’re old enough to have bought this album and gotten into it when it first came out, you’ll probably have no idea who more than half these artists are.

In the end, this box set is a lot like a musical buffet: It has some real gems; some reassuring comfort food; some unexpectedly tasty items, and some you spit right back out into your napkin.

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An all-you-can-eat Metallica buffet of ‘Black Album’ covers

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Then the bass drops, and the viewer is whisked ahead to the present day — and the decidedly B-side of town.

“Let me tell you ’bout a different Rio / The one I’m from, but not the one that you know,” Brazil’s biggest pop star, Anitta, sings over a trap beat. The music video has her descending, bikini-clad, from a bus to an artificial pool beside Rio’s international airport.

It’s the latest twist on the placid Bossa Nova song that, more than a half-century after its creation by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, still isn’t played out — and continues to feed foreigners’ captivation. The girl from Ipanema’s journey – from Rio to the United States and back to Rio again – shows what can change, and also what endures, as culture crosses borders in an age of globalization.

Anitta’s “Girl from Rio” retains only the melody from the original track. Her lyrics convey reality: that the city’s women have fuller figures than the tall and tan one about whom Frank Sinatra crooned. Its video features a beach barbecue and bleached body hair, plus no shortage of booties and deep kissing, and mostly casts Black stand-ins for the original muse.

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The new take is a long way from Rio’s golden age of glamour, an era when Brazil was churning out Volkswagen Beetles and on track to its second straight World Cup title.

Ipanema then

It was the early 1960s. Rio had just lost its status as the nation’s capital, but nobody could steal the picturesque Copacabana and Ipanema beaches that served as a backdrop for the Bossa Nova music movement — and the locale where Jobim and de Moraes, a composer and a poet respectively, often saw their muse walking while they sat by a bar’s window.

Women paddle their stand-up paddleboards off Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro
“There really is a secret — an enchantment,” says de Moraes’ daughter Georgiana, who sometimes performs “The Girl from Ipanema.” She’s heard it countless times, she says, yet somehow it never spoils.

Trouble arose when it came time to translate the song to English. Lyricist Norman Gimbel strongly opposed the word “Ipanema,” which he thought called to mind Ipana, the now-forgotten toothpaste brand. In comments published in Jobim’s biography, “Cancioneiro Jobim,″ the Brazilian recalled arguing with Gimbel in a Manhattan taxi. Even the cabbie whirled around to take Gimbel’s side.

“All I wanted was to pass along the spirit of the girl from Ipanema, that poetic Rio thing. I think we managed a little, but it was an ugly fight,” Jobim wrote. “Americans will never understand our ‘beach civilization.’”

Translating from a Romance language, whose words end in soft vowels, saps some of the soothing sways, according to Jobim’s son Paulinho, a musician.

But the English lyrics tweak the scene, too, said Sérgio Augusto, who wrote: “Cancioneiro Jobim” with access to the artist’s writings. In Portuguese, a passing girl lifts the spirits of a lonely man admiring the fleeting beauty she brings to the world. In English, a pining man bemoans unrequited love from a girl who won’t give him so much as a glance.

“There’s a big difference,” says Augusto, “between indifference and disdain.”

And the English lyrics, especially, could be received as unseemly by a modern audience more attuned to unwanted male attention. Brazilian guitarist Toquinho, who played alongside de Moraes for years, in 2019 questioned whether even the original would’ve been rejected today.

Ruy Castro, who wrote the authoritative history of Bossa Nova, said Gimbel’s work was — unfortunately — necessary.

Gimbel was one of many “professional American lyricists who put English lyrics to foreign songs without knowing what they meant, and wound up earning more than the original authors,” Castro said in an email.

“But,” he added, “that’s how the system worked, and it’s clear that, without English lyrics, those songs never would have broken through American provincialism.”

Rio today

“The Girl from Ipanema” didn’t just breakthrough; it became a smash hit, which led Brazil to treasure the original.

That, Anitta says, is why she decided to set “Girl from Rio” to English lyrics. In an interview from Miami, she said that garnering a seal of approval abroad helps Brazilians value their own music.

“My challenge right now is to try to make people outside Brazil get interested in Brazilian music and culture again the way it was back in those Girl-from-Ipanema times,” she says. “I think it’s necessary for people outside Brazil to embrace Brazilian music, funk music and whatever we do, for Brazilian people themselves to think we have a good thing here in our hands.”

By scrubbing “Ipanema” from the lyrics, Anitta already succeeded where Gimbel failed. She secured the blessing of the artists’ families, who reviewed her version before granting approval. Instead, she gives a shout out to her home ’hood, Honorio Gurgel. It hardly rolls off the tongue, but it sure doesn’t sound like toothpaste.

Four members of the Jobim and de Moraes families told The Associated Press that they appreciated Anitta’s spin on the classic. Georgiana de Moraes said her late father was ahead of his time, always experimenting with younger partners. She said he would have liked it, too.

Before the song’s April 30 release, a photo of Anitta posing in front of the bus from the music video went viral, and thousands of Brazilians photoshopped themselves in her place. Lucas Brêda, a music critic at the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, showed they felt seen and represented.

Her video also resonated, Brêda says. It racked up 24 million views on YouTube. But he says the song is more akin to contemporary American pop than anything Brazilian-born. Anitta also released a remix with rapper DaBaby on May 21. It’s a bit of history that repeats Bossa Nova’s Americanization.

“In the export of Bossa Nova, it became more distant from samba and closer to jazz,” Brêda says. “Anitta is doing that consciously, has no shame in doing that.”

She has performed her song on the Today Show  and Jimmy Kimmel Live, providing Americans a new vision of Rio women by supplanting the original’s inspiration, a 17-year-old named Helô. De Moraes described her in a 1965 magazine:

“A golden girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, but the sight of whom is sad, because she carries with her, on her way to the sea, the feeling of youth passing by, of beauty that isn’t just ours. It is a gift from life in its beautiful melancholy of constant ebb and flow.”

Today, that woman, the original muse for “The Girl from Ipanema,” is 75 and among the small percentage of Brazilians fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Her name is Helô Pinheiro. She, too, enjoys the bounce of Anitta’s beat in the new version of the tune that changed her life and recalled how de Moraes viewed her back then.

“That sense of youth that passes — it’s only today I can have that feeling because I’m no longer a girl,” Pinheiro says. “Maybe Anitta precisely understood that ‘ebb and flow,’ and she flowed within what Vinicius already envisioned for the future, which is now.”

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Girl from Ipanema: ‘Re-imagining a classic for today’s Rio

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