Lior Phillips is a South African music and culture journalist, and the host of This Must Be the Gig—a podcast dedicated to the stories behind some of the world’s biggest artists' passion for performance. She also writes about art, music, film, dance and more for international publications including GQ South Africa, Dazed and Confused Magazine, Billboard, GRAMMY.com, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian, and Variety. She is currently based in Chicago.
See the full list of winners and nominees from the 2026 Grammys. Watch highlights and exclusive Grammys content from the 2026 Grammys all year long. Releasing an album isn’t just about putting a set of songs out into the world. It’s about sharing a cohesive piece of the artist’s inner world, opening a portal that anyone can enter and discover…
See the full list of winners and nominees from the 2026 Grammys. Watch highlights and exclusive Grammys content from the 2026 Grammys all year long. Few roles in music are as mercurial, or as magical, as the producer. It’s a space where vision meets intuition, where creativity and craft interlock, where a single choice can transform a song into something…
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 8, 2025. It has been updated to reflect the D'Angelo's death in October 2025. There is no other artist quite like D’Angelo — and no other album quite like Brown Sugar. July marked 30 years since the release of the enigmatic four-time GRAMMY winner's debut album, a remarkable fact considering just…
Issam Alnajjar had only recently first picked up a guitar when his cover of Frank Sinatra’s "Fly Me To the Moon" spread throughout social media in 2019. The then-teenager had started playing music as an escape; Alnajjar’s family had recently relocated from Jordan to America, but he wasn’t immediately able to join them. Alone in his room, he relied on…
"We always painstakingly make sure that every sound on there is the best it can be, but with this album we were going with our gut," Danielle Haim smiles. And while that instinctive confidence powers the wide-eyed experimentation of HAIM's fourth LP, I quit, the album simultaneously finds sisters Alana, Este, and Danielle delivering some of their most precise, thoughtfully…
There's a cinematic inevitability to Role Model's rise into the pop pantheon. The singer/songwriter born Tucker Pillsbury launched his musical journey nearly a decade ago — and while he was initially interested in rap, he's since gone on to become a TikTok-adored bedroom pop star. As would befit someone so superbly cool, Role Model stumbled into a hit-making career almost…
Marina Diamandis has always wielded time. The South Wales-born pop auteur creates and recreates dazzling new personas and styles with each album, ideas that draw from the past and envision the future, all while being firmly in the now. This journey began in an electro bubblegum wonderland under the name Marina and the Diamonds on 2010 debut The Family Jewels,…
Editor's note: This article was updated on June 5, 2025 with information about the 2024 and 2025 GRAMMYs.\ \ The 60-plus years of the GRAMMY Awards encompasses some of the most awe-inspiring and breathtaking moments in music history — and it should be noted that queer performers have produced some of the most dazzling highlights. From Elton John’s 1999 GRAMMY…
Nearing the end of her second two-year term as Chair of the Board, Tammy Hurt is still working endlessly to shape a brighter future for the Recording Academy. "I'm proud of where we've come and I look forward to seeing where we're going," Hurt says. "I love being part of the change and I love never having to take my…
"It's all about hope," Margaret Cho says, explaining the genesis of her new album of music, Lucky Gift. "Hope brings you to a new space of understanding." Released in February, Lucky Gift deftly explores the nexus of hope and vulnerability. Through her endlessly charming vocals and indie-inspired guitar chops, the GRAMMY-nominated comedian and singer meditates on everything from the fragility…
The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, Feb. 2. Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com. The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast will be reimagined to raise funds to support wildfire relief efforts and aid music professionals impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Donate to the Recording Academy's…
In 2024, the volume of must-listen albums seemed to multiply voraciously and victoriously with each passing month — many of which will be celebrated at the 67th GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 2. And even as these records reverberated through radio stations, record stores, festivals, and charts, we’re still eager for the rumors and rumblings of unique, masterful, rising artists to…
The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, Feb. 2. Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com. The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast will be reimagined to raise funds to support wildfire relief efforts and aid music professionals impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Donate to the Recording Academy's…
Quincy Jones helped shape nearly every facet of pop music history, either directly or indirectly, for more than half a century. On Nov. 3, the consummate multi-hyphenate passed away at the age of 91. The recipient of 28 GRAMMY wins and 80 nominations — ranking third and fourth most in the organization’s history, respectively — Jones will be remembered for…
For more than 50 years, Robert Smith has taken enraptured listeners along a mercurial journey, diving headlong through dark rainbows and radiant shadows, worlds where epic atmospherics and ultimate intimacy swirl. As The Cure, Smith and company — currently vocalist/guitarist Smith, bassist Simon Gallup, keyboardist Roger O'Donnell, guitarists Perry Bamonte and Reeves Gabrels, and drummer Jason Cooper — have continually…
Whether explaining to his parents that the Commodores would be the "Black Beatles" or writing a mega-smash charity single in a single evening, a young Lionel Richie has something of a mantra: "Everything was possible." When the now-iconic "We Are the World" first hit the airwaves in 1985, listeners surely were awed at the thought of so many legends in…
With massive crowds and countless critics raving about her debut album, Ravyn Lenae knew what she had to do: completely ignore all of the expectations that led to it. "I knew in order for me to keep evolving as an artist and a person, there was no choice but to let those boundaries go,"she says from her home in Los…
Some artists are lucky enough to have a moment: a song of the summer, a radio hit, or a point at which their song dominates the pop conversation. Before even launching her own singing career, Amy Allen has done just that — multiple times. In 2022, the Maine native contributed to hit songs from Harry Styles, Lizzo, Charli XCX, and…
When Greg Gonzalez sat down to start writing the next Cigarettes After Sex album, the dream pop frontman relied equally on memories of heartbreak and the ballads of the Material Girl. "‘90s Madonna was a big influence on this record," he tells GRAMMY.com with a soft smile. Though the end result won’t be mistaken for anything off of Ray of…
After finishing the first mixes of their new album, Kehlani knew exactly what she needed to do: head to Las Vegas. The L.A.-based, Oakland-born singer/songwriter had always identified with Sin City: "I’m full of juxtapositions," she tells GRAMMY.com. "Vegas is this crazy bright light city in the middle of a vacant desert that has weddings and also strippers." Fittingly, Kehlani…
