Just as singer/songwriter Hozier seemed to sing with a conviction stronger than you might assume from his age on the GRAMMY-nominated smash hit "Take Me To Church," his latest offering, an EP and its title track, "Nina Cried Power" featuring soul legend Mavis Staples traces an even deeper through-line into music's past. Summoning images of some of music and society's most revolutionary figures, the song puts Hozier's swagger and soul on full display while teasing a glimpse of what might still come from his own musical legacy.

We spoke with Hozier backstage at Austin City Limits prior to his Friday set to hear how "Nina Cried Power" came together, how he sees music as a vehicle for social change and what is currently spinning on his timeless playlist.

How did "Nina Cried Power" come together with the great Mavis Staples?

I wrote the song at some point last year. I came off the road, and I think geopolitics was in an odd kind of place, certainly at home and I'm sure abroad, too. There was a very divisive rhetoric... being given a fairly mainstream platform 24/7, so I just wanted to write something that was not cynical, that was hopeful and came from a place of solidarity. Even though it acknowledged the difficulty of, "How do you start addressing these things? Where do you start and what's worthwhile about addressing them?" I just wanted to point to the legacy of other artists that we refer to as heroes and that we call heroes for a reason. In far more difficult circumstances, they sang about what was important to them, they spoke about what was important to them and what affected real people, what affected people at the time; artists like Mavis Staples. So, it was really important, I think, to have her involved in that project. I was super proud that we were able to get together and do it.

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What do you think it is about music that has played such a role in social change over the years?

I think music is a vehicle for anything… When artists are honest about things and honest about the circumstances that they find themselves in or honest about representing the human experience in music, it can be a vehicle for our best selves and I think it can be a lovely reminder of what makes us people and what the best of us is at our best intentions. But, either way, music is a vehicle for the zeitgeist and whether we're aware of that or whether we engage with that, it's a vehicle for our times, it's a vehicle for the lives that we live.

As such, it remains as a document far beyond ourselves. I think what's awesome about songs like that, songs that Mavis Staples would've sang on, songs that the Staples Singers or Bob Dylan or Pete Seeger or Billie Holiday sang on, they're documents we can look at now and say, "Look, these are the difficulties that these people faced," and there's something that's worthwhile about that, I suppose.

What's inspiring you now, and what are you listening to now?

My head is still buried firmly in the 20th century stuff like blues music and folk music. Before this record, I was listening to a lot of Alan Lomax's field recording, which I thought again just as documents, it's so worthwhile that they exist. More recently, I was listening to a bit of Margaret Glaspy. Bahamas. Maggie Rogers, as well, too. I'm really excited about her. I think she's awesome.

What's next for you, musically?

So, the rest of the year I will be, for the most part, touring this. I have another single that we're hoping to release in a couple of weeks' time. I'm really excited about it. It's one of my favorites off of the upcoming record. But the actual album proper would be early next year, so I think in the first quarter of 2019, so February/March time would be the actual full length. I'm really excited about that.

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Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Like many, Hozier used his lockdown time to dive into some literature. Little did he know, it would inspire his third album.

In Unreal Unearth, which arrived Aug. 18, Hozier muses about his pandemic experience through the lens of Dante Alighieri's famous poem Inferno. Part one of the 14th-century epic Divine Comedy, the poem narrates Dante's journey through Hell and its depicted nine circles — an eerily brilliant framework for an album.

"I didn't want to write songs that were about a lockdown; I didn't want to write songs that were about the pandemic," Hozier tells GRAMMY.com. "But I did want to explore — or at least acknowledge, even as a nod structurally — this feeling of going into something, these new circumstances and experiences in that time and coming out the other side of it." 

Born Andrew Hozier-Byrne, Hozier has always been an artist with an intellectual approach; he referenced Irish poet Seamus Heaney on his second album, 2019's Wasteland, Baby!, and Biblical and Celtic contexts on his 2014 self-titled debut.

But Unreal Unearth felt different for him. "[There's] a more announced intention of a thread in the structure," he says, adding that he tapped into two new territories: collaboration and deeper plumbing of his Irish roots.

The trio of facets helped Hozier create an album that fits right in with the deeply thoughtful lyricism and beautifully layered soundscapes of his previous releases, but with a sense of reinvigoration. Its journey from the darkness of opening track "De Selby (Part 1)" to the breakthrough of closer "First Light" creates a captivating tale that only a voice like Hozier's could narrate.

Below, hear from Hozier about three of his biggest inspirations for Unreal Unearth, and how it all resulted in a project that opened a new creative door for the Irish star.

There was some old poetry — and I mean, like, old, classic poetry — that, as a lyricist, I always wanted to explore. Then the pandemic happened, and offered so much free time. I was working on other songs [at the time], and I put a lot of those ideas aside.

In March 2020, it felt like the world changed, and priorities changed, and my priorities changed with it. And there was some lines in [Inferno] that resonated with me at the time. It just felt like there was a great deal of potential loss hanging in the air.

Early in that poem [is] that sort of famous quote that Dante imagines is written over the door of hell — you know, that "Abandon all hope" line. There's a larger passage that says "through me, you enter into the population of loss."

As a structure, I did want to acknowledge something in my experiences of [that] two, three year period, and what I was processing. I [wanted] to find a way that nods to that, and the significance of that — albeit, not necessarily in a way that was a lockdown album or a pandemic album, or songs that focus on the nuances of that experience, but at least acknowledge the journey. And it's taking the structure of that journey as imagined by Dante, these Nine Circles he walks through and then he comes out the other side.

I kind of viewed the last album as all these same voices sort of singing or screaming into the same bonfire, all from different perspectives. That's something that I wanted, in particular, to explore in this album — that each Circle is a slightly different voice. It deals with a slightly different theme, in a playful way, sometimes. 

[Dante's Inferno] is a poem about a person who's wandering through this sort of underworld space, and in each Circle, they meet with a new person who shares their grievance, their pain, their experience. That was something I allowed myself to play with a little bit — that each song starts with my voice, but it allows into itself and the license to just let the song grow to where it needs to be. Let the voice explore the idea that it needs to explore.

Something that I had hoped to achieve with these is that the songs come from a personal place, and a very real place, but I also wanted them to explore, at times, things that were kind of mythological in nature, or were collectively held fictions. Like in the case of "Francesca," who is a character in Dante's Inferno [Second Circle, Lust], and she's not a terribly famous character from literature, but it's definitely a significant moment in that poem.

It's a song that I wrote for somebody in a difficult moment and was finding a lot of themes with that character. I just resonated with a lot of stuff in her story. This fictional idea that there is this woman who is being punished in Hell for falling in love. 

The [ending] lyric is "Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I, I would not change it each time." The song is basically saying this isn't a punishment, I would make this decision time and time again. I don't regret or repent anything." [I tried to] explore that and sort of turn that punishment on its head, and write from an empathetic point of view of some of the characters in that poem.

So it's song by song, and depending on where the theme is — like, "First Time" plays with Limbo, this idea of this never ending thing that cycles. That song explores this kind of birth and the sort of death and ending at the end of a relationship where everything feels like it's collapsing around you, and it being the start of the next thing.

Then "Eat Your Young," Circle of Greed, it reflects upon how the real destruction in a global sense, in a larger sense, is not done. It reflects on being young, that sort of coming-of-age feeling of just being free and powerless, but having fun and enjoying the little things that you can enjoy, and how every generation will always blame the younger generation for our coming destruction in some way — some very imaginative, funny way. The Circle of Violence, "Butchered Tongue" looks back at sort of historical violence, colonial violence, and the destruction of language that comes out of it.

It was just finding the sympathy between "Okay, here's this theme, and here's these elements of the song. And there is personal experience, but at the same time, I'm nodding to and playing with the images found in either myths of characters that are dead — so Icarus, who dies at the end of his myth; De Selby is a fictional character in a book about a man who doesn't know that he's dead; Francesca, Dante includes her into population of Hell. 

"Son of Nyx" is named after Alex Ryan, who co-wrote that song with me, his father's name is Nick, so Alex is technically a son of Nick's. Nyx is a Greek goddess of nighttime — so again, reflecting on darkness — and a son of Nyx in the Greek stable is the boatman or the ferryman, Charon, who ferries everybody over the river. The song has a life above ground and below ground, and trying to find that sympathy points between the two.

It was also important to me that you can just listen to the songs and know nothing about this and be able to say "That sounds beautiful," or "There is something in that that is universal." These themes are universal — the theme of lust is universal, the theme of loss, and betrayal, and being hurt by somebody is universal. We love and listen to and write these songs every single day. But creating the album in this structure and arranging the themes in sympathy with the circles as Dante imagined it was something I really wanted to do.

It's important to me that these songs just feel good. That they exist on their own terms in a way that I felt was worthwhile and beautiful enough to exist on their own too.

I will say I struggled with where the line was with how tightly to hold the poem. There's an early version of "Francesca" which I tried to write using the same rhyming scheme that Dante uses in the poem — he invented a rhyming scheme called terza rima. He was kind of obsessed with this idea of Trinity, he invents this interlocking triplet thing, which is like, really, really hard to write in English. 

Somewhere early in the album [process], I realized the more I referenced the text and the poem directly, the less universal it is, the less open it is, and it becomes, like, a history lesson. And actually, it became like musical theater as well too, because it was like referencing these moments in this journey, as opposed to just exploring moments in the journey of life that we all experience. So these feelings of betrayal, these feelings of disillusionment, and loneliness or love.

There's all sorts of reasons [I used the Irish language on this album]. I mean, part of it was being at home for the year for those years, and reassessing my place at home during that pandemic period.

But, ultimately, the Irish language is a language that a lot of us in Ireland like study for 12 years, and I guess I just got to this point where it's like I had this entire palette of mouth sounds, this entire palette of words, this whole language that was in my vocabulary — it's kind of like a bunch of tools hanging on the wall at home that I just never used.

An example of that is uiscefhuaraithe, which is described in "To Someone From A Warm Climate" as the cooling action of water. It just seemed right. It's like why not use these tools? It's like all these paints that I just never painted with. 

"Butchered Tongue" explores the sort of experience of traveling around the world with the Irish view of history, or with a view of history and global politics that's informed by the Irish experience or my Irish experience, and my understanding of Irish history.

I [channeled] the playfulness of the Irish language on a song called "Anything But." On paper, it reads like a kindness. The verses are saying, "If I was a riptide, I wouldn't take you out." The second verse says, "If I was a stampede, you wouldn't you wouldn't get a kick." These are all Irish-isms that I heard as a teenager growing up. They're nice ways of saying that somebody wants nothing to do with you. So that's where that double meaning sort of thing comes in. They're all they're all Irish-isms, fun idioms.

I'd written many songs — actually, the majority of the songs from my first two albums — I just wrote everything myself. Writing for me was always a very solitary thing. And then I sort of found the limitations of what solitude and writing in solitude would give me towards the end of lockdown. I'd written a bunch of ideas. I've gotten a lot of ideas out of my pockets and out of my head, and then I kind of got into LA.

I'd never worked with Dan Tannenbaum, who's done a lot of stuff with Kendrick Lamar. [He's an] incredible producer and his team, Pete Gonzales and Daniel Krieger, and this fantastic team of guys are all incredible musicians. Our first day of jamming, I honestly thought that we were going to hang out for a talk, and we were just going to get to know each other. And then he sort of threw a microphone in my hand and was like, "Let's make some music." 

So for the first time I just jammed. We just jammed music together and would create these soundscapes. I knew that I wanted to explore classic synthesizer sounds and some more electronic sounds, but marry them to organic acoustic sounds, like in the case of "De Selby (Part 1)," or in "First Light" or in "Anything But."

Part of that was also just creating with musicians that I've never created with before, and then knowing where the line was of what felt right to me, and not a diversion, but an exploration and an expansion. It was just trusting the skills of these great producers and their great musicianship, and just creating for the sake of creating and seeing what came out of it. It was really enriching and super exciting, because it was a new way of writing for me.

With Jen Decilveo and Jeff Gitty [Gitelman], two other fantastic producers across the album, I was recording a few songs with Jen separately, I was recording a few songs with Jeff. So I became the sort of central point of making sure that these songs would all work together as an arc. 

I tried to do something which I thought was going to be a fun and interesting challenge, and I feel like I did that as best I could. I gained all these wonderful skills of collaborating, and also being the central point of like trying to hold a lot of spinning plates with different producers and make everything work in a cohesive way and just being that one central point between a lot of creative minds. So I'm proud of it. And I'm excited to explore those skills again.

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While peak summer heat may slow down daily activities, August music releases are keeping 2023’s pace running, with an overflow of music releases for the most varied tastes. There’s long-awaited comebacks and exciting debuts, classic rehashes and groundbreaking endeavors, and — most of all — plenty of exciting sounds to discover.

For the lovers of good ol' rock 'n' roll, this is a busy month: bands like the Hives, Public Image Ltd. and virtual outfit Dethklok make their return after many years in the shadows. In more indie domains, Hozier brings forth his third studio album, Unreal Unearth, and The Band CAMINO is back with their sophomore record, The Dark. In other genres, both R&B singer Victoria Monét and K-pop girl group TWICE’s leader Jihyo will release their debut albums, Jaguar II and Zone, respectively. Meanwhile, Dan Auerbach’s label Easy Eye Sound will issue Tell Everybody!, a compilation of the best stars across all strands of blues.

As there is much more to explore and little time to lose, check below for GRAMMY.com’s guide for the 15 must-hear albums dropping in August 2023.

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

Release date: Aug. 11

Back in 1977, legendary singer and songwriter Neil Young planned to release Chrome Dreams, though the project was ultimately shelved. However, several bootlegs of the original 12-song acetate circulated around in the past decades, deeming its content as one of Young’s strongests.

Almost 50 years later, Chrome Dreams will finally receive justice with a debut release via Reprise Records. The tracklist is filled with classics recorded between 1974 and 1976, such as "Pocahontas" and "Sedan Delivery," and includes four originals never released on vinyl before. On his official website, the album is described as coming to life "exactly how Young perceives it" and of having a "sense of monumentality about it that conveys a place in history."

Chrome Dreams is the latest in Young’s recent string of archival records, following 2022’s 50th anniversary reissue of 1972’s Harvest, the release of 2001’s shelved album Toast with Crazy Horse, and the fourth installment of his Official Release Series.

The Band CAMINO - The Dark

Release date: Aug. 11

The Band CAMINO will give us another dose of their infectious pop-rock on their sophomore album,The Dark.

Comprising 11 tracks — including singles "Told You So," "Last Man In The World," "See You Later," and "What Am I Missing?" — the album expands on the Nashville-based trio’s thrilling energy and lyrics about the highs and lows of love. "It's no secret we suck together / I tell myself that it's for the better / So why does it keep getting worse?" they wonder in "What Am I Missing?"

In support of the release, The Band CAMINO has also announced a North American tour starting Sept. 14 in Philadelphia, and wrapping it up on Oct. 21 in Nashville.

Public Image Ltd. - End of World

Release date: Aug. 11

Marking their return after eight years, post-punk British band Public Image Ltd. will release their 11th studio album, End of World, next month. The record is dedicated to vocalist and former Sex Pistols member John Lydon’s late wife, Nora Forster, who passed away in April after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

"Nora loved the album, she wouldn’t have wanted us to postpone it or change any of our plans," Lydon said  in a statement. Smooth lead single "Hawaii," which works as a love letter to Forster, is "the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that John Lydon has ever shared," according to the same statement. But that doesn’t mean PiL’s raucous essence is amiss;l singles "Penge" and "Car Chase" are welcome punches of enthusiasm as only they can deliver.

PiL started working on the album in 2018 during their 40th anniversary tour, but had to pause activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since they got back to the studio, the band was hit with a "massive explosion of ideas," according to Lydon. They will embark on an extensive UK and Europe tour this September.

The Hives - The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

Release date: Aug. 11

It’s been 11 years since the Swedish rockers of the Hives released new material. With their upcoming sixth studio album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, on the horizon, they prove that time only did them favors.

Led by pre-release singles "Bogus Operandi" and "Countdown to Shutdown," The Hives’ electrifying, demanding energy is back for another round. "There’s no maturity or anything like that bulls—, because who the f— wants mature rock’n’roll?" asked frontman Pelle Almqvist in a press release. "Rock’n’roll can’t grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it’s all down to our excitement."

With a title that refers to the supposed death of the band’s mysterious (and never publicly seen) sixth member, manager, and sole songwriter, it also represents a new chapter. What will the Hives do if Randy Fitzsimmons is indeed gone for good? No one knows. But for now, they are focused on making some noise around the world: the band is booked for concerts and festivals all over Europe and the U.S. throughout the rest of the year.

Chief Keef - Almighty So 2

Release date: Aug. 11

After several delays following its announcement in October 2022, Chief Keef’s well-awaited mixtape Almighty So 2 will finally come out on Aug. 11.

A sequel to 2013’s Almighty So, the mixtape features 17 tracks. Two singles have been released so far: "Tony Montana Flow" and "Racks stuffed inna couch." Also a follow-up to Keef’s latest studio album, 2021’s 4NEM, it sees the Chicago rapper continue his prolific run of releases, which includes four studio albums, four EPs, and over 30 mixtapes since his beginnings in 2011.

Last year, Keef announced his new label 43B in partnership with BMG, and his first signing with Atlanta rapper Lil Gnar. He also released an updated version of his debut album Finally Rich, celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Easy Eye Sound - Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound) 

Release date: Aug. 11

A 12-song compilation uniting legends and rising stars alike across the blues spectrum, Tell Everybody! is Nashville label Easy Eye Sound’s latest tour de force. The compilation was produced by the label’s founder and the Black Keys’ member Dan Auerbach. 

Besides featuring Auerbach’s own band and solo work, the anthology also holds names like GRAMMY-nominated R.L. Boyce and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, as well as newcomers like Nat Myers, Moonrisers, and Dan Carter. 

Said to draw influences "from acoustic anthems to roiling rock n’ roll" in a press release, Tell Everybody! "continues a commitment to upholding and preserving the blues that sits at the core of Easy Eye Sound’s mission." For a taste of what’s to come, they have shared Robert Finley’s eponymous title track.

Les Imprimés - Rêverie

Release date: Aug. 11

Les Imprimés is a one-man band created by Norwegian singer and songwriter Morten Martens. Blending R&B and soul with a definite modern twist, the project stands as a dreamy refuge to life’s harsh realities.

"It’s soul music, but I don’t exactly have the soul voice," Morten explains on Big Crown Records’ website. "But I do it my own way, in a way that’s mine." Martens’ unique efforts are brought together in his debut album, Rêverie. In the tracklist, a slew of ethereal, captivating singles like "If I" and "Love & Flowers" promise a stirring listening experience, sure to put him on the radar of 2023’s greatests.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You

Release date: Aug. 11

On Will Oldham’s (a.k.a Bonnie "Prince" Billy) Bandcamp page, his forthcoming record Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You is described vaguely as "a tale as old as time," or simply "an album" whose songs are "by and for people together."

Following 2022’s Blind Date Party with Bill Calahan and 2019’s I Made a Place, Keeping Secrets consists of 12 tracks that put Billy "at the nexus of all the kinds of music he can summon, with friends, with family, and community. All roads roll though him. There can be no holding back. A million billion moments are on the line."

The Louisville singer shared two pre-releases as idiosyncratic as the rest of his oeuvre: "Bananas" and "Crazy Blue Bells." Starting September, he will embark on a U.S. tour through November.

Jon Batiste - World Music Radio

Release date: Aug. 18

"World Music Radio is a concept album that takes place in the interstellar regions of the universe," said multihyphenate Jon Batiste on Instagram about his upcoming 7th studio record. "The listener is led through the album by an interstellar traveling griot named Billy Bob Bo Bob, who takes you sonically all around the world at the speed of light."

A follow-up to We Are, his 2021 GRAMMY-winning Album Of The Year, World Music Radio will feature collaborations with stars from all corners of music, including Lana Del Rey, Lil Wayne, and Kenny G. "I created this album with a feeling of liberation in my life and a renewed sense of exploration of my personhood, my craft, and of the world around me unlike anything I ever felt before," Batiste shared further about the 21-track effort.

The album is preceded by lively singles "Calling Your Name," "Drink Water" featuring Jon Bellion and Fireboy DML, and Coca-Cola collaboration "Be Who You Are (Real Magic)," featuring Cat Burns, J.I.D, Camilo, and NewJeans.

Jihyo (TWICE) - Zone

Release date: Aug. 18

Seven years down the road, TWICE — one of the most acclaimed K-pop girl groups in history — have started branching out their skills into solo careers and sub-units. Starting last year, eldest member Nayeon released her EP Im Nayeon, followed by July’s MISAMO (a Japanese sub-unit formed by Mina, Sana, and Momo) and their Masterpiece EP. Now, it’s time for leader and main vocalist Jihyo to show the world her unique colors.

Known for her passionate, energetic performances and a powerful voice, Jihyo’s debut EP, Zone, features lead single "Killin’ Me Good" and six other tracks, including a duet with K-R&B singer Heize. Until the date of release, Jihyo will release a series of spoilers and special contents that will keep fans anticipating the visual and musical direction chosen.

In June, TWICE made history by becoming the first girl group from any country to sell out Los Angeles’ SoFi stadium for their Ready To Be world tour. Still ongoing, the tour includes 38 shows across North America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe.

Hozier - Unreal Unearth

Release date: Aug. 18

Like so many of us during the pandemic lockdown, Irish singer Hozier took the extra time to pick up on his readings, including Dante Alighieri’s epic Inferno. The literary classic ended up inspiring him so much that his upcoming third studio album, Unreal Unearth, is also arranged into "circles" — a concept that Dante used to depict the nine realms of hell in his work.

In an interview with Rolling Stone UK, Hozier explained that "the album can be taken as a collection of songs, but also as a little bit of a journey. It starts with a descent and I’ve arranged the songs according to their themes into nine circles, just playfully reflecting Dante’s nine circles and then an ascent at the end." As for what it sounds like, the singer said it is "quite eclectic" and reflects "something of a retrospective in what the sounds lean into."

Hozier released the EP Eat Your Young in March as a teaser for Unreal Unearth, featuring an eponymous single and tracks "All Things End" and "Through Me (The Flood)" — all of which appear on his forthcoming release. A second single, "Francesca," came out in June. Hozier will embark on a North American, UK, and Europe tour starting September.

Shamir - Homo Anxietatem

Release date: Aug. 18

In a press release, singer/songwriter Shamir revealed that he felt a lot of anxiety during the first quarter of 2020. "I was fresh out the psych ward and had quit smoking weed and cigarettes cold turkey. I spent the first couple months of 2020 knitting this huge baby blue sweater. It’s basically a wearable security blanket that I used to channel all my anxiety into."

The sweater turned into inspiration for indie pop single "Oversized Sweater," off Shamir’s upcoming ninth studio album, Homo Anxietatem. Although the title translates from Latin into "anxious man," the album is meant to depict "what happens when one of the most prolific songwriters of a generation calms down a bit: the search for meaning becomes mundane."

Homo Anxietatem follows 2022’s Heterosexuality, and is also described as a "perfect pop-punk-rock record." On Oct. 2, the Las Vegas singer will play a sole concert in Paris and then hit up the UK for a short tour across 10 cities.

Victoria Monét - Jaguar II

Release date: Aug. 25

Singer Victoria Monét — who became known through her songwriting for artists such as Ariana Grande, BLACKPINK and Fifth Harmony — is releasing her debut studio album, Jaguar II, on Aug. 25. "I feel like I’ve been behind the bushes and in the background, and I think jaguars themselves live in that way," she explained in a Billboard interview. "They find the right moment to attack — and get what they want."

The record is a sequel to her breakthrough 2020 EP Jaguar, diving further into her R&B roots and exploring a variety of sounds that go from dancehall to Southern rap. Some of these influences can be seen in the pre-releases "Smoke" with Lucky Daye, "Party Girls" with Buju Banton, and "On My Mama."

To celebrate the album, Monét has announced a slew of dates across North America starting Sept. 6 in Detroit and ending with two November shows in London.

Dethklok - Dethalbum IV and Metalocalypse - Army of the Doomstar (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Release date: Aug. 22 and Aug. 25

After nearly a decade, the most vicious virtual metal band is back. Dethklok, from Adult Swim’s TV series "Metalocalypse," will release not one, but two full-length albums next month.

The first is Dethalbum IV, the band’s long-awaited fifth studio record, out Aug. 22. Written by "Metalocalypse" creator Brendon Small, it features 11 tracks, including the merciless single "Aortic Desecration."

Three days later comes the official soundtrack to new film Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar’s turn. Also written and directed by Small, the movie boasts a star-studded cast with the likes of King Diamond, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, and Evanescence’s Amy Lee. It will also offer a closing chapter for the show, which was canceled in 2015.

Dethklok will kick off their U.S. tour with Japanese band Babymetal on Aug. 30 in Houston, TX, and cross a slew of cities until the final concert on Oct. 11, in Los Angeles.

Bebel Gilberto - João

Release date: Aug. 25

"More than a tribute to her father, the unforgettable João Gilberto, the album is a visit to Bebel's most fundamental musical memories," says Bebel Gilberto’s website about her upcoming studio album, João.

Also described as a "musical love letter" to the renowned father of bossa nova, who passed away in 2019, the album was produced by pianist Thomas Bartlett, and comprises 11 songs carefully selected by Bebel. Among her choices are classics such as "Ela É Carioca" and "Desafinado," but also "Valsa," a track also known as "(Como São Lindos os Youguis) (Bebel)" and one of João Gilberto’s few compositions dedicated to his daughter.

Bebel shared an emotive first single off the project, "É Preciso Perdoar," and announced tour dates across North America, Asia, the UK, and Europe starting next month.

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It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea

Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.

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