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GRAMMYs

Lizzo

News
Lizzo On The Essence Of 'Cuz I Love You' close-personal-lizzo-essence-cuz-i-love-you-missy-elliotts-impact-more

Up Close & Personal: Lizzo On The Essence Of 'Cuz I Love You,' Missy Elliott's Impact & More

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The Recording Academy gets Up Close & Personal with the flute-playing, powerhouse singer about her latest album, her idol Missy Elliott and more
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 31, 2019 - 4:05 pm

By now, you've definetly heard Lizzo's "Tempo" featuring Missy Elliott. Or maybe it's "Truth Hurts" or "Juice" thats been blasting near you. Lizzo's feel-good, relatable pop songs are everywhere, and keeping them a secret during the making of her latest album, Cuz I Love You, wasn't easy for the Detroit native.

"When you write these songs you get really excited about them and mind you, I had a song like 'Juice' just under my armpit in the darkness and nobody knew what it sounded like," the singer and flute player told the Recording Academy. "Or keeping it a secret that I had Missy Elliott on a song, at that point you just want to explode and when the album was out, I was so excited to just share the songs with people and the world."

Lizzo On 'Cuz I Love You,' Missy Elliott & More

But it's not just Lizzo's songs that are addictive for their messages of self-love and positivity, it's who she is, too. The singer gets into how being naked on her album cover may have been the ultimate act of vulnerability, but it was also a moment of strength. "Vulnerability and strength is what this album is all about," she said. 

The singer's most recent single, "Tempo," features her now-trademark flute playing and a guest spot from one of her idols, Missy Elliott. "She represented something that made me believe in myself," she says about the iconic rapper's imapct on her when she was young. 

Watch the "Truth Hurts" singer talk more about the impact Missy Elliott left on her when she was younger, what excites her most about releasing Cuz I Love You, her remarkable album cover, vulnerability and more.

Yola Ascends To 'Walk Through Fire' & Become The Queen Of Country Soul 

GRAMMYs

Lizzo 

Photo:  Timothy Norris/Getty Images for Coachella

News
Watch: Lizzo & Missy Elliott Turn Up The "Tempo" watch-lizzo-missy-elliott-turn-tempo-brand-new-video

Watch: Lizzo & Missy Elliott Turn Up The "Tempo" In Brand-New Video

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At long last, Lizzo and Missy Elliott have dropped the visuals for their 'Cuz I Love You' collab
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 26, 2019 - 4:32 pm

Lizzo and Missy Elliott were the collab the world didn't know it needed when they dropped "Tempo" before Lizzo released Cuz I Love You in March. Now, fans have reason to get excited all over again: The video for "Tempo" is out and features the two women turning up the parking lot outside of a diner called "Lizzo's." 

Directed by Andy Hines, the video has Lizzo showing off her rap skills in a red cowboy hat and blue-two piece. Meanwhile, Missy pops out from the front of a low-rider and begins her empowering verse: "All the thick girls down on the flrrr/ Ice on my neck like brrr/ I'm big-boned with nice curves/ Look at me, I know I look grrrd."

Of course, Lizzo's flute makes an appearance too. Watch the video above. 

Channel Tres Talks Honoring Issac Hayes On EP 'Black Moses,' Healing With Music & Being A "Ghetto Savior"

 

GRAMMYs

Normani

Photo: Josh Brasted/FilmMagic via Getty Images

News
Normani On Solo Debut, Ariana Grande & More normani-talks-solo-debut-learning-fifth-harmony-touring-ariana-grande

Normani Talks Solo Debut, Learning From Fifth Harmony & Touring With Ariana Grande

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"Even though I'm a new artist, I've also taken what I've learned from the last seven years that I was in Fifth Harmony," the singer told the Recording Academy
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 12, 2019 - 12:18 pm

Emerging singer Normani was right at home during her ESSENCE Fest performance on Sunday. The New Orleans native, who recently hit the road for the first leg of Ariana Grande's Sweetener tour, has experienced plenty of success since her former pop group Fifth Harmony went on indefinite hiatus last year—and performing in her hometown only added to the glow. 

"I'm stronger than I give myself credit for," the singer says about one of the things she learned since going solo. "There's so many things I've learned not only as an artist, but also as a business woman."

https://twitter.com/Normani/status/1095368226509250560

proud to finally share this with you guys. there was SO much love and hard work poured into this video. hope you like it ♥️🌊 #WavesMVOutNOW https://t.co/YU5Vl0hGh3 pic.twitter.com/fVyQGcsu5k

— Normani (@Normani) February 12, 2019

Normani has built her name around major collabs that tug at your heart strings: "Dancing With A Stranger" wth Sam Smith and "Love Lies" with Khalid. Her latest single, "Waves" feat. 6lack, lets her powerfully magnetic vocals shine alone. 

"Even though I'm a new artist, I've also taken what I've learned from the last seven years that I was in Fifth Harmony," she said. Regarding openning on tour for the "7 Rings" singer, she said they have more than a working relationship.

"It's been amazing. It's been the best experience ever and I'm just really grateful that I get to support such an amazing artist, I mean the biggest pop star in the world right now ... I genuinely can call her a friend of mine and I don't take that word lightly."

Her solo debut album is in the works and it's something she's been taking her time with. While her fans are at the edge of their seat, taking it slow has meant she's been able to put her all into it, as she said: "I want this album to represent and encompass all that Normani is."

The Magic Of ESSENCE 25th Anniversary Celebration: "It's Like A Family Reunion Even Though You Don't Know Everybody Here"

GRAMMYs
News
Imogen Heap On Protecting Musicians With Tech imogen-heap-how-musicians-can-thrive-technology-driven-world

Imogen Heap On How Musicians Can Thrive In A Technology-Driven World

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As an advocate for musician rights, the electro-pop performer has embraced technology not only when creating music, but also as a tool for making the music industry a safer place for artists in a digital-facing world
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jul 2, 2019 - 3:16 pm

Last month, the Recording Academy's San Francisco chapter got up close and personal with GRAMMY-winning British singer and musician Imogen Heap, British composer, songwriter and producer Guy Sigsworth and composer and musician Zoë Keating for a talk about technology in music.

Heap, an advocate for musician rights, has embraced technology not only when creating music, but also as a tool for making the music industry a safer place for artists in a digital-facing world. With her Creative Passport project, she hopes to connect music makers "through a verified and decentralised ecosystem, promoting artist-led, fair and sustainable operating practices."

One of the ways the project hopes to protect music makers is by establishing a way to give them proper credit, digitally. 

Imogen Heap Talks Music Makers' Future

"I was just getting frustrated at the fact that I was going to release another song into the ether, it was basically going to fall off a cliff and I wouldn't know what was happening to it and I wouldnt be able to kind of, arm it or give it all the tools and the tricks that it needs to go and do the business that it needs, to make sure everybody is acknowledged, to make sure everyone gets paid properly, to make sure that it has the correct lyrics or whatever it might need," she said. "It's so frsutarting that that doesn't exist with the song in a form that is then accessed by everyone."

Keating, who introduced Heap to the blockchain technology used in some of the Creative Passport projects, said it's important to keep musicians in the conversations about technology. 

"Musicians should not be left out this time ... the technology gets developed and the musicians have to figure out how to react to it and I was like 'Wouldn't it be a great this time if musicians were there at the beginning?" she said. 

When it comes to the challenges technology brings, Sigsworth says he thinks the issues will stay the same as time progresses: "I think the problems will be the same whatever the technology does. I sometimes fear that when the technology gets better and better at realizing your ideas, it'll be more apparent that your ideas suck." 

Before the conversation came to a close, Heap showed the audience the technology in her proprietary electronic instrument—mimu gloves—whose technology can be recreated in one of the many Creative Passport workshops. 

Lauren Daigle, Parker Millsap, Kathie Lee Gifford & More Discuss The Creative Process

Bruce Swedien

Bruce Swedien

Photo: John Parra/WireImage

News
Remembering Master Engineer Bruce Swedien bruce-swedien-obituary-thriller

Remembering The Musical Genius Of Master Engineer Bruce Swedien

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GRAMMY.com looks back on the career of Swedien, a five-time GRAMMY-winning engineer who shaped iconic albums from Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
Rob LeDonne
GRAMMYs
Dec 8, 2020 - 5:11 pm

When Bruce Swedien was mixing the Michael Jackson tour de force "Billie Jean," he and the pop star were agonizing over the most granular details of the recording. "I adored Michael, he was the greatest," Swedien once recalled. "He'd say, 'Bruce, that was perfect but let's try one more.' This was mix 80, [but] I said no problem." 

By the time Swedien and Jackson were on the 91st mix of the track, the song's producer and frequent Swedien collaborator, Quincy Jones, walked in the studio and implored the two to go back and listen to their initial cuts. "So we played [the second mix we worked on] and it blew it all away. I mean that was the most badass mix and that's what [was released]. Mix two."

It's a story that not only exemplifies Swedien's attention to detail, but also his innate natural talent that earned him legendary status among the titans of the music industry. 

"He was without question the best engineer in the business," Jones wrote in an Instagram post upon learning of Swedien's death last month (Nov. 16). "For more than 70 years I wouldn't even think about going into a recording session unless I knew Bruce was behind the board." 

This combination of respect and pedigree earned Swedien 12 career GRAMMY nominations, including five GRAMMY wins for engineering for his work on Thriller, Bad and Dangerous, all for Jackson. He also earned two additional engineering GRAMMYs for his work on Jones' albums, Q's Jook Joint and Back On The Block.

"Bruce Swedien's masterful work behind the board helped create iconic music with renowned artists," Harvey Mason jr., Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, said of the celerated engineer in a statement. "His imaginative approach helped shape the sound of pop music, and he was one of the most revered engineers in our industry. We have lost a remarkable talent, but I'm thankful for the music Bruce gave us."

Hailing from Minnesota, Swedien was born to classically trained musician parents; he became enamored with music after his father gave him a rudimentary disc recorder. By 21, Swedien was an engineer for RCA Victor. After honing his craft with jazz icons like Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton, he released his first musical firework from his generation-spanning discography in 1962 with "Big Girls Don't Cry," the seminal Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons hit. With its high falsetto and kinetic drumming, it rocketed to No. 1 and earned the group its first GRAMMY nomination. At the time, Swedien, then 28, was working in-house at Universal Music in Chicago. He later fondly remembered the appearance of "four scruffy-looking guys from New Jersey who headed straight to the vocal booth. It was a great session."

In addition to a zigzagging career, which saw the prolific engineer collaborating with everyone from jazz greats like Ellington and Sarah Vaughn, rock gods like Mick Jagger, divas like Barbara Streisand and contemporary stars like Jennifer Lopez, it was his creative partnership, and close friendship, with Quincy Jones that would define Swedien's career. First meeting in the late-'70s while collaborating on the music for the classic film, The Wiz, the two also crafted hits for the likes of George Benson, including his own GRAMMY-winning song, "Give Me The Night," as well as the gargantuan charity single, "We Are The World." 

But it was the dream team of Swedien, Jones, Michael Jackson and songwriter Rod Temperton that helped change the face of pop and turn the former Jackson 5 member into a bonafide superstar. 

For The Record: Michael Jackson

"[Along with Temperton], we reached heights that we could have never imagined & made history together," Jones, on Instagram, recalled of the partnership, which resulted in Thriller, the best-selling album in music history. "I have always said it's no accident that more than four decades later no matter where I go in the world, in every club, like clockwork at the witching hour you hear 'Billie Jean,' 'Beat It,' 'Wanna Be Starting Something,' and 'Thriller.' That was the sonic genius of Bruce Swedien and to this day I can hear artists trying to replicate him."

In tangent with his ace ear, Swedien was also deft in the technology of production, helping revolutionize new techniques of engineering and evolving the craft. While working on Thriller, he developed a technique to record the tracks in analogue first in pairs, subsequently creating stereophonic recordings. "Digital recording was available and we were all quite impressed with its clarity," he said in 2018. "But if you start the music in digital you can never go back to analogue and it won't sound as good."

His thirst for innovation also forced him to think outside the box, like building a special drum platform and a cover for the bass drum, complete with an integral piece of wood to give the percussion on "Billie Jean" a distinctive sound. When recording Jackson's vocals, he had the pop star stand a few inches from the microphone, then step back even farther for another cut, then another, with Jackson physically moving his mouth along the microphone; once layered, they all created a unique depth. "Here's what I think it really boils down to," Swedien once explained, offering valuable insight into a master at work. "The importance of any musical sound lies not in any inherent acoustical value, but what it signifies in the soul of the listener." 

His friend Quincy Jones summed up Swedien's loss on both a personal and creative level. "I am absolutely devastated to learn the news that we lost my dear brother-in-arms," he wrote in the Instagram post. "I'm going to miss your presence every single day 'Svensk', but I will cherish every moment we shared together laughin', lovin', livin', & givin'."

Michael Jackson's "Thriller": For The Record

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.