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The Selecter

The Selecter

Photo: Dean Chalkley

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The Selecter Talk 40 Years Of Breaking Barriers ska-greats-selecter-talk-40th-anniversary-why-greta-thunberg-most-together-person

Ska Greats The Selecter Talk 40th Anniversary & Why Greta Thunberg Is "The Most Together Person On The Planet"

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Two founding members of the pioneering U.K. two-tone/ska group, Pauline Black and Gaps Hendrickson, speak to the Recording Academy about their celebratory tour, hopes for the future, the music that inspires them and more
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 1, 2019 - 3:06 pm

This year, pioneering U.K. two-tone/ska group The Selecter celebrate 40 years as a band and 40 years of two-tone (they helped found the second-wave ska movement in the '70s). They came together, rather serendipitously, in Coventry, England in 1979, the same year that conservative posterchild Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

The two-toners responded to the increasingly unsettled social climate through their socially charged music, with groups made up of a racially diverse—and in the case of The Selecter, gender diverse—membership. The frenetic, upbeat sound they created blended Jamaican-born ska with punk and new wave sounds and aesthetic. In 1980, not long after The Selecter was formed, they released their powerful debut album, Too Much Pressure. Every line of the title track begins with the words "too much pressure," echoing the climate of the time.

Fast forward to Oct. 6, 2017, not long after the 45th President of the United States took office and Britain first voted in favor of Brexit, 37 years after their debut, The Selecter released their 15th studio album, Daylight. The album's messages responding to the current state of affairs don't feel all that different from their debut, with coy references to hashtags.

"My mind is full, my heart is empty. / It's hard to live in a world of plenty. / The more I see, the less I feel. / You sell me dreams, but they're not real," frontwoman Pauline Black sings on "Frontline," the opening track of Daylight. "Nobody's, nobody's hashtag / ever the mighty shall fall / nobody's, nobody's hashtag / nobody's hashtag at all!" 

As anyone following the news will realize, yesterday's revolutionary music continues to resonate today. But, as founding Selecter members Black and Arthur "Gaps" Hendrickson reassure us, things have changed for the better since their debut—and will inevitably keep improving.

"You've got to remember that we're celebrating our 40th anniversary. 50 years ago, I believe, black people in this country were celebrating the birth of civil rights," Black recently told us. "That's within my lifetime, only 10 years more than when we first started and we came over here. From that point of view, things definitely have changed. They might be taking a retrogressive step at the moment, but you can definitely say that things have changed."

The Recording Academy recently sat down with Black and Hendrickson hours before they joined their bandmates for a high-energy show at the Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach, Calif., during the U.S. leg of their anniversary tour. Read on to hear from them about their hopes for the future, what music and artists most inspire them, how the band originally came together and more.

What does 40 years of The Selecter mean to you?

Pauline Black: 40 years of The Selecter actually means that, my goodness, we've lasted this long, we've made some music that actually resonates with people still, around the world, after 40 years. I don't think that's any mean feat in that way. And it's still a work in progress. All bands are a work in progress, aren't they? You just celebrate these decades as they roll around, but this is a fairly special one because you really don't know, at the ages that we're at, whether you're actually going to see the 50th.

Gaps Hendrickson: And we'd tour places and, people said they were 15, they were too young to come to a concert and they're glad to see us. That's all encouraging news and it gives us a lot of scope to advance.

It is definitely a feat. And you're about to wrap up the 40th Anniversary Tour. What has stood out to you the most about your experiences on this tour?

Black: In America—well, we started off in Mexico. Mexico City, which was a really, really, really brilliant gig, wasn't it?

Hendrickson: Yeah, very good.

Black: It was at Sala and that was just amazing. It seems kind of weird for us because I think after the U.K., America and Germany, Mexico is our next best-selling place for records, but we haven't been there that much. We've only done festivals, so to actually go there and do gigs was quite radical really, wasn't it?

Hendrickson: Yeah, especially Mexico City. Every song got really loud applause.



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The Selecter In Mexico City, Sala Puebla gig last night- photographer David D Barajas. #theselecter #paulineblack #2tone #ska

A post shared by The Selecter (@theselecterofficial) on Sep 7, 2019 at 2:25pm PDT

Black: And they knew the words and everything, which you're not really expecting. Also, we got to look around the whole place, which is rather fabulous. We went to the Leon Trotsky Museum, that was cool. And then we went around some Aztec temples. And we did a few touristy things, which we'd never done before. Then we flew to New York and we were there on September 11, which of course was a bit of an auspicious day.

Hendrickson: That was the next best one, wasn't it?

Black: Yeah. We didn't feel as though we could let that anniversary pass of what happened in New York. We invited some of the firefighters, the first responders, via the union of the fire brigade union in London. They responded to that and we had a whole load of officials come down and the guys came down all dressed in their best dress uniform and stuff. We had them on the stage at the end for our encore when we do "Madness," because that's what it must have been like on that day. So yeah, that was a thoroughly satisfying visit there and it was a really great show too, at the Gramercy Theatre.

What have been your favorite songs this go-round to play live?

Hendrickson: At the moment, I wouldn't say I've got a favorite song.

You don't have to pick just one.

Hendrickson: Well, okay then. I do like singing "See Them A Come." I think that's one of my favorites to sing on stage. But to listen to, I would pick a song of our latest album, which is called Daylight, [the title track] is my favorite track. I would sit down and call my friends and say, "Hey, listen to this," because I think that's a great song.

Black: For me, when we were putting the set list together for this particular tour, we wanted to do a broad spectrum of songs that encompass basically 40 years, so we went back and looked at our second album, Celebrate the Bullet, and resurrected a great song that Gaps sings called "Facing Situations," which seemed really apt for the political-social time that we're living through at the moment. Everybody's having to face situations and figure out what we're going to do, be it climate change or be it what on earth is going on with our governments as they all lurch towards the right and stuff like that.

So yeah, that was a favorite for me and we also resurrected another song, "The Whisper," which is our fifth single. We thought, well, a lot of people in America probably never heard that or didn't get to hear it. I think a lot of people in America came to The Selecter maybe in 1981, when they put out a compilation album here called Selected Selecter Selections. That's a bit of a mouthful. They took cuts off the first and the second album so some got missed off.

People here didn't actually go out and buy the Celebrate The Bullet album, they bought that instead, so there's a lot of things that they didn't get to hear necessarily. And I love doing "Celebrate The Bullet," if nothing else, to spite the N.R.A. and their policies.

You guys mentioned Daylight; on that album you tackled the issues of today, which somehow unfortunately really don't feel that different than what you were talking about on the first albums.

Hendrickson: Indeed, yeah.

It's kind of crazy. What do you think is the biggest societal change that needs to happen now?

Black: Well, the biggest societal change would be what your generation decide to do. That's going to be the biggest thing. I hope you make less of a mess of the planet than we did, or at least our generation did. I'm not particularly proud of our generation at all. I think that we created all kinds of chaos on the planet and now we're denying that it's actually even happening.

I think the one thing that would give myself and Gaps hope—Gaps has a 12-year-old daughter—is what that generation can do. Greta Thunberg is a showing the way, isn't she? She's a teen and seems to be the most together person on the planet, I would say, at the moment in terms of what the future of this planet actually needs and what we should be doing. All hope has to be in young people.

Hendrickson: I wouldn't like to see these children struggle the way that I struggled against racism and prejudice. I have to admit, it's somewhat easier for them because they can go out and do what they want to want to do, more or less. And there's not as many obstacles or doors shut in your face now, so that's good. I've seen, for them, a little progress that way. I hope it continues, very slowly, but I'm sure it will one day.

Black: You've got to remember that we're celebrating our 40th anniversary. 50 years ago, I believe, black people in this country were celebrating the birth of civil rights, certainly the civil rights movement was going on. Now, 50 years isn't that long. That's within my lifetime, only 10 years more than when we first started and we came over here. From that point of view, things definitely have changed. They might be taking a retrogressive step at the moment, but you can definitely say that things have changed.

But I think it's like everything. It's very easy to say, "Goodness me, things that were happening in 1979, when we were first around, are the same as what's happening now." People say that history repeats itself, but I don't think it does, but it does rhyme every now and again. Currently, it's rhyming quite significantly with what was going on in 1979, both in this country and in the U.K., where we come from.

I like that.

Black: I didn't say that, Mark Twain said it.

How do we keep moving forward so that in the future, it's good for everyone?

Black: Oh, we don't have to worry about that because nature would change anyway. Whether we're here or not, we're all part of that. That's always going to change. It's how we respond to it and what we learned from it that's the significant thing. The human animal doesn't seem to learn very much or very quickly sometimes. I think maybe we need to speed the process up and maybe your generation can speed up the learning process.

Well, what is your biggest hope for the near future, in say, five years?

Black: The future's in every moment, isn't it? Within the next five years, I would definitely like to see some actual progress towards getting rid of fossil fuels and all of those kinds of things because they're the biggest culprits at the moment. Plus all those farting cows that are doing their thing all over the world. Whether I particularly want to end up eating crushed beetles or whatever is going to be our protein source, I don't know, but I'm game for anything. It's better than frying on a planet, and that's not going to be such a great thing either, is it, when everywhere is a desert. So that would be my biggest hope, that we wake up to that.

Hendrickson: I agree. Walking down here just about half an hour ago, you smell all of the [vehicle] fumes. I'm sure I won't be around when all vehicles go electric, but I think it will be a wonderful thing to not smell fumes like that.

You two are pioneers in music, fashion and more. What does it mean to you to have led the way for others? And what do you hope to see in the next generation of artists?

Black: That's a continually evolving thing. We're just a small part of it really. Ska music doesn't even have its own genre on iTunes or any of those kinds of things. It's lumped into reggae and things. I don't really see it like that. Rock music is ubiquitous and all that it is four on the floor. It's just the on-beat. All we are is four on the off-beat, really. Why people can't be more imaginative with that in the same way as what we've tried to do and be, I don't really know.

I see there are still people, including young people, who are interested in music as a form. Us older people, we continually try and make new music and stuff like that, and people like The Specials have had great success in the U.K. with a new album. So yeah, I think that ska music is in the best shape really that it's been in for a long time.

Hendrickson: Pauline and I sing with Jools Holland, who's a very reputable musician in the U.K., and we go to places that we probably wouldn't play with The Selecter. When we go out as The Selecter, we get people saying, "We saw you [with Holland] and we thought we'll come along and see what your band is like because we really love your music and had never heard it before" As I said before, it's always lovely encouraging new sorts to be there. It's a privilege after 40 years, may it long continue.

"It's a privilege after 40 years. May it long continue." – Gaps Hendrickson

And for you Pauline, there was a recent Vogue feature on your style.

Black: Oh, that was last year. I don't know about that, it just came out of the complete blue.

I think you could say that whether or not you were realizing at the time, you made your mark in fashion.

Black: The whole of the fashion of all the subcultures that coalesced around the two-tone movement, was people wearing black, white checkers, that kind of thing. Monochrome aesthetic, a mod aesthetic as well, not to mention hats. I really like your beret.

So, it's the style and it's as valid as any other style that I can think of, and the fact that Vogue woke up and saw it as a kind of a style, I don't know. It began with Duro Olowu, who is a fashion designer. He's a Nigerian-British fashion designer. His wife Thelma Golden runs the Studio Museum in Harlem, they're both artistic people. He decided that I was going to be his muse last year, which was complete news to me.

I saw some of his clothes and they were very colorful, some Nigerian colors. He made me an outfit, which is absolutely lovely. I can't actually say that I might ever wear it on stage in the kind of style that I do, but it's a beautiful outfit and I'm dying to wear it at some point in time. But he decided that what he was doing had some resonance with Rude Boys and Rude Girls and who was I to argue? I wasn't going to argue. He's a very lovely man too. So that's how that came about. Whether Anna Wintour had anything to do with it, I didn't know.

Amazing! I'd love to hear a little bit of the backstory of how you guys came together as a group.

Black: Well, that's long. You start, I'll finish.

Hendrickson: The original members of The Selecter are Charley Anderson, Desmond Brown, Charley "H" Bembridge and Compton Amanor. We had a band called Hardtop 22, which was basically a reggae band. In Coventry, we used to have this club called Mr. George's and every Monday night, Coventry Automatics, who later became The Specials, and Hardtop 22 used to play. At the end of the night, they'd probably give us a pint of lager or something. We knew each other, living in Coventry, and The Specials made good and they thought they'll bring us along and basically that's how it started. This is where Pauline picks up the story.

Black: Well, at the same time, there was a white guy in Coventry called Neol Davies, who knew Jerry Dammers from The Specials. He had recorded a track, which initially he called "Kingston Affair," in the shed of the producer, who would go on to produce some of our records later, Roger Lomas. When The Specials put out "Gangsters," they didn't have a B side, they ran out of money to record one. Jerry rang up Neol Davies and said, "You know that track that you've had lying around for two years, do you want to put that on the B side of our single? We'll call it The Specials versus The Selecter." Which is all a very Jamaican kind of way of doing a single. And that's what they did.

I don't know whether they thought that it was going to be a hit or not, but anyway, it started climbing the charts. Initially a lot of people thought that The Selecter was just the B side by The Specials. They didn't know that it was a band in its own right, but at that time there was only one member, Neil Davies. At the same time, I was trying to put a band together with people that included Desmond Brown, who was also in Hardtop 22, Charles Bembridge and also Silverton Hutchinson, who was the original drummer for The Specials. Are you keeping up? [Laughs.] Trying to pick the sense out of the nonsense.

Anyway, we were rehearsing somewhere in the deepest, darkest Coventry, and who should turn up but Lynval Golding from The Specials. He had a little listen and said, "I think you should come along and meet a friend of mine," which was Neol Davies. Somebody had to be sent out to get Gaps because he didn't feel like coming over that night. And all the people who ended up there all went on to be in The Selecter, which is kind of weird, really.

When you guys were younger, did you imagine that you would be in music?

Black: No, I thought I was going to be a biochemist.

Hendrickson: I've always had two ambitions in my life. One was to be a pop star and the other one was to be a lazy bastard. [Grins.] I'm still working on the being a lazy bastard bit.



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Pauline Black & Gaps Hendrickson will be performing with Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall tonight! That’s the Perth in Scotland before all you Antipodeans get excited;-) #acf #aveccesfreres #artcomesfirst

A post shared by The Selecter (@theselecterofficial) on May 17, 2019 at 12:15pm PDT

There's always time. When you were growing up, who were your musical idols? Who were the people you were always listening to?

Hendrickson: Oh, everybody. I love music from [Henry] Mancini to Billy Idol. Jim Reeves.

Black: Billy Idol? You've kept that out of your hat.

Hendrickson: Growing up, on Sunday mornings, my parents would put on Prince Buster, the Skatalites and things like that on. Obviously, you know that music was invented, more or less, where I was born, which is in the Western Indies. It just resonated with me and here I am. I couldn't believe it when I met some of the stars because I always used to go up to buy the records, Desmond Dekker and artists like that. That was my greatest influence.

Black: I started playing music in folk clubs, not because I liked folk music, but because if you wanted to play guitar and sing at the same time, and that was one of the very few places you do it in the '70s. I was listening to people like Joan Armatrading, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, those kinds of people.

Hendrickson: And Carole King.

Black: Carole King, yeah, those kind of things. I always had a love of Tamla Motown [the U.K. affiliate of Motown Records]. And Aretha Franklin, obviously. Not that I have any wish to sound like Aretha Franklin, or could, but I greatly admired her tenacity and the way that she carried herself. Harking back further than that, Billie Holiday. Her choices of music, things like "Strange Fruit," and living through the times that she lived through in this country, when she had to use the back doors of the places she was performing and touring in the South. I read all those stories and lapped those up. Anyone who's on the margins of society or has something to say about that, those kinds of people who are ostracized from mainstream society or the status quo, I'm interested in.

And are there any newer artists, or artists that are newer to you, who you're really excited about?

Black: Yeah, I constantly keep an eye on what's around. I'm always interested in new female artists. This young girl Billie Eilish, I think she's absolutely fabulous at the moment. She seems to have come from nowhere and whoa, sprung fully formed. She's only about 17.

And similarly, there's an artist called Christine and the Queens and I greatly admire what she's doing. Just the sheer feet of her athleticism and dancing and the music that she makes. And coming from France and speaking in both English in French, that's no mean feat either. That's the sort of things that I would search out.

Hendrickson: Yeah, having grown up, as I said, in the West Indies, we listened to calypso and other rhythm, like merengue, which comes from the Dutch West Indies. That's pretty good. I love all that sort of thing. Artists come and go and you see them spring up today, then tomorrow you don't hear of them. Wait until they've established themselves and then I will listen to their music.

Black: Well, yeah, that is true about artists, but I also think that in terms of music now, it's so hard for new artists, particularly young artists, to make any mark anymore. You need enormous backing from record companies and stuff like that. It has got so much easier to make music because you can make music on your phone now. You don't need big studios, but you still have the same problem, how to market your music if you don't have any money, and invariably, artists don't tend to have the kind of money that other pursuits have. That's the difficult thing, so unless they've got real backing from record companies, it's as hard to break through now as it ever was.

If you could go back 40 years and give your younger self then a piece of advice, or a message, what would it be?

Hendrickson: Me, I don't think I would change anything much, especially leading up to the formation of The Selecter. Financially, when you look back at that, that's where I would probably start changing, but hey.

Black: I don't think I'd change anything really. I probably would tell my younger self enjoy it more. Because when you're young, you're always worrying, "What do people think of this? What do people think of me?" And you're unsure about all kinds things, of how you look, stuff like that. And then you look back at photos of yourself and you think, "Wow, what was I moaning about?"

But I wouldn't change anything because it's been a great learning curve and I've got to share it with Gaps. I kind of live for the moments on stage. That's the coolest part of the whole thing to me, when you just get those nights when everything you do resonates with an audience and they're giving you back as much energy as you were putting out. When that happens, it's just a great feeling and I can't think of anything better to do than this.

"I kind of live for the moments on stage. That's the coolest part of the whole thing to me, when you just get those nights when everything you do resonates with an audience and they're giving you back as much energy as you were putting out." – Pauline Black

What is the legacy you hope to leave behind with your music?

Hendrickson: For my children, and other black children, to go out there and seize the moment and have a happy life. And hopefully I would've shown my children that and hopefully they'll take it from there. Nothing stopped dad from being the boy he wanted to be, so I would like to leave that legacy with them.

Black: I don't really think about legacies in that way. I think about changing people's perceptions. Every time that we step on stage, being people of color, we're not the usual way of being. A lot of the people that are into ska music, particularly over here, are white people, and that comes with its own way of looking at both this music and the issues that they deal with. I think in some ways it's quite shocking for audiences to look at us and the way we come at them. And the things that we try and impart to them through the music, both joyfully or politically or socially. It's not the usual norm.

I'd like to see that legacy carried on by other young black people that are coming up, that might take what myself and Gaps have done and further that. I think there's plenty to explore there. To a certain extent over here, a lot of young people got into ska music back in the '90s but it was all very much about just having a good time, having beer. There's nothing wrong with that, but I feel that the music's a lot deeper than that. I would like to see that legacy to be left and furthered.

YoYo On 'Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood', New Music And The Power Of Womanhood

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Artists React To Their 62nd GRAMMYs Nominations we-are-all-winners-2020-grammy-award-nominees-react-social-media

"WE ARE ALL WINNERS": 2020 GRAMMY Award Nominees React On Social Media

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From first-time nominees Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X to GRAMMY winners James Blake, H.E.R., Ariana Grande and The Chemical Brothers, current nominees are filling their social media with messages of gratitude and joy
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 20, 2019 - 1:06 pm

With the full 62nd GRAMMY Award nominations dropping bright and early this morning, the music industry is now wide awake and celebrating on social media.

Read on to share in the excitement with some of the 2020 GRAMMY nominees: Lizzo, James Blake, Billie Eilish, H.E.R., Yola, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande and more!

First-time nominee Lizzo is "feelin' good as hell" about her momentous eight nods, which include Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Best New Artist. She took to her Twitter bright and early, not long after the news went live to share the big mood. "THIS HAS BEEN AN INCREDIBLE YEAR FOR MUSIC AND IM JUST SO THANKFUL TO EVEN BE PART OF IT," she beamed in her second tweet, followed by "WE ARE ALL WINNERS." Congrats, queen!

WE ARE ALL WINNERS https://t.co/sfc4aARZ5D

— Feelin Good As Hell (@lizzo) November 20, 2019

Billie Eilish is another first-time nominee who's also up for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year Best New Artist and more. The young anti-pop star, whose older brother FINNEAS produces her music, wrote "BETWEEN ME & MY BROTHER ITS 11 NOMINATIONS thank u grammyyys this is an honor." Talk about a sibling power duo!



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BETWEEN ME & MY BROTHER ITS 11 NOMINATIONS thank u grammyyys this is an honor

A post shared by BILLIE EILISH (@billieeilish) on Nov 20, 2019 at 8:56am PST

Another first-time nominee and Best New Artist contender, Yola, is reveling in this big day. "I'm trying to find the right words for the @RecordingAcad nominations this morning, this is an absolute dream!!" the rising Queen of Country Soul first wrote on Twitter this morning.

Two hours later, the British songstress came up with a few more words to summarize her joy: "To be be nominated for four @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs in the 10th month of my debut year is beyond a dream come true. Thank you to my incredible team and everyone who has supported and believed in me along the way. I'm truly honoured to be in the category with every artist nominated."

To be be nominated for four @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs in the 10th month of my debut year is beyond a dream come true.Thank you to my incredible team and everyone who has supported and believed in me along the way.I’m truly honoured to be in the category with every artist nominated pic.twitter.com/4D4kTBAx5u

— Yola (@iamyola) November 20, 2019

Country/trap king Lil Nas X also joined the first-time nominee rodeo with six nods, including for Best New Artist, Album Of The Year—for his debut EP, 7—and Record Of The Year for "Old Town Road."

"NO F***ING WAY" he wrote on Twitter. Yee-haw indeed, cowboy.

GRAMMY-winning alt-electro crooner James Blake, who was a Best New Artist nominee back at the 56th GRAMMY Awards, also took to social media to share the weight of this prestigious peer recognition. "Assume Form nominated for best alternative album! This one meant a huge amount to me. ahhhhhhhhh! LOVE YOU ALL," he wrote on Instagram.



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Assume Form nominated for best alternative album! This one meant a huge amount to me. ahhhhhhhhh! LOVE YOU ALL

A post shared by James Blake (@jamesblake) on Nov 20, 2019 at 8:13am PST

Rising R&B powerhouse H.E.R., won her first two GRAMMYs at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, where she was a Best New Artist nominee. She is understandably thrilled about her five nominations this year, and gave her tweet the all-caps, multiple-exclamation-point treatment: "5 NOMINATIONS!!!! WHAAAAAT. THATS CRAZY!!!! AGAAAAAINNNNNN. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. GOD IS GREAT."

5 NOMINATIONS!!!! WHAAAAAT. THATS CRAZY!!!! AGAAAAAINNNNNN. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. GOD IS GREAT

— H.E.R. (@HERMusicx) November 20, 2019

Pop queen Ariana Grande may have won her first GRAMMY earlier this year, for Sweetener, but she was still blown away by today's news. She is up for five awards this year, including for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album (the gramophone she snagged in 2019) for her 2019 follow-up, thank u, next.

In one of her excited tweets this morning she wrote, "thank u for acknowledging this music my beautiful best friends and i created in just a few weeks together. the acknowledgement is truly enough on its own for me and my heart."

thank u for acknowledging this music my beautiful best friends and i created in just a few weeks together. the acknowledgement is truly enough on its own for me and my heart. pls allow me to bring all of my friends who made this w me so they can make sure my heart is beating. pic.twitter.com/GqBRyP2yCz

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 20, 2019

GRAMMY-winning alt-rock stalwarts Cage The Elephant were stoked to earn another Best Rock Album nod, the category they won at the 59th GRAMMY Awards. The band wrote, "Such a blessing and honor to wake up this morning and see we're nominated for a GRAMMY!!! BIG LOVE!!!! @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs2020 #GrammyNominations #GRAMMYs."

Such a blessing and honor to wake up this morning and see we’re nominated for a GRAMMY!!! BIG LOVE!!!! a href="https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs2020 #GrammyNominations #GRAMMYs https://t.co/m83sHcxOQB

— Cage The Elephant (@CageTheElephant) November 20, 2019

First-time nominees and Brit-rock experimenters The 1975 are celebrating their Best Rock Song nomination, sharing, "// B E S T R O C K S O N G - N O M I N A T I O N // @RecordingAcad L O V E #GRAMMYs," along with a picture featuring lyrics from the nominated song, "Give Yourself A Try."

// B E S T R O C K S O N G - N O M I N A T I O N // @RecordingAcad L O V E #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/z4TCNnZEPg

— The 1975 (@the1975) November 20, 2019

Nigerian Afro-fusion artist Burna Boy also received his first GRAMMY nomination this year, as his major 2019 album, African Giant, is up for Best World Music Album. He joined in the conversation, retweeting a plethora of fan congrats, as well as his own post, which simply read, "African Giant #GRAMMYs @RecordingAcad!!"

African Giant #GRAMMYs @RecordingAcad ‼️ pic.twitter.com/qlTTb3Lj3A

— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) November 20, 2019

Young rapper YBN Cordae officially joins the ranks of GRAMMY-nominated artists with his two first-ever nods (Best Rap Song and Best New Rap Album) for his 2019 debut LP, The Lost Boy. He shared his excitement with a tearful video of gratitude on his IG stories, as well as several tweets, one of which read, "Bro my DEBUT album got nominated for BEST RAP ALBUM..... this sh*t crazy."

He also tweeted a video of himself from just two years ago, prophesizing more was on the horizon ("This is just the beginning…give me two years"). "Don't let nobody tell you can't do whatever the f**k you put your mind too," this tweet read. Dayum, word.

Dont let nobody tell you cant do whatever the fuck you put your mind too pic.twitter.com/tCp7MntoDm

— The Lost Boy (@YbnCordae) November 20, 2019

While there are far too many nominees to share in this article, let's go out with pivotal U.K. electronic duo The Chemical Brothers, who are up for three GRAMMYs this year, including Best Dance/Electronic Album. They were first nominated (and won) back at the 40th GRAMMY Awards, for their classic 1997 track "Block Rockin' Beats."

"Joyful about today's 3 Grammy @RecordingAcad nominations for Best Dance/Electronic Album (No Geography), Best Dance Recording (Got To Keep On) & Best Music Video (We've Got To Try)! Love & gratitude to all that made it possible! #NoGeography #GRAMMYNoms #GRAMMYs #ChemicalBrothers," they shared.

Joyful about today's 3 Grammy @RecordingAcad nominations for Best Dance/Electronic Album (No Geography), Best Dance Recording (Got To Keep On) & Best Music Video (We've Got To Try)! Love & gratitude to all that made it possible! #NoGeography #GRAMMYNoms #GRAMMYs #ChemicalBrothers pic.twitter.com/j0jKSSyeic

— The Chemical Brothers (@ChemBros) November 20, 2019

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com, our YouTube page, our social channels (follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and our newsletter (sign up below) for the latest on all things 62nd GRAMMY Awards. And don't forget to tune in on Jan. 26, 2020 to catch the Biggest Night In Music to find out who takes home the golden gramophones!

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2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominees List

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Record Of The Year Nominees | 2020 GRAMMY Awards record-year-nominees-revealed-2020-grammy-awards

Record Of The Year Nominees Revealed | 2020 GRAMMY Awards

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Bon Iver, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, H.E.R., Khalid, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lizzo, Post Malone and Swae Lee are the artists in consideration for the momentous award
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Nov 20, 2019 - 5:38 am

The 2020 GRAMMYs are just around the corner, and now the nominations are in for the coveted honor of Record Of The Year. While we'll have to wait until the 62nd GRAMMY Awards air on CBS on Jan. 26 to find out who will win, let's take a look at which records have been nominated for one of the most anticipated GRAMMY Awards each year.

Following last year's expansion of eight nominees to the first four categories (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist), eight songs are in the running for Record Of The Year—"Hey, Ma" by Bon Iver, "bad guy" by Billie Eilish, "7 rings" by Ariana Grande, "Hard Place" by H.E.R., "Talk" by Khalid, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X, featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, "Truth Hurts" Lizzo and "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee.

Record Of The Year is a cross-genre award given to the song's recording artist, the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s). We've included all of these nominees below, along with more info and music video embeds to help you dive a little deeper into the tracks.

"Hey, Ma" - Bon Iver

GRAMMY-winning Wisconsin-bred alt-rock group Bon Iver—consisting of Justin Vernon, Sean Carey, Matthew McCaughan, Michael Lewis, Andrew Fitzpatrick and Jenn Wasner—released their fourth studio album, i,i, on Aug. 9, three years since their last, the GRAMMY-nominated 22, A Million. Ahead of the LP, the group dropped two singles on June 3, "Hey, Ma" and "U (Man Like)." 

The fellow nominees for "Hey, Ma" are BJ Burton, Brad Cook, Chris Messina and Vernon, as producers, Burton, Zach Hansen and Messina as engineers/mixers and Greg Calbi as the mastering engineer.

Bon Iver is also nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Alternative Music Album for i,i. The album is also nominated for Best Recording Package, an award for the art directors of the physical LP. Back at the 54th GRAMMY Awards, the group won the coveted Best New Artist gramophone, as well as Best Alternative Music Album for their self-titled sophomore effort.

"bad guy" - Billie Eilish

Following a massive rise to fame in 2018, first-time nominee Billie Eilish released her highly-anticipated debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? on March 29, along with its fifth single, "bad guy." As with all of her music released so far, the dark-electropop artist's older brother, a fellow first-time nominee FINNEAS produced the hit single, which later spawned a Justin Bieber remix. 

"bad guy" is nominated for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance and WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is up for Album Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (an engineers' award). 

Eilish is also up for the coveted Best New Artist award, bringing her to six total nominations and FINNEAS is up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. Rob Kinelski, who assisted FINNEAS with engineering/mixing and John Greenham, who served as the mastering engineer are nominated for their work on "bad guy." 

Check out the complete 62nd GRAMMYs Awards Nominees List

"7 rings" - Ariana Grande

Earlier this year, at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, pop princess Ariana Grande won her first-ever GRAMMY, for Best Pop Vocal Album for her 2018 No. 1 album Sweetener. 2019 also saw the release of its follow up, her fifth studio album, thank u, next, on Feb. 8, which was preceded with is second viral lead single, "7 rings," on Jan. 18. 

"7 rings" is up for Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, while thank u, next is in the running for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Grande, along with featured artist Social House, is also up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for the non-album single "boyfriend," bringing her to five total nominations this year.

The producers, engineers and mixers of "7 rings" are also nominated for Record Of The Year their work on it: Charles Anderson, Tommy Brown, Michael Foster and Victoria Monet, as the producers, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Billy Hickey and Brendan Morawski, as the engineers/mixers and Randy Merrill as the mastering engineer.

"Hard Place" - H.E.R.

Following her first-ever nominations and two wins at the 61st GRAMMYs in February, R&B songstress/guitarist H.E.R. dropped another emotive track, "Hard Place," on April 26. The I Used To Know Her mixtape/compilation LP followed on Aug. 30, which combined the two EPs sharing the same name into a cohesive album, along with a handful of new songs, including "Hard Place."

The mysterious vocal powerhouse is up for five more GRAMMYs this year: Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for "Hard Place," Album Of The Year for I Used To Know Her, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Could've Been" featuring Bryson Tiller.

GRAMMY-winning hit-maker Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins shares the Record Of The Year nomination as the producer on "Hard Place;" Joseph Hurtado, Jaycen Joshua, Derek Keota and Miki Tsutsumi, as the engineers/mixers and Colin Leonard, as the mastering engineer, are also nominated for their work on the track.

"Talk" - Khalid

Past Best New Artist nominee Khalid released the sophomore follow up to his critically acclaimed, GRAMMY-nominated 2017 debut, American Teen, on April 7. The album, Free Spirit, was led by the hit single "Talk," on Feb. 7, which is currently nominated for Record Of The Year. 

The catchy electro-R&B track was produced by electronic wunderkinds Disclosure and Denis Kosiak, who thus share the Record Of The Year nod. Ingmar Carlson, Jon Castelli, Josh Deguzman, John Kercy, Kosiak, Guy Lawrence (half of sibling duo Disclosure) and Michael Romero, who engineered/mixed the track, and Dale Becker, who was the mastering engineer, are also nominated for their work on "Talk."

"Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X Ft. Billy Ray Cyrus

Rising genre-nonconformist rapper/cowboy Lil Nas X wraps up a monumental debut year with his first-ever GRAMMY nominations, earning six total. His breakout hit, "Old Town Road," featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, is up for Record Of The Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. 

The record-breaking viral hit served as the first official "remix" of the young star's self-released track, in which he reached out to the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer to add a dose of OG country twang, after the original version infamously got pulled from Billboard's country charts. It was produced by Andrew "VoxGod" Bolooki and YoungKio, with Bolooki and Cinco serving as engineers/mixers and Eric Lagg, as mastering engineer—all of whom share the Record Of The Year nod.

Galloping forth with the smash success of "Old Town Road," Lil Nas X dropped his debut EP, 7—featuring the original and Cyrus versions of the hit—on June 21. The EP is up for Album Of The Year, and one of its other hit singles, "Panini" is up for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Lil Nas X is among the eight bright contenders for Best New Artist. 

"Truth Hurts" - Lizzo

Rapper/singer/flautist/twerk queen Lizzo has earned her first-ever GRAMMY nominations this year, rounding up eight total nods. The self-love-affirming bop maker is up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for 2017's "Truth Hurts" alone, as well as the prestigious Best New Artist award. 

As the producers of "Truth Hurts," Ricky Reed and Tele also share the Record Of The Year nod, along with Chris Galland, Manny Marroquin and Ethan Shumaker, the engineers/mixers, and Chris Gehringer, the mastering engineer.

Additionally, her 2019 major label debut (and third LP overall), Cuz I Love You, is up for Album Of The Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album. Two of its singles, "Exactly How I Feel," featuring Gucci Mane, and "Jerome" are nominated as well—for Best R&B Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance, respectively. 

"Sunflower" - Post Malone & Swae Lee

Finally, the eighth song in the running is the hit down-tempo track from Post Malone and Swae Lee, "Sunflower," from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. The two versatile young rap stars add two more nominations to their belt for the 62nd GRAMMYs; "Sunflower" is also up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Louis Bell and Carter Lang share the Record Of The Year nomination as producers, as well as Manny Marroquin, who engineered/mixed the album with Bell.

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com, our YouTube page and our social channels (follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) for the latest on all things 62nd GRAMMY Awards. 

Felly

Felly

Photo: Christian Diaz

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Felly On "Heartstrings," New Album & Icons felly-talks-heartstrings-vulnerability-new-album-learning-icons

Felly Talks "Heartstrings," Vulnerability On New Album & Learning From Icons

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"I think it's all just getting closer to your true self and your true soul, which I think has a godly element to it," the young L.A.-based rapper/singer-songwriter recently said of his musical journey
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 29, 2019 - 2:59 pm

24-year-old Connecticut-born, Los Angeles-based artist Felly is on a roll. Since his first mixtape in 2014, he's released at least one major project a year, culminating in his debut studio album, 2018's Surf Trap. He's gathered a growing fan base along the way, with his laid-back demeanor and experimental approach to surf-rock-drenched, at-times-jazzy, hip-hop.

Today, he dropped a buzzy new single, "Heartstrings," electrified by the otherworldly guitar riffs of 10-time GRAMMY-winner Carlos Santana. The music video was directed by Felly himself—his directorial debut—and shot by Christian Diaz, primarily in the serene desert of Joshua Tree, Calif.  

Ahead of the shimmering new track, the Recording Academy caught up with Felly over the phone to learn more about the magical collaboration with Santana, getting closer to his true self, being human and more.

So you're about to drop your new song "Heartstrings" featuring none other than Carlos Santana. What are you most excited for about sharing this new song?

I'm just ready to put out new music to the people because I have been making all this amazing stuff, and have been listening to it over and over. And my friends have been hearing it, but everybody [else] still references my old stuff. So I want to let people know it's a new day.

I'm just happy to reinvent myself again, and to be an artist and be in this world where I'm able to do something like that. It's kind of a purifying feeling, and it's just fun.

You explore a lot of different sounds across your already-extensive music catalog. How you would summarize your musical journey and evolution through the different projects?

I think it's all just getting closer to your true self and your true soul, which I think has a godly element to it. The closer you can get to being your truest, purest form of yourself, it's a beautiful thing for the world to see, but also for you to feel.

I've released a lot of projects where I've sort of been on that search. People admire that because they can relate to that feeling of searching themselves, and trying to discover themselves. To know that somebody else is going through that same journey is nice. It's comforting, it's inspiring and it helps us to relate to each other. With this release, I just feel like I have gotten a lot closer; with how I've been living my life, and things that I've cut out of my life, and things that I have added into my life.

I'm honing in on myself, so each project kind of shows that. When I listen back to all the projects, I'll be able to identify certain areas where maybe I'm out of pocket, or confused with myself, or who I want to be. But that's all part of it, and is the current state of it, too. Everything grows.

my new record with Carlos Santana is dropping next week. the first single off my new album. Wait on it. @SantanaCarlos pic.twitter.com/irO5SoqQp5

— felly (@fellythekid) October 17, 2019

Going back to "Heartstrings," I'm curious how you connected with Carlos for the song, and what it was like working with him in the studio.

We had been looking for someone to get on that record because we thought it's a super strong record, and I previously hadn't really been collaborative with anybody else. Just out of not being in a position to, not really knowing people, not really having the credibility yet. So getting to the point where people actually want to get in with you, and work with you, that's largely because music's better. It was sort of getting to that time.

So we were searching for someone that could complement the record. And I felt like, unless it came organically, it would sound like a ploy or whatever. And you see a bunch of these ploys that people do to get noticed by a Spotify playlist, by curators, or just kind of to get press. Those all feel very stunt-y to me. I don't want to be one of those artists that just does stunts, because I feel like those are here today and gone tomorrow.

But yeah, when the Carlos thing happened, it was completely organic. He had heard the record through someone at my label sending it to his camp, saying, "Hey, this is Felly's new record, what do you guys think of it?" He loved it and wanted to be a part of it. And he didn't care if I'm not as big as him or any of that stuff. He connected with the actual music; the soul and the personality of the record.

So meeting him and feeling that, and just seeing that come to fruition, reminded me that, you know, real sh*t is still alive. True personal connection, soul connection is still alive. You could get persuaded differently being in L.A., or being in this industry, that it has to be some fake ploy, and you have to do sh*t like buy followers, plays or features.

The idea of buying a feature from a rapper kind of irked me, because I know my fans know me as someone who's real, genuine and upfront. Something from Carlos Santana that came genuinely, and he just so happens to be probably the coolest musician on this earth, and the best person I could imagine getting a feature from. It's sort of like God showing me that I'm right to feel how I felt, and blessing me for having patience and stuff.

What was your biggest takeaway from seeing him at work and collaborating with him?

I think I aged like 60 years of knowledge in just that one session. Honestly. They pretty much gave me the torch, and kind of said, "Hey, you're next up. And in this journey, you're the guy who's going to carry the torch for us." This is surreal, but it was really the type of sh*t that they said to me. And that, combined with different rock star knowledge and them treating me like I'm going to be a rock star, was really cool.

They just treated me as an equal, which is really awesome to see. Santana sees soul value in people and he's just super connected to spirituality, and kind of taught me about those types of things. That if you put energy, compassion and clear intention into your work, it will have that connection.

He did this gesture where he said, "It's like this." And he looked up at the sky, held his hands out, brought it back into his heart, and then extended his hands out to the people in the room. And he kind of took energy from the sky and gave it to the people in the room. And I was like, "Yes, that's exactly what it's like."

And so he taught me about having your mind step out of the way, and to approach things as if you've never heard them, or never done this before, because that's when things can get stale and mundane, or you can kind of let your ego run its way. But if you do the things that he is talking about, you'll create something fresh and new, and people will resonate with that. When we made the record, I think he kind of recognized that, and that's why he wanted to be a part of it.

Felly & Carlos Santana

Felly & Carlos Santana | Photo: Christian Diaz

If I'm not mistaken, this song is going to be the lead single for your upcoming album. I was curious to know what you're going for with this next project as a whole?

Yeah. It's sort of an album about coming home to oneself, you know, feeling oneself in all the true colors and just getting closer to them, cutting out the bullsh*t. It's a very raw project that soul is the carrying factor through it. Soul, emotion and just truth. And it's not trying to be flashy by any means. You'll get some of the flashiness on these singles, maybe. But it's something that can make you feel human again. It's called Mariposa, which means butterfly in Spanish, and is about becoming one's true self, taking a new form.

A butterfly goes through many stages before it can actually branch out and fly, be the beautiful creature that it is. It's metaphoric of the time I'm going through. And I kind of felt I've gone through the cocoon, been in the dark and been in forms that I wasn't sure if I would make it to feel like a true form of myself. Luckily, I do feel that way.

What did it feel like for you working on this project versus the last one? Did it feel sort of cathartic to write these songs?

I wrote half of it when I got back from tour, where I was super depressed and depleted. I had given all my energy to the world and didn't feel any satisfaction from it, and was in a very dark place. And so you have that side of the album. But the past few months I've been working on it, I've been adding the element of, you know, light and love.

And so it has a healthy balance of dark and light, which I think life and the spiritual journey is reminiscent of, especially the metaphor of a butterfly. It kind of has to be in the dark for awhile before it can fly. And so I've been adding those elements of love, and just good energy, light, and just been sort of feeling it more in the past couple of months. I'm still etching away at how I want to make it happen.  It was very hard to write some of these songs at first. It's very vulnerable. But then as it got more under my skin, it got really fun.



View this post on Instagram


faith // rage

A post shared by felly (@felly) on Aug 13, 2019 at 12:03pm PDT

Zooming out a little bit, what made you want to go into music?

I don't know. I think it was in my DNA, in my soul and my upbringing in Connecticut. And you know, losing my father and, because of those combinations, of not really having anyone around me. My mom was dating and my older brothers were out doing their own things, so I had like a lot of alone time and thoughtful time. So that led to, "Okay, how can I make something light of this situation? How can I create something?" And so creation, to me, became the base of my life, and sort of how I can transcend a dark moment.

When you were younger, did you have an artist or someone that you looked up to, like, "Okay, like maybe I can be like them; if they can do it, I can too," or something like that?

Yeah, I really liked to listen to Atmosphere. I mean I had many artists, even local artists, and people that I looked up to. I really liked Rhymesayers, an independent record label in Minnesota [that Atmosphere and other indie rappers are on]. And I thought that was so cool that they were able to like be successful, and do their own things, as just kind of random dudes, white dudes who were just like me. That definitely inspired me.

If you don't have people around like that to kind of pat you on the a** to keep going, and to encourage you that you can do these things, a lot of people quit and lose hope in it. So that support, whether you find it, or it comes to you, it's super important to keep it going.

What is your favorite part about life as an artist? And what do you think is the hardest part?

My favorite part about life as an artist is being on my own schedule and being able to do whatever I want. And not that I take advantage of that, but just that I can feel like my time is mine, and kind of create infinite possibilities out of that. That's an amazing freedom.

The least favorite is—I mean, I think everything comes with a balance, so if something's sh*tty in one way, it's going to be good in another. But I think with that freedom comes a lot of responsibility, or overthinking, or stuff that you can just get caught up in, like comparison. I don't really like flying. That's kind of it.

I like your attitude because it's true. Sometimes something can seem really overwhelming, but then you do it and its like, "Man, I did that!"

Yeah, definitely. I mean, my attitude, it's definitely not always like this. Everyone thinks I'm like a super happy, bright dude, but not all the times for sure. I'm human, just like everyone else.



View this post on Instagram


200 mil+ independent streams siikkkk. thank you to the fans who knock my music and the people who help me get it to them. love u all. next one gold on God.

A post shared by felly (@felly) on Jun 7, 2019 at 1:03pm PDT

We just talked about it a bit, but I wanted to look more at your influences. Who were your favorite artists when you were a teen?

I really liked a lot of independent hip-hop and a lot of indie music. I'm the youngest of five, I have three older brothers and a sister. So they pushed a lot of different genres on to me. That was a good opportunity because I'd get old-school Lil Wayne from my stepbrother, and then I would get Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights, harder rock, Rage Against The Machine, from my other brother. And then my sister would show me acoustic music and stuff like that.

So everyone was sort of fighting for "What is Chris going to dig?" But I also had a fusion of everybody else's stuff. It was a lot of Bob Marley. The first record I ever recorded on was at a Universal theme park. You could pay 15 bucks or whatever to record and mine was "Buffalo Soldier" by Bob Marley. I still wish I could find that record. I was like eight and that was my first time in the booth.

Carlos Santana On Woodstock & The Power Of Music: "These People Wanted The Same Things We Want Today"

ACL 2019

ACL 2019

Photo: Erika Goldring/FilmMagic/Getty Images

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Watch: Relive The Fun At Austin City Limits 2019 relive-fun-austin-city-limits-2019-aces-mahalia-more

Relive The Fun At Austin City Limits 2019 With The Aces, Mahalia & More

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Backstage at one of the most frigid iterations of the Texas capital event, we hid from the chills and chilled with some of your favorite artists
GRAMMYs
Oct 14, 2019 - 6:56 pm

Austin City Limits, the music festival that's been keeping Austin groovy since 2002, wrapped up Weekend Two of its 2019 event last night. As per usual, the big three-day fest brought in a killer lineup of big name and emerging acts across genres and locales. The Recording Academy was there to catch some music and interview a handful of the performers, including Alesia Lani, The Aces, Mahalia and Pink Sweat$.

Backstage at one of the most frigid iterations of the Texas capital event, we also caught up with Denzel Curry, Billie Eilish and her big brother Finneas, King Princess, Orville Peck, IDK, Metric, K.Flay and more.

Relive Austin City Limits 2019

Watch the recap video above to hear from the artists themselves about the electric mood at the fest, and click the links for more great ACL 2019 exclusives. 

Behind The Scenes At Austin City Limits 2019

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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.