Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake

Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

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Watch: Justin Timberlake's 2018 Super Bowl Halftime Performance

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Multiple GRAMMY winner lights up Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII Halftime Show
GRAMMYs
Feb 5, 2018 - 3:06 pm

Justin Timberlake held the attention of television audiences worldwide at the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show in Minneapolis, Minn. on Feb. 4.

Timberlake began his performance by singing his new hit "Filthy" in an intimate club environment. Dancing up a flight of stairs to the top of the stage surrounded by more than 66,000 fans, JT launched into "Rock Your Body" and the lively medley continued through more fun hits, dancing, and special guest performers.

Timberlake's tribute to Minneapolis' own Prince, singing "I Would Die 4 U," was both a key sentimental moment and a perfect example of the challenging comparisons Super Bowl halftime performers face being compared with previous years. Prince himself took the halftime challenge in 2007, dazzling the crowd with "Purple Rain" in the rain, and for many, the excitement of last year's Lady Gaga drone-heavy halftime is still intense.

Closing with his GRAMMY-winning composition "Can't Stop That Feeling!" from the soundtrack to the movie Trolls, JT embodied his own many artistic dimensions as he converted yet another generation of youth to the notion that maybe they should be dancing. Social media trolls have had football fun too, piling on what was a superb professional performance of compelling pop-R&B for a television audience of more than 100 million.

Timberlake's "Filthy" video went up on YouTube about a month ago and now has more than 43 million views. JT begins touring for his Man Of The Woods new album next month.  

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

Justin Timberlake photographed in 2017

Justin Timberlake

(Photo by Vera Anderson/WireImage.com

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Justin Timberlake Releases "Filthy" Music Video

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Get a first listen to new music from the GRAMMY winner with this futuristic video
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jan 5, 2018 - 5:52 pm

Looking like a young Steve Jobs appearing at a futuristic technology conference, GRAMMY winner Justin Timberlake staged a proof-of-concept demo for a dancing robot in the first release from his upcoming Feb. 2 album, Man Of The Woods, "Filthy."

As if "Filthy" wasn't enough, JT also released the 16-song track list for the full album, revealing other titles such as "Midnight Summer Jam," "High, Higher" and "The Hard Stuff." The list, posted via Instagram includes some mysterious initials — A.K., who will feature on "Morning Light" and C.S., who will feature on "Say Something."

MOTW. Link in bio.

A post shared by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on

Billboard reports three more videos will drop weekly beginning Jan. 18, followed by the album drop just two days before Timberlake performs half time at the Super Bowl. Sounds like robot-assisted science fiction in itself. How much of his mechanically "Filthy" video stage show will he perform live?

Justin Timberlake Announces New 'Man Of The Woods' Album

MySpace

Photo: Erik Freeland/Corbis

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MySpace Claims To Have Lost Years Of User-Uploaded Music

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"We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your backup copies," the site shared in a message
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Mar 18, 2019 - 4:09 pm

People old enough to remember the earliest days of social media will recall a time when networking platform MySpace was the top destination on the Internet, even bigger than Facebook and Google. In fact, there once was a thing called the "MySpace Generation," which helped launch the careers of artists including Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys.

Indeed, for a time, MySpace operated as a platform for blossoming musicians to upload songs, where fans could then go and organically discover them, minus any industry middlemen. But now, in a sad erasure of digital memories, a MySpace "server migration" has resulted in a massive, irrecoverable data loss.

"As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace," the site informed its users with a banner message on March 18, as reported by The Guardian. "We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your backup copies. If you would like more information, please contact our data protection officer."

Rumors and reports surrounding uploads that were no longer available have been circulating for more than a year, and Ars Technica summarized some of the support messages that assisted in letting users know whether their "content is no longer available and cannot be retrieved."

Despite its arguable irrelevance in today's social-media and music-discovery sphere, MySpace was at one point home to more than 14 million musicians, who uploaded more than 50 million tracks, all of which has been lost. (Unless they backed up their work, which sincerely we hope that they did.)

Report: What Engages Social Media Users Most? Music

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

Photo: Robyn Beck /AFP/Getty Images

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Gladys Knight Will Sing Super Bowl National Anthem To "Bring Us All Together"

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Knight prays her performance will lift hearts to a "higher place"
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jan 18, 2019 - 12:08 pm

On Jan. 17, the NFL and Gladys Knight announced that the iconic GRAMMY winner will sing the National Anthem on Feb. 3 in her hometown of Atlanta before the Super Bowl LIII kickoff. 

"I pray that this National Anthem will bring us all together in a way never before witnessed," she said, "and we can move forward and untangle these truths which mean so much to all of us." 

"I am here today and on Sunday, Feb. 3 to give the Anthem back its voice, to stand for that historic choice of words," Knight continued in an extensive statement, "the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life."

Her position regarding the controversy that discouraged many other artists from performing at this year's Super Bowl is that the Anthem represents a "higher place" we are trying to reach, symbolizing national unity.

Knight also observed how her 1973 GRAMMY-winning hit, "Midnight Train To Georgia," helped launch her career, and how the Super Bowl is on its way to that very state. It's a personal coming-home moment for Knight that should also stand for reaffirming the meaning of the Anthem itself.

Maroon 5 was previously confirmed to perform at the haltime show with special guests Big Boi and Travis Scott. Super Bowl LIII will be broadcast on CBS on Feb. 3.

Big Boi & Travis Scott Confirmed As Special Guests For Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show

Wu-Tang Clan

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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NYC Council Approves Wu-Tang Clan And Notorious B.I.G. Street Names

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NYC is honoring rap history by voting to rename two streets after the iconic rappers
Phillip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 28, 2018 - 2:05 pm

Notorious B.I.G. and the Wu-Tang Clan are steps closer to becoming a permanent part of New York City, their hometown and one of the birthplaces of hip-hop.

The New York City council has unanimously voted to have a Booklyn street become Christopher Wallace Way (after Biggie) and a Staten Island street become Wu-Tang Clan District. The measures are still pending Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature.

"As soon as you put a name on a street sign, you say something about the public importance of that individual," University of Tenn. Geography Professor Derek Alderman told NPR. "Hip-hop deserves that respect."

Brooklyn Community Board 2 first approved the re-naming petition 33-1 in November.

NYC resident LeRoy McCarthy, who led the naming initiatives for both streets, thinks naming a street after Biggie symbolizes something greater than the rapper. "It symbolizes a culture. It symbolizes a borough. It symbolizes a people, and hip-hop is worldwide,” he told Rolling Stone.

The council also voted to name a street after Woody Guthrie in Coney Island, where the iconic folk singer lived in the 1940s.

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The block expected to become Christopher Wallace Way is on St. James Place between Fulton Street and Gates Avenue where B.I.G. actually grew up. Wu-Tang Clan District will be centered on the intersection of Vanderbilt Avenue and Targee Street, the location of Sobel Court Park, according to Rolling Stone.

The news of the council passing the measures came shortly after Chuck D was announced as chairman of the celebrity board for the Universal Hip-Hop Museum to open in Brooklyn in 2022. 

Universal Hip-Hop Museum Names Chuck D Celebrity Board Chair