searchsearch
Jack Antonoff Wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical | 2022 GRAMMYs
Jack Antonoff accepts the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, onstage during the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom on April 03, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PHOTO: Denise Truscello/Getty Images

news

Jack Antonoff Wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical | 2022 GRAMMYs

Jack Antonoff wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical at the 2022 GRAMMYs for his work with Lana Del Rey. Taylor Swift, St. Vincent and others

GRAMMYs/Apr 3, 2022 - 11:09 pm

Jack Antonoff won the GRAMMY for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical at this year’s award ceremony. This is the Antonoff’s — whose work this year includes songs by Lana Del Ray, St. Vincent, Taylor Swift, Lorde, Bleachers and Clair —  first win of the night and sixth total GRAMMY of his career.

"This is for all the people who sit at home and make s<em></em>* that they think is really cool and keep making it and keep making it," Antonoff said onstage at the Premiere Ceremony. "I’m really at a loss, man. It’s the coolest, it means the world to me.”

Rogét Chahayed, Mike Elizondo, Hit-Boy and Ricky Reed were the other nominees in the prestigious category.

Check out the complete list of winners and nominees at the 2022 GRAMMYs

GRAMMY Rewind: Fun. Jokes About The Irony Of "We Are Young" After Winning Song Of The Year At The 2013 GRAMMYs
fun. at the 2013 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

video

GRAMMY Rewind: Fun. Jokes About The Irony Of "We Are Young" After Winning Song Of The Year At The 2013 GRAMMYs

Upon winning their second GRAMMY of the night, fun. frontman Nate Ruess couldn't help but point out a hilariously ironic point: "We are not very young."

GRAMMYs/Apr 21, 2023 - 04:06 pm

As indie rock infiltrated the mainstream in the early 2010s, fun. scored three consecutive hits — "We Are Young," "Some Nights" and "Carry On" — and became one of the hottest acts of the time.

"We Are Young" helped the trio become the first rock group to peak at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in over a decade, while making rounds on commercials and popular teen television series — so it was no surprise that fun. entered the 2013 GRAMMYs with six nominations.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we revisit the moment fun. won Song of the Year for "We Are Young." Earlier that evening, the band also received a golden gramophone for Best New Artist.

"I don't know what I was thinking, writing the chorus of this song. If this is in HD, everyone can see our faces, and we are not very young," lead singer Nate Ruess joked at the start of the speech. "We've been doing this for 12 years, and I just got to say we could not do this without the help of our fans that we've had, keeping us afloat."

Fun.'s guitarist Jack Antonoff (yes, the superproducer and Taylor Swift's now-right-hand man) took a moment to thank those who financially supported them. "To our families... we've been touring 12 years and haven't made money for a long time. They let us live at home for a long time."

Press play on the video above to watch fun.'s full acceptance speech at the 55th GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

Daft Punk Essentials: 10 Songs That Showcase The Duo's Futuristic Innovation

5 Takeaways From Lana Del Rey's New Album 'Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd'
Lana Del Rey

Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

news

5 Takeaways From Lana Del Rey's New Album 'Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd'

Navigating grief, sex and identity with harrowing depth, Lana Del Rey bares her soul in 'Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.' Here are five takeaways from her scintillating 77-minute record.

GRAMMYs/Mar 27, 2023 - 10:12 pm

Lana Del Rey is "straight vibing." At least, that's how she approached creating her profound ninth studio album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Rather than tapping into the world-building technique she used on Norman F—ing Rockwell!, Del Rey's latest work feels more natural and personal.

On Did You Know, Del Rey's dreamy alternative pop drifts from saccharine to unearthly, her tracks tangling together in curious harmony. Her voice reverberates often, as if she's actually traveling through the ​​now-hidden Jergins Tunnel under Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach — yet, unlike its titular inspiration, her album is anything but hollow.

A painstaking honesty ricochets throughout the record as Del Rey unveils familial grief and reflects on the intensity of love in its many forms. A spirituality and self-awareness hover in each mature and intimate track, while the album benefits from a list of collaborators long enough to match her song titles.

In honor of the artist's spectacular new self-portrait and ahead of her headlining sets at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, here are five key takeaways from Lana Del Rey's Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

She Pays Homage To Her Family

While some of Del Rey's most well-known songs unravel romantic fantasies, familial relationships are the linchpin of Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

Del Rey longs for intergenerational connection on her track "Grandfather please stand on the shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing," its title taken from the chorus. Contrasting a domestic closeness with the vastness of the Pacific, the singer/songwriter offers a spark of comforting warmth.
The musician, born Elizabeth Grant, also honors her family name by opening the album with "The Grants." Inspired by
John Denver's 1972 "Rocky Mountain High" — specifically, the line "And he lost a friend, but kept the memory" — Del Rey reflects on loving her family now as well as after death. With a heavy heart, the song's tender offering of hope is a masterclass in coping with grief.

"When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too," she said in a past interview while promoting Born To Die. "I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn't believe that we were mortal."

Within this context, Del Rey's deep reflections on death and family on Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd feel weightier. In the interview, she explained how her fear of mortality tended to overshadow her life — but now, in accepting life's transience, she's finding the light.

She Thrives With Tonal Shifts

Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd might be Del Rey's most tonally sporadic album yet, but it works to her advantage. Where Born To Die and Norman F— Rockwell! cling to listeners with cohesion, Del Rey's latest album waxes and wanes.

While the musician is renowned as dream baroque pop royalty, her latest creative ventures dip into other genres. Gospel chimes in on "The Grants," folk weaves its way into the Father John Misty collaboration "Let The Light In," and trap flickers memorably across "Taco Truck x VB" and "Fishtail." (The latter two are produced by Jack Antonoff, Del Rey's close collaborator and friend who remains alt pop's ubiquitous producer.) Elsewhere, idiosyncratic rap verses stand out as the highlights of ambitious single "A&W" and Tommy Genesis' raunchy collaboration "Peppers," interrupting Del Rey's more classic balladry.

The album also boasts the highest number of features of all her records. Jon Batiste, SYML, RIOPY, Father John Misty, Bleachers, Tommy Genesis and Judah Smith all make welcome appearances, adding to the album's distinct tonal shifts with their own styles. Though some moments feel especially jarring — namely, Smith and Batiste's interludes — Del Rey ultimately finds strength in this risk-taking diffusion.

She Weaves In Her Past — Not Just Lyrically, But Sonically

Beyond its lyrical reflections on family and past relationships, the album also peers into Del Rey's sonic past. Pieces of Norman F— Rockwell! reappear in many tracks on Did You Know, bridging her sixth and ninth studio albums with an aural nostalgia.

Fans correctly speculated that Norman F— Rockwell!s iconic "Venice B—" would surface in new track "Taco Truck x VB," and Antonoff's grittier, trumpeting version indeed shimmers through in the song's second half. "A&W" welcomes strings from "Norman F— Rockwell!", and "Candy Necklace" featuring Batiste sweetly references "Cinnamon Girl" (and even calls back to Born To Die's "Radio").

These interpolations exhibit the playful extent of Del Rey's masterful discography. Although her sound is ever-changing, the multifaceted musician can still return to her musical roots in a way that experimentally builds upon her catalog. Her music almost always feels reminiscent and bittersweet, and this album takes this nostalgia to a new, otherworldly level.

She Leans Into Spirituality More Than Ever

Del Rey's music seems to be unfailingly cinematic. Historically, her tragic romantic storytelling enlightens Americana tales with an often glamorous melodrama. With Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Del Rey continues to captivate her audiences, but this record taps into a different form of transcendence — a spiritual one.

Featuring heavy gospel influences, opener "The Grants" sees the musician hold memories of her loved ones close to her heart and into the afterlife. "Do you think about Heaven? Oh-oh, do you think about me?" she asks. "My pastor told me when you leave, all you take/ Oh-oh, is your memory." (Later on "Taco Truck x VB," she shouts, "Never die!").

Del Rey takes a step back for "Judah Smith Interlude," a four-and-a-half-minute-long sermon by pastor Judah Smith, who also appeared on Justin Bieber's 2021 EP Freedom. Though Del Rey and her friends occasionally punctuate the track with snide background remarks, Smith leads the track with abrasive preaching against lust.

While the album strays into darker territory here, Del Rey finds her way back to a somewhat uncharacteristic optimism — on standout "Kintsugi," she sings of thoughts "brought by the sunlight of the spirit to pour into me." Just like that, her radiance returns.

As Always, She Finds Beauty In Brokenness

Del Rey's track "Kintsugi" is named after the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. The artform highlights the beauty in embracing flaws, even underscoring them, and Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd exquisitely champions this notion.

"That's how the light gets in," Del Rey gently repeats in the chorus, the line doubly serving as a nod to the art of kintsugi and Leonard Cohen's "Anthem." As Del Rey learns to nurture the cracks of her broken heart, she learns how to be kinder to herself, how to love herself.

At the end of the track, she reassures herself a final time: "That's how the light gets in/ Then you're golden." She can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

For The Record: Why Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die' Is One Of Pop's Most Influential Albums In The Past Decade

20 Artists Who Made History At The 2023 GRAMMYs Other Than Beyoncé: Taylor Swift, Kim Petras, Viola Davis & More
Photo of Sam Smith and Kim Petras winning the GRAMMY for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

news

20 Artists Who Made History At The 2023 GRAMMYs Other Than Beyoncé: Taylor Swift, Kim Petras, Viola Davis & More

As Queen Bey takes her throne as the artist with the most GRAMMYs of all time, take a look at some of the other 2023 GRAMMY winners who joined her in celebrating momentous achievements.

GRAMMYs/Feb 6, 2023 - 11:09 pm

In the win heard around the world, Beyoncé became the person with the most GRAMMYs of all time at the 2023 GRAMMYs. Her win for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for RENAISSANCE put her at 32 golden gramophones — and in host Trevor Noah's eyes, that solidified her title as the GRAMMY GOAT.

But while Beyoncé's latest GRAMMY feat is unquestionably impressive, the "BREAK MY SOUL" singer wasn't the only artist who experienced a piece of GRAMMY history at the 65th GRAMMY Awards.

There were several special moments at the Premiere Ceremony, including the first-ever GRAMMY Awards for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical (Tobias Jesso Jr.) and Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media ("Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok"). At the Telecast, Kim Petras scored a major win for the transgender community with her Best Pop Duo/Group Performance victory, and Dr. Dre was the inaugural recipient of his namesake Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.

Below, take a look at some of the history-making feats from the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Milestone Moments

As Kim Petras and Sam Smith accepted the GRAMMY for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their risqué collaboration, "Unholy," Smith let Petras do the talking because of a very special feat: She was the first trans woman to win in the category.

Earlier at the Premiere Ceremony, Germaine Franco became the first woman of color to win Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, which she won for composing the Disney animated film Encanto. (Notably, Encanto swept all three of the categories for which it was nominated, also winning Best Song Written For Visual Media for "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.)

Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde rang in a country first, as their win for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for "Never Wanted to Be That Girl") marked the first female pairing to win the category — and the first GRAMMY win for both artists!

Notable Firsts

There were seven new awards given at the 2023 GRAMMYs, making those seven recipients the first to receive their respective honors. These were the first-time winners at the Premiere Ceremony: Tobias Jesso Jr. (Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical), "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok" (Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media), Wet Leg (Best Alternative Music Performance for "Chaise Longue"), Bonnie Raitt (Best Americana Performance for "Made Up Mind") and J. Ivy (Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for The Poet Who Sat By The Door).

At the Telecast, Dr. Dre became the first recipient of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award; shortly after, Iranian singer/songwriter Shervin Hajipour and his song "Baraye" received the first Special Merit Award for Best Song For Social Change. 

There were a few other notable firsts at the Premiere Ceremony. Taylor Swift's Best Music Video win for "All Too Well: The Short Film" was the first time an artist won the category for a video directed by the artist themselves.

When jazz favorite Robert Glasper's Black Radio III won Best R&B Album, it marked his second win in the category — and an interesting one at that. His first win came in 2013 thanks to the original album in the trilogy, Black Radio, meaning his 2023 win was the first time an album and its sequel album have won in the category. 

Elsewhere, two student groups celebrated some historic GRAMMY firsts: The Tennessee State University Marching Band became the first collegiate band to win a GRAMMY after receiving the golden gramophone for Best Roots Gospel Album, and the New York Youth Symphony became the first youth orchestra to win Best Orchestral Performance.

Exciting Rarities

Viola Davis added a GRAMMY to her ever-impressive empire, which meant she is now officially an EGOT (Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar, Tony) winner. Her GRAMMY win for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording helped her become the third Black woman to earn an EGOT, and the first to secure the status at the GRAMMY Awards, following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson

Bronx-born jazz singer Samara Joy was awarded the GRAMMY for Best New Artist — only the second time a jazz artist has won the award, and the first since Esperanza Spalding's win in 2011.

Jack Antonoff became the third producer to win Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical winner in consecutive years; Babyface did so in 1996 and 1997, and Greg Kurstin achieved the feat in 2016 and 2017.

Last but certainly not least, "Into The Woods" joined elite ranks by winning the GRAMMY for Best Musical Theater Album. Stephen Sondheim's 1987 original won the category in 1989, making it only the fourth Broadway show to earn two Best Musical Theater Album GRAMMYs alongside "Gypsy," "Les Miserables" and "West Side Story." It's also the second year in a row a piece of GRAMMY history was born from the category, as "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical" creators Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear became the youngest winners in 2022.

10 Must-See Moments From The 2023 GRAMMYs: Beyoncé Makes History, Hip-Hop Receives An Epic Tribute, Bad Bunny Brings The Puerto Rican Heat


Jack Antonoff Wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical For The Second Year In A Row | 2023 GRAMMYs
Jack Antonoff at the 2023 GRAMMYs Premiere Ceremony.

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

news

Jack Antonoff Wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical For The Second Year In A Row | 2023 GRAMMYs

The reigning Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical winner, Jack Antonoff, holds his title at the 2023 GRAMMYs,

GRAMMYs/Feb 6, 2023 - 12:42 am

Jack Antonoff won the GRAMMY for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical at the 2023 GRAMMYs, marking his second win in the category — in a row.

Even so, Antonoff remained humble as he accepted his trophy. He put the spotlight on his right-hand woman, sound engineer Laura Sisk, who joined Antonoff on stage.

"I sit in the studio all day with one person — this is Laura, who engineers and mixes the records with us," he said. "We just sit there all f—ing day. We were there yesterday, we'll be there tomorrow, and this is all completely for Laura."

Dan Auerbach, Boi-1da, Dahi, and Dernst "D'mile" Emile II were the other nominees in the category.

Listen to music from all of the nominees on our official Amazon Music playlist.

Check out the complete list of winners and nominees at the 2023 GRAMMYs.