Kiana Ledé launched her studio album debut KIKI with a powerful mindset.

"Kiki is an album that I just let myself go. I let myself go to all the spaces. I let myself fully truly be myself," she said on the latest Up Close & Personal. While she says she has been a people pleaser in the past, the 23-year-old rising R&B singer didn't subject herself to that on her album: "I didn't want to have any opinions. I wanted to just make music that I knew made me feel good [at] the moment whether that was a negative or a positive feeling and have no influences whatsoever."

Lyrically, KIKI is a trip into heartache and the bounce back from it but is also filled with tracks oozing with self-love, and joy. At the center of it is a vulnerability that has come to her as she has gone further into womanhood. On the album, she did not "run away from things," including her childhood home pictured on the cover, which Ledé reveals she used to feel a little ashamed of when she was younger. 

While COVID-19 affected her album release, she didn't let it kill her vibe. Ledé says her fans helped make the launch special. 

"My fans are amazing and they were really great and didn't allow it to really fall through the cracks at all," she said. "They really pushed hard for me because they knew how much it meant to me and how important the moment was and how much it means to them."

During her Up Close & Personal interview, the passionate artist also shares how it was working with fellow R&B singer Lucky Daye, how she continues to grow comfortable in her mixed identity and talks about how the industry can better support artists like herself. 

DaBaby Talks 'BLAME IT ON BABY (DELUXE),' Black Lives Matter Remix Of "ROCKSTAR" And Rap's Obsession With Deluxe Albums

"We don't get the applause. That's later."

That was an offhand comment from Sarah Jensen, the Senior Executive Director for the Recording Academy's Midwest Chapter — ahead of a conversation between Cheryl Pawelski and Jeff Tweedy. But given the nature of the ensuing chat, it's oddly apropos.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Wilco's seminal Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, four-time GRAMMY winners Tweedy and Pawelski chatted before a hometown audience at the Rhapsody Theater in Chicago. Pawelski produced and curated Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition), which won Best Historical Album at the 2024 GRAMMYs; Pawelski accepted the golden gramophone on their behalf.

Today, 2002's ambitious, deconstructionist Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is just about universally revered as a watershed for alternative music. But in a David-and-Goliath story told and retold since its release — especially in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Yankee was rejected by its label, Reprise.

Wilco left their label, published Yankee on their own website, and it became a tremendous hit. Nonesuch — which, like Reprise, operates through Warner Records — picked them up, meaning the same record company, in effect, paid Wilco twice.

Ever since, the applause for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — the one with the immortal "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," "Jesus, Etc." and "Ashes of American Flags" on it — has been unceasing. And, naturally, a hefty chunk of Pawelski and Tweedy's conversation — for the Recording Academy's "Up Close & Personal" interview series, and MCed by Chicagoan family music artist Justin Roberts — revolved around it.

According to Tweedy, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a pivot point, where they decided to move away from any sort of pastiche.

"There are a lot of things on the boxed set," he said — referring to the plethora of alternate versions of well-known tracks — "where I would listen to them now and go, 'That was good enough.' But it wasn't satisfying… Rock and roll was built on that thing, above all else… be yourself, without any apology, and on purpose."

The "Up Close & Personal" session didn't start with Yankee, though; it started with How to Write One Song, Tweedy's 2020 treatise on the process of… well, writing one song. Which gets as psychologically and spiritually incisive as Tweedy fans would expect.

"I think music in general is a safe place to fail," the prolific songwriter stated. "When you take your ego out of it and you look at it as a daily practice of spending time with yourself in your imagination… once you do it for a long time, it really makes the notion of failure almost quaint or something."

When it comes to songwriting, the 11-time nominee said "nothing's really ever lost. You learn something about yourself writing terrible songs. I know myself better because of the songs that you've never heard."

Tweedy offered other helpful concepts and strategies, like accumulating enough voice memo ideas — for so long — that you can treat them like the work of a stranger. "I'll go through and listen through a bunch of stuff like that," Tweedy quipped, "and go, 'Who wrote this?'"

Pawelski went on to elucidate her rich legacy in the music business — including her fight to get the Band's deep cuts, like Stage Fright, included in Capitol's music budget. (She's worked on archival projects by everyone from the Beach Boys to Big Star to Willie Nelson across her decades-long career.)

Read More: Jeff Tweedy's Blurred Emotions: Wilco's Leader On Cruel Country & Songwriting As Discovery

Tweedy also discussed the magic of collaboration. "I've gotten really good at being alone with people. So I think that facilitates collaboration to some degree," he said. "What I mean is being as forgiving of myself with other people in the room as I am with myself alone."

What was one of his favorites, Roberts inquired?

"The one that probably will always be the most proud of is getting to work with Mavis Staples and contributing something to her catalog, to her body of work that seems to have resonated not just with her audience or a new audience, but with her that she likes to sing, that means something to her. I think that would've satisfied me without it winning a GRAMMY [in 2011]."

When the conversation drifted to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Pawelsky discussed the foreboding process of digging through the sessions' flotsam and jetsam.

"The world kind of changed during the making of this. The band certainly changed, and also, technology changed," she explained. "So we had everything — we had DATs, we had ADATs, we had tape, we had cassettes, we had CD-Rs."

About her process: "I go backwards and try to reconstruct how things happen, and it's always incomplete and I don't know what I'm missing, so it's extra fun. But this particular record was done and undone in a lot of ways… some of the latter recordings sound like they're earlier recordings."

As Pawelski admits, the prospect of stewarding Yankee was "kind of terrifying" because of how meaningful the record is. "It really was a Rubik's cube. I would get the orange side done and I'd turn it over."

As the talk wound down, the subject of Wilco's latest album, Cousin, came up — as well as Wilco's rare use of an outside producer, in Cate Le Bon.

"I thought that it would be really a catalyst for getting something different out of the songs that I write," Tweedy explained. "I like the idea of working with a woman, which I felt like has not happened that much in rock and roll, from my perspective

"So that felt like an inspired bit of lateral thinking," he continued. "that felt so right to me to get to — and that she wanted to do it, and that we were friends, and it did."

To go "Up Close & Personal" with Tweedy is unlike most interviews; his brain simply works different than most, and you walk away pleasantly scrambled and transformed.

Which is what the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions were like — and thank goodness for Pawelski, who shows it's not merely a masterpiece: in all its alien transmissions, vulnerable one-liners and shattered poetry, Yankee continues to engender GRAMMY glory.

Songbook: A Guide To Wilco's Discography, From Alt-Country To Boundary-Shattering Experiments

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. 

10 Essential Facts To Know About GRAMMY-Winning Rapper J. Cole

From fighting just to make up, to setting a cheating lover's clothes ablaze, to finding any excuse to mention a crush's name in conversation, good R&B music will make you feel all the emotions.

Of course, the genre is much deeper than make-up-to-breakup anthems and "baby-making music." R&B originated in the 1940s as a catch-all term for Black music, later giving birth to soul music in the '60s and evolving further in the '90s to include a breadth of contemporary influences. Throughout its long history, R&B lyrics and instrumentation have been a source of inspiration and empowerment for Black Americans — with Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" being clear examples.

Since its inception, R&B has veered away from the jazz and blues that lay at its foundation. These days, artists like Jazmine Sullivan, SZA, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Jhené Aiko, Giveon, and Daniel Caesar rule the genre, but there’s always room for more in the mix. Summer Walker, Victoria Monét, Bryson Tiller, Queen Naija, and a host of others are paying dust to the tired idea that "R&B is dead" by incorporating elements of hip-hop, alternative, and even electronic music into their sound.

And while it may not be your mother’s traditional R&B, it’s worth turning up in embrace of the genre’s ongoing evolution. In honor of Black Music Month, here are seven of R&B’s finest rising stars.

Chloe Bailey

Chloe Bailey is beyond a triple threat — the 24-year-old sings, writes, produces, acts and executes choreography like nobody’s business. She's also one half of the sibling group Chloe x Halle, who came to the fore as Beyoncé’s proteges.

Audiences first met Bailey in the early 2010s when she and younger sister, Halle, started uploading YouTube videos of themselves covering popular songs. Beyoncé saw their version of "Pretty Hurts" and signed the then-teenagers to her management company. Chloe x Halle put out two studio albums — 2018's The Kids Are Alright and 2020's Ungodly Hour — and were nominated for four GRAMMY Awards.

While Halle was in London filming the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, Bailey began piecing together the sounds that would eventually become her 2023 debut solo project: In Pieces. "I use music and therapy in the best way possible. [I've had] a huge range of emotions for these past three years, so I think that's why [In Pieces] feels well-rounded when it comes to the storytelling and my feelings," she told GRAMMY.com.

Two years ahead of In Pieces,  Bailey dropped her debut solo single "Have Mercy." The track reached No. 28 on the Hot 100, showing off the songstress’ sexier, more mature side.

Coco Jones

Coco Jones’ dedication to her music seems to be finally paying off after going the independent route for nearly the past decade.

In late March, the former Disney Channel star — who currently stars as the iconic Hilary Banks on Peacock's reboot of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" — celebrated her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 chart entry. Her sultry single "ICU" peaked at No. 63, as well as cracked the top 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Earning over five million streams in the U.S. alone, the tune appears on the 25-year-old's debut EP, What I Didn't Tell You, released in 2022.

Now signed with High Standardz and Def Jam Recordings, Jones also linked up with 11-time GRAMMY winner Babyface on "Simple," from the R&B legend’s collaborative LP, Girls’ Night Out.

Phabo

Phabo doesn't mind being compared to neo-soul icons D’Angelo and Erykah Badu. Though clearly a student of late ‘90s/early 2000s-adjacent sound, Phabo’s R&B sounds as modern as ever. On his sophomore studio effort, Don't Get Too Cozy, Phabo teamed up with producers Troy Taylor (Boyz II Men, Babyface), Louie Lastic (Kehlani), and Eric Hudson (Nas, Kanye West) for a well-rounded LP that’ll keep new and existing fans wanting more.

"New words, new inflections, new beat patterns [and] new cores. [It’s] more authenticity from the start to the finish," he told Rated R&B about his new music. "I feel like people can look forward to those notes of classic R&B that they grew up listening to and loving as well as the sound that we’re trying to push forward as well."

Upon the 2021 release of his debut studio album, Soulquarius, VICE called then 28-year-old Phabo "R&B's North Star." That might be a lot to live up to, but Phabo seems to be charting the course just fine.

Muni Long

Muni Long may have been nominated for Best New Artist at the 65th GRAMMYs, but the rising star is no stranger to the music industry. With five EPs and three studio albums under her belt, the 34-year-old boasts songwriting credits for big names, including Madonna, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert.

Long has experienced plenty of ups and downs — her 2009 debut album, Jukebox, was met with disappointing sales when she was signed to Capitol Records under her birth name Priscilla Renea. 

Now though, Long is betting on herself as an artist, even launching her own label, Supergiant Records. Not only did Long make history as the first independent female artist to top the R&B Songs chart with her breakout single "Hrs and Hrs" in 2022, but the song’s success later earned her a GRAMMY for Best R&B Performance, as well as a record deal with Def Jam through her label.

"[With ‘Hrs and Hrs’] I can breathe now and can celebrate a little bit," she told GRAMMY.com. "My hand is in every pot as an independent artist… overseeing everything and just making sure that it was authentic. True to me, not allowing other people’s judgments to affect mine."

Kiana Ledé

The spotlight is nothing new for Kiane Ledé. When she was just 14, she won Kidz Bop's KIDZ Star USA talent contest, which led to a deal with RCA Records. Her first single, "Hey Chica" was praised for encouraging "young women to feel beautiful in their own skin."

When RCA dropped Ledé a couple years later, she worked at a gymnastics center and jazz club to make ends meet. Behind the scenes though, she was getting her groove back — her covers of popular songs like Drake's "Hotline Bling" helped her ink a deal with Republic Records.

"Ex," her breakout single off her debut EP, Selfless, skyrocketed to No. 9 on R&B Songs chart in the spring of 2019. But her momentum didn't end there. Months later, Lede's follow-up EP Myself's spawned the single "Bouncin,’" featuring Offset, earning her the No. 30 spot on Billboard's rhythmic airplay chart. 

Following the release of a couple stand-alone singles, including "Easy Breezy," Lede's debut album, Kiki, arrived on the singer’s 23rd birthday. Lead single "Mad at Me" borrows from Outkast's 2000 hit "So Fresh, So Clean." Inspired by her childhood nickname, Kiki debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and features guest appearances from fellow R&B stars Ari Lennox, 6LACK, and Lucky Daye, to name a few.

Jvck James

From Loose Ends and Sade, to Craig David and Estelle, the music industry has seen its share of Black British artists breathe new life into R&B over the decades. Born and raised in East London, Jvck James' covers of popular songs (most notably Whitney Houston’s "I Have Nothing") on YouTube helped him gain a following. At just 12 years old, he was cast as a young Michael Jackson in the West End production of the "Thriller — Live" musical.

Fast forward 13 years later, and James shows no signs of slowing down. He performed at the Berlin-based live music session known as COLORS and churned out three EPs, 2019’s Detour, 2021’s Joyride, and 2022’s On The Rocks — the latter of which birthed "Hennessy Tears," one of his most well-recognized tracks. That same year, Apple Music named the then 28-year-old artist as 2022’s Global Up Next Artist.

Earlier this year, he was also featured on fellow R&B rising star and GRAMMY winner Ambré’s No. 1 hit "I’m Baby" on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay Chart.

Ryan Destiny

Ryan Destiny may be most recognizable from her roles in Lee Daniels' short-lived musical drama series "Star," as well as season three of "Black-ish" spin-off "Grown-ish," but she’s ready for her music close-up. The 28-year-old multi-hyphenate is carefully crafting her long-awaited debut EP; she’s in no rush to drop it, though she’s hinted it could be released this year.

Despite not being backed by major-label budgets — she’s signed to November Yellow, Destiny’s music video for "How Many" racked up over 770,000 views within the past six months on YouTube.

While the future R&B princess’ latest release "Lie Like That" didn’t receive the video treatment, it’s a total earworm that showcases her saucy alter-ego with bold lyrics like "You need me/I don’t need you, you’re so sad" and "When it comes to the horse, I'm high on the bitch/Look down on a bitch."

By the sounds of it, the Detroit native is more than ready to leave her mark on R&B and beyond.

10 Albums That Showcase The Deep Connection Between Hip-Hop And Jazz: De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar & More

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.

The Rise Of Underground House: How Artists Like Fisher & Acraze Have Taken Tech House, Other Electronic Genres From Indie To EDC