Back when she was six or seven, Grace Kelly was Grace Chung — and every Friday night, her father would surprise her with another cinematic classic. In one, she saw who she'd become.

"We would go to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts, and then we would go to Blockbuster right after and we'd pick out a DVD for that night," Kelly — not a stage name, but her government — tells GRAMMY.com. "So, he picked out High Society one night, and that's the first time I saw Princess Grace Kelly in a movie."

The 1956 musical rom-com was Kelly's last before she became Princess of Monaco at 26. The saxophonist was floored. "I was so in love with her — and just her beauty, her elegance," she adds, aglow. So, I went to kindergarten the next day and I told my teachers, 'I'm Princess Grace Kelly,' and I would sign my name like that."

In High Society, the future Princess memorably sang Cole Porter's "True Love." Today, at 31, Kelly took up her own scepter of sorts. She sings "True Love" on Grace Kelly With Strings: At The Movies, her new album of cinematic bangers from across the decades.

Out March 1, At the Movies features selections from Kelly's own lifetime, like Pirates of the Caribbean and Mission: Impossible; near it, like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Back to the Future; and her parents' generation, like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

What ties it all together is Kelly's sparkling charisma, and contributions from a consortium of heavy hitters: producer Bryan Carter, arrangers Charlie Rosen and Steven Feifke, special guests in trumpeter Sean Jones and guitarist Cory Wong.

Whether or not you're a jazz or film buff, there's plenty to glean from the following conversation with Kelly about the movies, social media, keeping her cool amid logistical insanity, and much more.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

E.T., Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission: Impossible — your album reflects the millennial cinematic canon.

Right? I mean, there's so many memories there.

And Bryan Carter — who co-arranged [the play] Some Like It Hot with Charlie Rosen and produced this album — we are both such Disney kids. Working on this album, we were both so excited. Because these movies, like you said, hold a really special place in our hearts.

I guess I didn't really realize that, but for a lot of the cuts, it's like going down a millennial memory lane. We had a blast just sending memes of Back to the Future and working on the music.

Tell me more about your relationship with these tunes.

It was very hard to pick the songs, because there are so many great songs from the cinema. ut I did pick ones that either had a very personal touch to me. For example, "True Love" is the only song that Princess Grace Kelly sang on screen [in 1956's High Society]. So, we covered that one; it's a beautiful Cole Porter song.

And then a song like "Soul Bossa Nova" — I mean, I love Austin Powers, and I'm also a really big fan of Quincy Jones. So I was like, That's going to be a bop. And then Charlie Rosen arranged that one.

Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies — so I was like, "Well, we have to do 'The Power of Love.'" I've been really lucky to join Huey Lewis on stage a couple of times and he's been a supporter of mine. So, that felt extra special, to pick that one.

And, again, I'm such a Disney kid, and Bryan is as well. So, that was tough because, I mean, the Disney medley's already 15 minutes long. We had to cut two songs from the original one, because it would've been, like, 25 minutes.

When did it become clear that this was the kind of project you wanted to pursue?

I've actually had this idea in the back of my head for a while. I really wanted to do a project covering some of my favorite movie music.

This idea was born years ago when I was talking to a great radio personality, Ron Della Chiesa. He said, "There are so many great songs from movies, and you've got the name Grace Kelly." He didn't know my love for the princess, but of course, when he was even bringing up this idea, I was like, "Yeah, I know Grace Kelly, and I love Grace Kelly."

And the album basically came to be because I was approached by the Barclay Theater in Irvine, California, to put on a debut performance of something that I've never performed before. So that was a great opportunity to be like, "Well, I have this idea about presenting movie music" — and they loved it.

I've also always wanted to do an album that featured strings. One of my favorite jazz albums of all time is Charlie Parker With Strings; it was a really important album for me in my development of playing the saxophone.

So, we brought those two concepts together, the movie music and then strings — which I feel like fits so perfectly musically. And that was the impetus for creating the album.

Charlie Parker with Strings is a masterpiece, and it's so accessible. I feel like sometimes there's this perception of Bird where it's like, "The recordings are too rough," or "I respect it more than I listen to it." But that's just plain beautiful music.

I know what you mean. Because when people say a similar thing to me about bebop or jazz, I tell them, "OK, but listen, this album is, it could be a good entry point for some people who don't feel like they can listen to jazz, because it's just so beautiful."

And it's interesting that at the time when he released it, some of the people were saying it's too much of a commercial project, the jazz community did not embrace it in the way that I feel like we talk about it and embrace it now. Because it's just such a piece of art. It's so beautiful.

At what point did it feel like the project was truly taking shape?

I think when we had the arrangements in hand. Bryan Carter brought on an incredible cast of young arrangers — GRAMMY- and Tony-winning arrangers.

Charlie Rosen created a couple of charts for us — Steven Feifke, Kyle Gordon, a few recent graduates from the Juilliard School of Music who are doing amazing stuff.

So, I think it started to come really clearly into the picture for me when I was having conversations with each arranger, and Bryan figured out which songs each arranger would take on, and what would fit best stylistically.

The next step of that was giving my ideas of what I thought musically should be highlighted. So, I made little videos for each arranger, and I would play my saxophone part, or I would play something on the keys, and then they'd integrate those ideas into the arrangement. 

And then, Bryan and I co-arranged the Disney medley. That was just the moment that I was like, Oh my gosh.

Getting even the MIDI files back, and listening to the arrangement, it was like, Holy crap, this is going to be epic.

Can you expound on the importance of Bryan and Steven, and anybody else who was critical to getting this project going?

As our producer — and he arranged a couple of the songs as well — Bryan has really brought this record to new heights. I mean, his ears, his knowledge, his taste is just of the highest caliber — and he will not quit until something is right.

He had spent so many hours even on just one measure of the recording and doing post-production on it. I think him and our mixing and mastering team member, Dave Darlington, who's multi GRAMMY-winning — must have spent at least five full-day sessions just going in and every detail. So, he has absolutely just made this album what it is and the quality of what it is.

All along the way, too, if I was having trouble recording my part, we'd jump onto Zoom sessions and he'd be coaching me through some of the vocal production stuff, getting the best takes out of me. He flew in to L.A. to do our three days, our performance and studio work, and then took a red-eye the next night to be a special guest on Seth Meyers' late night show playing drums.

Our associate producer, Kyle Gordon, also was just so helpful in the studio working with us, and brought a couple of really magical arrangements to the table. The other person who is just such an MVP is Eli Bishop, our co-producer. Eli put together the entire string section for the album. And he recorded, I think, more than a thousand tracks of himself playing violin, viola, cello, guitar, mandolin.

I mean, he plays everything. And he really took the project from the few songs that we were able to record live with the 15 piece string section, he then went home and then did post-production and turned that into a symphony orchestra version with his post-production on it.

**Can you talk about the moment where you realized, Holy crap, we did it?**

Well, to be honest with you, when we initially did the first recording session, it was such a crazy time. We did the live debut performance at the Barclays Theater in Irvine, California on, I think it was a Thursday or a Friday night.

The next day, we were in the studio recording it. And the afternoon before the live show, we were rehearsing it. And we only had those three days with Bryan because he flew in for that, and he was working on the "Some Like it Hot" Broadway musical.

It was putting people through it. It was a crazy vigorous schedule, and we had so much music to get through.

But that was a huge, huge win for us to then do the show, go into the studio. And then it took about a year — not a consecutive year — but we were working on the post-production for this album after that initial session, we're chipping away at it. And we had some fantastic special guests in Sean Jones and Cory Wong: they recorded their parts as finishing touches.

When I finally had the final master recordings, and I was able to listen to the album from top down in the car, I think that was the moment that it was like, holy s—, this sounds incredible. 

I remember FaceTiming Bryan that day, when we sent in our final masters. That moment was just so exciting. We'd call each other and just talk about how proud of the album we were.

**How do you keep your head on straight amid such intensity? The jazz world's extremely intense as it is.
**
I would say that deadlines are a frenemy, because thank goodness we had it. That would allow us to just keep doing the next steps and keep getting the next recording in.

I was also going through a move in Los Angeles, and then I was tracking during the day and moving boxes at night, and it was just this very chaotic time. I mean, it's already so busy working on an album, but I wasn't even settled in a place.

But even then I was like, I've got to get this stuff done. I got to get my parts done. And there's something that a deadline just kind of makes you get at it. There was certainly a lot of relief on the other end of being like, Wow, we can breathe and we got it done.

But it's definitely a period of pushing and of stress. And I don't think stress is not always bad. I think it's very essential.

There were moments when we actually had to push back deadlines of things because our distributor wanted certain files and things done, and the music just wasn't there. And I did not want to sacrifice the quality of our music.

Ultimately, we were like, "We've worked so hard on this. It is like 99.5% there. Let's just get it right."

Before we go: you're on the most visible, social media-fueled end of jazz, where the lines between musicians and "content creators" are blurred. How do you negotiate that territory?

I think of creating content as a different bucket than making an album of this quality. I think it is a really powerful tool, to be able to have social media to connect to my fans and to get the word out.

But I also see it for what it is. I like to make content that will be able to reach more people. There's different ways to approach social media, whether it's just to update your fans or are you going for a growth type of trajectory.

And there's always going to be the trolls, getting to the psychological side of it. There's always going to be the haters. Luckily, there are a lot of supporters, and there's a lot of love as well.

It can be really tough. I've had plenty of challenges of getting the haters out of my head, and I try and disassociate a bit from Grace Kelly and go a little bit more third party with it, especially when I'm having a hard time with the hate and the comments, and be like, OK, let me step away. I'm going to turn off all the devices. How do I really feel about this? And am I proud of the music that I'm creating?

And remembering that for every hater, there's so many more supporters and people who are just wanting to see me continue on my path and have said really supportive things.

So, it's a fine balance, but I also try to keep enough time to not be online.So I've been getting a lot better at just kind of spending only a certain amount of time on socials or working on my email to fans.

And then otherwise just turning off, going for a hike, being with friends, working on music, so that it doesn't feel like it's just all-encompassing — a never-ending series of notifications.

11 Essential Compositions & Arrangements By Steven Feifke, The Youngest GRAMMY Winner For Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

Seventeen is more than just a K-pop group; it's a musical phenomenon that challenges conventions and redefines what it means to be a star in the South Korean music scene. Formed in 2015, the group consists of 13 members who are divided into vocal, hip-hop, and performance sub-units.

S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, Dk, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino have garnered a growing and dedicated global fandom known as Carats, who closely follow their every move. For the group, their fans are a significant part of their growth.

"We're definitely more confident than before through our growth. The growth of our Carats and the amount of support that they show us just gives us so much confidence", member Joshua told GRAMMY.com in 2022.

The self-produced group has a clear philosophy: Create relevant and innovative music that resonates. They don't adhere to stereotypes or definitions, but constantly strive to evolve and explore new sonic territories. This creative and authentic approach has been an integral part of the group's enduring success.

Seventeen wrapped up 2023 with over 16 million albums sold. On April 29, they'll release 17 Is Right Here, a compilation of some of their most impactful songs. For those looking to dive into the world of Seventeen, here are five essential songs to kickstart this exciting musical journey.

"Don't Wanna Cry" (2017)

The lead single from the mini album Al1, "Don't Wanna Cry" details the struggle of dealing with pain and loss. The track delves into the complex feelings of no longer having a loved one around, while holding onto the hope that they might return.

"Don't Wanna Cry" is a striking example of the group's openness and vulnerability with their fans. The song's raw emotions are deeply personal and relatable, depicting a struggle with pain and loss.

"To You" (2021)

The lively and heartwarming track "To You," from the ninth mini album Attacca, is a beautiful reflection on love and gratitude. It's the kind of song that inspires you to throw your arms open wide, sing out loud, and feel every word with your eyes closed.

With its repeated phrase of "I always need you," the song emphasizes the comfort of having someone dependable in your life. "To You" exemplifies Seventeen's remarkable ability to seamlessly combine emotional depth with infectious dance rhythms, showcasing their talent for creating simultaneously heartfelt and energetic tracks.

"Hot" (2022)

A song to enjoy not just in the summer, but on any day of the year, "Hot" was released in 2022 as part of the album Face the Sun.

Through metaphors involving fire and the sun, the group repeatedly chants the word "Hot" reflecting a sense of confidence and the freedom to live passionately, while also encouraging listeners to express themselves boldly without fear. 

Reflecting the group's identity, "Hot" embraces themes of confidence, passion, and fearless self-expression — qualities that resonate with the group's image and message.

"Super" (2023)

An authentic anthem about unity, "Super" celebrates the power of teamwork and mutual support, as highlighted by the iconic chorus "I love my team, I love my crew." "Super" exemplifies how Seventeen functions as one cohesive group despite its numerous members, emphasizing their strong bond and collective spirit.

The song's title — a reference to Son Goku (손오공) from the famous anime "Dragon Ball" — is featured on the album FML, which in sold over 6.4 million copies in 2023 according to Pledis Entertainment, earning the title of the world's best-selling album.

"God of Music" (2023)

An anthem to the universal language of music and its remarkable ability to forge connections across continents, "God of Music," from Seventeen's 11th mini album, Seventeenth Heaven, is a track that moves you to dance from the very first beat.

The group emphasizes how music breaks down barriers, turning strangers into friends and uplifting people worldwide, regardless of language differences. In their accompanying music video, the members conclude with a heartfelt message: Music is a force that brings people together.

SEVENTEEN Performs A High-Octane Version Of "VERY NICE" | Press Play At Home

Upon first impression, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine’s got a wildly endearing trait: he laughs even when something’s not explicitly funny. Even through Zoom, the man most of us know for aching, desolate folk songs will give you a tremendous lift.

"I like to joke around and stuff with my friends," the beardy and serene Beam tells GRAMMY.com — those friends including fellow mellow 2000s favorites, like Andrew Bird and Calexico. "Honestly, it's harder to be serious than it is to joke around most of my friends."

That’s partly what spurred the four-time GRAMMY nominee to make the shimmering, whimsical Light Verse. While it follows 2023’s soundtrack to the documentary Who Can See Forever, and 2019’s Calexico collaboration Years to Born, in relatively short order, it’s still the first proper Iron & Wine album since 2017’s Beast Epic.

Getting to the space to write waggish songs like "Anyone’s Game" ("First they kiss their lucky dice and then they dig themselves a grave/ They do this until it’s killing them to try") wasn’t easy. In conversation, Beam mentions "the pandemic that put me on my ear." In press materials, he expanded on exactly how it did.

"While so many artists, fortunately, found inspiration in the chaos, I was the opposite and withered with the constant background noise of uncertainty and fear," Beam wrote. "The last thing I wanted to write about was COVID."

"And yet, every moment I sat with my pen," he continued, "it lingered around the edges and wouldn’t leave. I struggled to focus until I gave up, and this lasted for over two years."

Thankfully, a Memphis session with singer/songwriter Lori McKenna relaxed his "creative muscles" and a series of tours and collaborations loosened him up even more. Beam assembled a dream team of musicians in Laurel Canyon, and the rest is history — Light Verse is a sumptuous delight.

Read on for how it came to be — and much more.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Light Verse is the first non-collaborative Iron & Wine album since 2017. I imagine there’s sometimes pressure to just put music out for the sake of having it out. Whatever the case, I appreciate that you put time and thought into it.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just like making records with other people. You can only smell your own breath so long. I enjoy putting out records, but I feel like I grow more as a musician and person by working with other people. So, I’ll probably be doing more and more of that.

I don’t feel a whole lot of pressure, one way or the other. Maybe I’m just deaf and those things are screaming at me. But I just don’t listen.

What pressures have you faced in the music industry?

Oh, there are certainly lots of pressures. One is, I should probably be on top of my social media game, but I just can't seem to engage with it. I don’t know. That's how people make their entire careers these days, but I can't find a way to sustain it.

I can't think of a way that I could, because I definitely go through days without picking up my phone at all, so I just can't. I think if I could figure out a way to make it fun, I would do it.

What do you do with the time most people spend on their screens?

Playing guitar, or I do a lot of painting. I’m not saying I never pick up my phone, but I don't think about what could I share about my breakfast to the world, I just don't think about it. I'm private.

What was the germ of the concept behind Light Verse?

I don't really usually go in with a specific idea in mind. I just like to stack the deck with people that I like to play with, or that I like what they do. And so just see what happens, throwing a bunch of ingredients that you like individually, and just seeing if it makes a soup that you like.

My idea was to go in with these folks from L.A. that I had met along the way. David Garza, I'd been wanting to play with for a long time. I'd met Tyler Chester, who plays keys, when he was playing with Andrew Bird. Griffin Goldsmith plays with Dawes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The songs were all developed. They were a bit lighter than some of the fare that I've put out before, far as just silly rhymes. They're a little more off the cuff.

I'm kinda mining the territory of the early '70s, where the folk writers were playing with jazz musicians. It just becomes a little more orchestra, or however you want to describe it. Not quite so straightforward.

But I had these off-kilter tunes and I got an off-kilter, talented band from LA, and I was just going to see what happened. And this is what happened.

Naturally, my mind goes to Joni Mitchell playing with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. What are your touchstones?

Well, those Van records — Astral Weeks and stuff. All the stuff in that time when people started playing cluster-y chords. I love that music. It’s so expressive. Ron Carter playing with Roberta Flack, even. They’re gospel-blues sorts of tunes, but they’re also folky [in their] structures and melodies.

Are you a super technically proficient guitarist? Can you play those crazy chords?

[Grins] I wouldn’t be able to tell you what chord it was, but I might be able to get my hand in the shape. I don’t read music. I just learned to play by ear, but I like to play guitar a lot, so I end up stumbling on most stuff.

I also fool around with a lot of open tunings, so you end up with some cluster-y, bizarre stuff with that, for sure.

Even just paying attention to Brian Wilson — he’s not a guitarist, but I feel like his work can teach guitarists a lot about voice leading and stuff.

Definitely. A lot of those jazz voices have been absorbed by pop music. You can hear Bill Evans all over pop music, especially in the ‘90s.

**Can you take readers through the orchestration on Light Verse? It’s so shimmery and rich and unconventional.**

Thanks. Yeah, we were borrowing from some of those jazz ensembles we’re talking about, and also Brazilian music.

Honestly, that Gal Costa tune, "Baby" — it’s the most famous one — it’s my spirit animal for this record. Just between the strings and the way the guitars and rhythm section work — the sparse way it comes and goes.

We approached it fairly intuitively. But I do feel like Paul Cartwright, who did a lot of those strings and charts and stuff, played a huge role as far as the identity of this record. Outside of the lyrics and the forms and stuff, just the way that he interpreted in this really expressive way. His charts and stuff were really great — and a lot of it's him playing, stacking stuff on his own. He's really, really talented.

He also grew up in Bakersfield, and since the violin is strung the way a mandolin is, he rocks a mean mandolin. He had all these different bass mandocellos and all this stuff. He was just, "What are we working on now? Hand me that thing," and just did all kinds of coloring. It's great.

Can you talk about approaching your work with more whimsy and color?

I feel like for some reason, for the longest time when I sat down to write a song, it was a time to say what I mean. And so when it came time to write a song, it ended up being really somber. Some of it is acidic, but somber for the most part.

Whereas for this one, I was just looking for more balance. Maybe I'm just too old to be impressed by that stuff, so I like balance — something that can resonate on something that people recognize but also is fun at the same time. 

You can embrace both things at one time, that life is hard and also silly. And so that was the MO going into this one, and a lot of the songs that I chose to record were because they had both of those things going on at one time.

You’re a three-dimensional artist, but marketing can flatten musicians. Growing up with Iron & Wine, it tended to be packaged as "chill music for rainy days" or some such. Primary colors.

We all do that. We always try to define something. You know what I mean? You want to understand it, and by understanding, control it and define it.

All artists deal with that, for sure. It's frustrating when you want to be recognized. You want them to pay attention to other things, but it's also that we just want to be appreciated. Artists want to be appreciated for every little gesture we make, and it's not realistic. We do our best.

I feel like if you work hard, hopefully the stars will align and people will appreciate what you do.

What do you remember about the atmosphere of the music industry, back when big songs I don’t need to name came out?

You mean the vampire song and stuff?

Yeah.

It's definitely a lot different. The internet upended everything. I squeezed and slipped in the door just as the door was closing on the closed circuit of records and stuff.

It was more of a monoculture, where everyone was having the same conversation about the same groups of musicians. Now, [you can have] the entire history of recorded music at any moment of the day. It's hard to have the same conversation about things. That's been a big difference.

When you hang out and collaborate with friends like Andrew Bird, is there ever a sense of "We survived, we’re the class of 2000-whatever"?

Well, for one thing, it's hard to realize that you've been making music that long. Most bands don't even last that long. It's insane.

But it's also, I just feel really blessed. Maybe it's because I never studied music — my career feels like a fluke. I still feel blessed that people are still interested, blessed that I'm able to do this. I never thought it was in the cards, and so I just feel really lucky.

Sam Beam of Iron & Wine. Photo: Kim Black

I feel like one route to longevity is self-containment. Namely, self-production, which you’ve done forever. Where are you at with that journey?

I like autonomy. I see the musicians who are also producers in their own right, so usually I have a room full of producers and I don't end up using them. We all think everyone should get a producer credit, but I take it because I'm selfish.

But I like having the autonomy. That's why I still release on an independent record label. I like steering the boat. We're all steering around the same fog, but I don't like to have someone else to bitch about. I just bitch about myself.

It releases you from those moments where it’s like, "Sam, sales are down. We’ve got to get you in with Danger Mouse," or something.

Well, hell, man, I’d do that. But I know what you mean. The idea committees I imagine for most artists are really brutal.

Trend-wise, there’s pressure to chase trains that can lead to all music sounding the same.

The things that you're offered, really teach you a lot about what you're in it for. Or it's also after a while, your reasons for doing it change. I don't fault people for reaching for the ring, but I also feel like I was lucky in the sense that I was just doing it for fun.

And all the songs that have been popular were a surprise to me. The songs of mine that were embraced in a way were a surprise. I felt like there were others that might've been more popular or something, or I would've chosen to promote.

So, the lesson I learned is you have no idea. Just put your best into each one and see what happens because you really can't predict what's going to happen. In that sense, if you're trying to be popular or record something that sticks, you're trying to emulate something that's proven to be popular. And for me, that seemed like a recipe for disaster from the beginning.

I feel like if you wrote a really great song in the ‘90s or 2000s, it’d get heard. Not so much in 2024. You need to take it to market and bother everybody about it.

Yeah, it's a tricky thing. The internet has been wonderful as far as we have access to all kinds of stuff that we didn't have access to before, but it just also disperses all the attention. It's hard. There's a lot of great music happening right now — but like you say, you might never know.

What are you checking out lately that you’re really connecting with? Past or present.

I heard a great tune the other day by this woman named Barbara Keith, "Detroit or Buffalo," from 1972. Obviously not contemporary, but it was incredible. I'd never heard it before. I'm checking out stuff, trying to keep up. It's hard.

What do you like that would make people say, "Sam Beam likes that?"

Oh, in my case, it’s all over the place. I’m not real proprietorial with music. It’s something to experience. I’m not so much into dance music, but I like a lot of really intense electronic music. That might be surprising. Who knows?

Everything’s out there for the taking. It’s the universal buffet.

I think everyone can recognize a musical omnivore, and then not be surprised.

Anything else about Light Verse you’re raring to talk about?

We did get to sing with Fiona Apple, which was really a treat. That was unexpected, but a very welcome experience. And she turned a regular song into an incredible duet, which was really a surprise and a blessing.

What was it like working with Fiona?

I never actually met her. Because of the way technology works these days, she was in a whole other state and sent us the track. But a lot of the people that were playing and a lot of people in the room; we share band members like Sebastian Steinberg, and David Garza plays with her a lot too.

One of the reasons that I recorded there in LA with Dave Way is because they had made their last few records with Dave, and Sebastian had been in my ear about, "You got to go record Dave." And it turns out he was right. It was great. She had a lot of friends in the room, so it wasn't too hard to convince her.

Beirut's Zach Condon Lost His Sense Of Self — Then Found It Within A Church Organ

Twenty-six-year-old rapper Anycia truly lives in the present. The Atlanta-born artist describes her most viral hits as if they were everyday experiences — she's simply going out of town on "BRB" and mad at a partner in "Back Outside" featuring Latto. 

Despite her calm demeanor and cadence, Anycia is a self-proclaimed "firecracker" and credits her success to her long-held confidence. 

"I [command] any room I walk in, I like to introduce myself first — you never have to worry about me walking into the room and not speaking," Anycia tells GRAMMY.com. "I speak, I yell, I twerk, I do the whole nine," adding, "I see tweets all the time [saying] ‘I like Anycia because she doesn’t rap about her private parts’... are y’all not listening?" 

With authenticity as her cornerstone, Anycia's genuine nature and versatile sound appeal broadly. On her recently released sophomore LP, Princess Pop That, Anycia's playful personality, unique vocal style and skillful flow are on full display. Over 14 tracks, Anycia keeps her usual relaxed delivery while experimenting with different beats from New Orleans, New York, California, and of course, Georgia. 

"I'm learning to be myself in different elements. I'm starting to take my sound and make it adapt to other beats and genres," she says. "But this whole album is definitely a little showing of me dibbling and dabbling.

The rising hip-hop star gained traction in June 2023 with her sultry single, "So What," which samples the song of the same name by Georgia natives Field Mob and Ciara. When Anycia dropped the snippet on her Instagram, she only had a "GoPro and a dream." Today, she has millions of views on her music videos, collaborations with artists like Flo Milli, and a critically acclaimed EP, Extra. On April 26, she'll release her debut album, Princess Pop That, featuring Cash Cobain, Luh Tyler, Kenny Beats, Karrahbooo and others. 

Ahead of the release of Princess Pop That, Anycia spoke with GRAMMY.com about her influences, maintaining individuality, working with female rappers, and using her music as a therapeutic outlet.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Where did the title Princess Pop That come from?

Princess Pop That is my little alter ego, and my Twitter and finsta name. It's kind of like a Sasha Fierce/Beyoncé type of situation. 

The cover of your album gives early 2000 vibes. Is that where you draw most of your inspiration from?

Yeah. My everyday playlist is literally early 2000s music. I even still listen to [music] from the '70s – I just like old music! 

My mom is a big influence on a lot of the music that I like. She had me when she was like 19, 20. She's a Cali girl and has great taste in music. I grew up on everything and I feel like a lot of the stuff that I'm doing, you can kind of see that influence.

I grew up on Usher, Cherish, 112, Jagged Edge, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Teena Marie, Luther Vandross and Sam Cooke. Usher was my first concert, ever and actually my last concert — I went to his residency in Vegas with my mom. That's like our thing.

I know you had your hand in many different professions — including barbering and working at a daycare — how did you get into rapping?

I always liked music, but [thought] girl, we need some money right now. Rapping and music is cool, but I always had one foot in and one foot out. When I was [working] my jobs, it was more this is what I need to be doing right now — but I wasn't happy. 

It got to a point where I noticed that I was doing all these things, and it worked but it wasn't working for me. I didn't want to get caught up; I didn't want to be stuck doing something just because it works. I wanted to do something that I actually love to do. I decided to quit both jobs because I was literally making me miserable. 

I feel like that's what happened with a lot of our parents — they lose focus of their actual goals or what they actually wanted to do, and they get so caught up in what works in the moment. One thing about me, if I don't like something I'm done. I don't care how much money I put into it, if I'm not happy and it doesn’t feed me spiritually and mentally I'm not doing it. Right after [I quit] I was in the studio back-to-back making music. It eventually paid off.

Walk us through your music making process. 

A blunt, a little Don Julio Reposado, a space heater because I’m anemic. Eating some tacos and chicken wings or whatever I’m feeling at the moment. It’s not that deep to me, I like to be surrounded by good energy in the studio. 

People like to say female rappers aren’t welcoming or don’t like to work with each other. You’re clearly debunking this myth with songs like "Back Outside" featuring Latto and "Splash Brothers'' featuring Karrahbooo. What was it like working with them and how did these collaborations come about? 

Karrahbooo and I were already friends before we started rapping. It was harder for people to get us to do music because when we were around each other we weren't like, "Oh we need to do a song together." We had a friendship. 

Working with Latto, we didn't collab on that song in the studio. I did the song myself after being really upset at a man. I made the song just venting. I didn't even think that I was ever gonna put that song out, honestly. Latto ended up hitting me up within a week's span just giving me my flowers and telling me she wanted to do a song [together]. I ended up sending her "Back Outside" because I felt like she would eat [it up] and she did just that. 

She did! Are there any other female rappers you’d like to work with?

I really want to work with Cardi B — I love her! I'm also looking forward to collaborating with GloRilla. 

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Many female rappers come into the industry and feel like they have to start changing themself to fit a certain aesthetic or archetype. However, everything about you seems super unique — from your voice to your style and appearance. How do you maintain your individuality? 

Being yourself is literally the easiest job ever. When you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing, you're being genuine while you're doing it and you’re just being 110 percent authentically yourself — I feel like everything works out for you perfectly fine. 

I haven't had the urge to change anything or do anything different. The reason people started liking me was because I was being myself. Even if it wasn't accepted, I'm not going to stop being myself. I do what works for me and I feel like everybody should just do what works for them and not what works for the people outside of them. 

That's what creates discomfort for yourself, that’s how you become a depressed artist — trying to please everybody [but] yourself. I feel like people lose sight of that fact. Aside from this being a job or a career for me now, it’s still my outlet and a way I express myself;  it's still my form of art. I will never let anybody take that from me. It's intimate for me. 

Speaking of intimacy, what was the inspiration behind "Nene’s Prayer"? I want to know who was playing with you.

I was just having a little therapy session in the booth and everyone ended up liking it. Instead of getting mad, flipping out and wanting to go to jail I just put in a song. Even though I said some messed up things in the song, it’s better than me doing those messed up things. 

Have you ever written a lyric or song that you felt went too far or was too personal?

Nope. A lot of the [topics] that I [rap about] is just stuff girls really want to say, but don't have the courage to say. But me, I don’t give a damn! If it resonates with you then it does, and if it doesn't — listen to somebody else. 

Exactly! What advice would you give to upcoming artists trying to get noticed or have that one song that pops?

If you got something that you want to put out into the world, you just have to have that confidence for yourself, and you have to do it for you and not for other people. I feel like people make music and do certain things for other people. That's why [their song] doesn't do what it needs to do because it’s a perspective of what other people want, rather than doing [a song] that you're comfortable with and what you like.

How do you want people to feel after listening to ‘Princess Pop That?’

I just want the girls, and even the boys, to get in their bag. Regardless of how you went into listening to the album, I want you to leave with just a little bit more self confidence. If you’re feeling low, I want you to feel like "I am that bitch." 

It's a no judgment zone. I want everybody to find their purpose, walk in their truth and feel like "that girl" with everything they do. You could even be in a grocery store, I want you to feel like the baddest bitch. 

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Since Mike Piacentini’s switch from computer science to audio engineering in college, his family has been his biggest champions. So, when he received his nomination for Best Immersive Album for Madison Beer's pop album Silence Between Songs, at the 2024 GRAMMYs, it was a no-brainer to invite his parents and wife.

“He’s always been into music. He had his own band, so [the shift] wasn’t surprising at all,” Piacentini’s mother says in the newest episode of Family Matters. “He’s very talented. I knew one day he would be here. It’s great to see it actually happen.”

In homage to his parents’ support, Piacentini offered to let his father write a short but simple acceptance in case he won: “Thank you, Mom and Dad,” he jokes.

Alongside his blood relatives, Piacentini also had support from his colleague Sean Brennan. "It's a tremendous honor, especially to be here with [Piacentini]. We work day in and day out in the studio," Brennan explains. "He's someone who's always there."

Press play on the video above to learn more about Mike Piacentini's support system, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Family Matters.

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