Lizzo has won Best Pop Solo Performance for "Truth Hurts" at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards. 

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She beat out fellow nominees Taylor Swift ("You Need To Calm Down"), Ariana Grande ("7 Rings"), Billie Eilish ("bad guy") and Beyoncé ("Spirit").

Lizzo was genuinely caught off guard by the win. "Thank you to The Academy, first of all," she said in her acceptance speech while fighting back tears. "This is really &$@*ing sick, unexpected, really cool. This whole week, I be lost in my problems, stressed out. And then in an instant, all of that can go away, and your priorities really shift. And today, all of my little problems that I thought were big as the world were gone."

"I realized that there's people hurting right now," she continued. "You guys create beautiful music, you guys create connectivity. And as I'm speaking to all of y'all in this room, we need to continue to reach out. This is the beginning of making music that moves people again, making music that feels &$@*ing good, that liberates people." 

She concluded on a high note by shouting out her musical collaborators, record labels (Atlantic Records/Nice Life) and friends. "Thank you so much for lifting me up. Let's continue to reach out, hold each other down and lift each other up."

Lizzo, who made her GRAMMY stage debut by opening the big show with a rousing, flute-heavy performance of her hits "Cuz I Love You" and the now-GRAMMY-winning "Truth Hurts," received the most nominations at the 2020 GRAMMYs with a total of eight nods. At the time of publishing, she has won three GRAMMY Awards, including Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best Urban Contemporary Album. 

Check out the complete 62nd GRAMMY Awards nominees and winners list here.

This October, the GRAMMY Museum celebrates advocates, legends, and rising stars across genres.

From mgk’s Lost Americana rooftop debut to a discussion with Billy Idol and Steve Stevens about their collaborative album Dream Into It, programming spans punk nostalgia, boundary-pushing K-pop, indie rock, and fresh voices redefining pop. Fans can attend exclusive evenings featuring intimate performances, album spotlights, and candid conversations with influential artists — including Good Charlotte, Addison Rae, Leon Thomas, Lucy Dacus, Mt. Joy, and HAIM.

Whether you’re reliving legendary anthems or discovering the next wave of breakout talent, the GRAMMY Museum’s October lineup promises unforgettable nights for every kind of music lover.

The Drop: mgk

Oct. 1, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum welcomes GRAMMY-nominated artist mgk to the Museum for an evening celebrating his latest album release, Lost Americana. 

Mgk is a multi-platinum recording artist who has become a force in music, entertainment, film, and fashion. The Cleveland native broke genre barriers with his 2020 rock/pop-punk album Tickets to My Downfall, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced platinum singles "bloody valentine" and "my ex’s best friend." 

He followed with mainstream sellout, another Billboard 200 No. 1 that earned a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Album and supported a sold-out world tour, including a record-breaking 50,000-seat hometown show at Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Stadium. Released Aug. 8, Lost Americana, marks his seventh Top 10 release and his third consecutive No. 1 on the rock and alternative charts. 

Celebrating the Music of KPop Demon Hunters

Oct. 2, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum is pleased to spotlight the chart-topping music of KPop Demon Hunters and welcome the team behind the soundtrack — GRAMMY-nominated producer Ian Eisendrath (Music Supervisor, Record Producer), EJAE (Artist/Writer), Dana Sano (Soundtrack Album Producer, Executive Music Consultant), and Spring Aspers (Soundtrack Album Producer, President, Music at Sony Pictures) — to the Museum’s Clive Davis Theater for a special discussion about their creative process. The conversation will be moderated by Variety’s Thania Garcia.

A Netflix film from Sony Pictures Animation, KPop Demon Hunters has become a global phenomenon — the soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has already surpassed 3 billion streams worldwide. Its breakout single "Golden" has spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making fictional K-pop group HUNTR/X the first fictional act to top the chart since Encanto, and the first female group to do so since Destiny’s Child in 2001. Acclaimed by critics and fans alike, the film is now Netflix’s most popular film of all time. 

A New York Evening with Mt. Joy

Oct. 2, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

N.Y.C.

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The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome Mt. Joy to the Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in New York City for a special evening celebrating their latest album Hope We Have Fun.

Since forming in 2016, Mt. Joy — comprised of Matt Quinn, Sam Cooper, Jackie Miclau, Sotiris Eliopoulos, and Michael Byrnes — has risen from indie upstarts to arena headliners. With more than one billion global streams, multiple Top 5 AAA radio hits ("Silver Lining," "Lemon Tree," "Highway Queen"), and sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, Red Rocks, and beyond, the Philadelphia-born band has built a reputation for soulful, roots-driven songwriting and unforgettable live performances.

Mt. Joy released their fourth album, Hope We Have Fun, in May 2025, an effort that explores both the excitement and difficulties of life on tour. The record ranges from the upbeat single "She Wants to Go Dancing" to the reflective "More More More." The band is now launching its largest North American tour to date and is slated to perform at major festivals including Governor’s Ball, Bonnaroo, and Newport Folk Festival.

An Evening With Good Charlotte

Oct. 03, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome Good Charlotte for an evening celebrating their latest album Motel Du Cap. The program — moderated by Apple Music’s Travis Mills — will feature a discussion about their creative process and career, followed by a special performance. 

For nearly three decades, brothers Joel Madden (vocals) and Benji Madden (guitar) have led Good Charlotte as genre-bending, multi-platinum rock superstars. From their humble beginnings in Waldorf, Maryland, to global success with hits like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and "The Anthem," the band has sold more than 11 million albums worldwide and earned over 2.3 billion streams to date. The Maddens’ creative reach has expanded into collaborations with artists including 5 Seconds of Summer, Pharrell Williams, Bishop Briggs, and All Time Low.

A New York Evening With Addison Rae

Oct. 4, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

N.Y.C.

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The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome Addison Rae to National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY, for a special evening celebrating her debut album Addison. 

Released in June to critical acclaim, Allison was hailed by Forbes as pop music’s "newest it girl." Singles like "Diet Pepsi" — her Billboard Hot 100 debut — "Aquamarine," "High Fashion," "Headphones On," and "Fame is a Gun" have showcased her rise as one of pop’s most recognizable new voices. 

Beyond music, Addison has made her mark on film, starring in films such as He’s All That and Thanksgiving, and joining the upcoming Animal Friends opposite Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, and Aubrey Plaza. With over 88 million TikTok followers and more than 34 million on Instagram, Addison Rae continues to redefine what it means to be a multi-platform star stepping confidently into her next chapter as a musician.

Spotlight: Leon Thomas

Oct. 6, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum is honored to welcome hit-making artist, songwriter, and producer Leon Thomas to the Museum for an evening celebrating his latest album, MUTT. 

The GRAMMY-winning Brooklyn native has quickly become one of R&B’s most compelling voices. His 2023 debut Electric Dusk featured collaborations with Victoria Monét, Benny the Butcher, and Ty Dolla $ign, while his sophomore album MUTT was lauded as Billboard’s No. 1 R&B Album of 2024. That release produced the platinum-certified title track, which topped Hot R&B Songs and broke into the Hot 100’s Top 20. This May, Thomas released  MUTT Deluxe: HEEL, featuring Kehlani, Big Sean, and Halle.

 Thomas has since been recognized as Billboard’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year, MTV PUSH’s Artist of the Month, and the 2025 BET Awards’ Best New Artist. Beyond music, he’s appeared on Victorious and Insecure. The Recording Academy recently named Thomas the Artist Ambassador for Music Advocacy Day 2025.

An Evening with John Fogerty

Oct. 7, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome John Fogerty to the Ray Charles Terrace for an evening celebrating his new album Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years.

A GRAMMY winner with multiple inductions into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, Fogerty has shaped American music for more than five decades. From his groundbreaking work with Creedence Clearwater Revival — which produced classics such as "Proud Mary," "Fortunate Son" and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" — to his solo career, Fogerty's unique  sound fuses rock, blues, country, and R&B with impeccable catchiness. His career achievements include eight GRAMMY nominations, a win for Blue Moon Swamp, and induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his anthem "Centerfield."

This milestone year, which also marks his 80th birthday, brings the release of Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, featuring newly re-recorded renditions of 20 of his most beloved songs. Inspiration for the project began in 2023, when Fogerty reclaimed ownership of his publishing after decades of legal battles. "I’m 80 years old," he said. "I’m giving myself a gift with this album—and I’m giving my fans a gift at the same time."

Spotlight: Lucy Dacus

Oct. 8, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum welcomes GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter, guitarist, and producer Lucy Dacus for an evening celebrating her latest album Forever Is a Feeling. Dacus first emerged from Richmond, Virginia, with her debut No Burden (2016), and quickly gained acclaim with Historian (2018) and Home Video (2021), which reflected on childhood and adolescence with her signature storytelling style.

Beyond her solo work, she teamed up with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker to form boygenius, whose 2023 album the record won three GRAMMY Awards and cemented the trio as a defining voice of the era. With Forever Is a Feeling (2025), her major-label solo debut, Dacus turns her attention to the complexities of love, desire, and romance on a grand scale. The album is both an intimate reflection and a sweeping attempt to capture the elusive, fleeting feeling of "forever," underscoring why she remains one of today’s most fearless and compelling artists.

An Evening With Billy Idol & Steve Stevens

Oct. 9, 2025 from 7:30 p.m to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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Billy Idol and his longtime collaborator, guitarist and co-songwriter Steve Stevens will visit the Museum for an evening celebrating their new album Dream Into It. The program will include a conversation about their creative process and a live acoustic performance.

Billy Idol has remained one of rock’s most recognizable voices for more than four decades — first as the frontman of  Generation X in the late ’70s, then as a solo artist with guitarist Steve Stevens in 1982. Blending punk attitude with rock ’n’ roll swagger, Idol helped define an era, while his partnership with Stevens has become one of music’s most enduring collaborations. Dream Into It continues that evolution and has earned praise from fans and critics alike as proof that Idol’s legacy is still unfolding.

A New York Evening With Royel Otis

Oct.9, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

N.Y.C

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The GRAMMY Museum’s New York City program series continues with indie rock duo Royel Otis, who will appear at the Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture to discuss  their new album, hickey.

Formed in 2019 in Sydney, Australia, Royel Otis — comprised of Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic — have quickly become one of indie rock’s breakout acts for their sharp mix of melody, humor, and undeniable chemistry. Their debut EPs introduced a playful, hook-driven sound that earned global attention, while their 2024 debut album PRATTS & PAIN cemented their reputation with standout tracks like "Fried Rice" and "Foam." That same year, their viral Triple J Like A Version cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s "Murder on the Dancefloor" became a cultural phenomenon, climbing multiple Billboard charts, and landing at No. 2 on Triple J’s Hottest 100.

The band has since achieved over 220 million global streams with their cover of the Cranberries’ "Linger," played more than 100 sold-out shows worldwide, and swept the 2024 ARIA Awards with four wins, including Best Rock Album and Best Group.

Sensory Friendly Saturdays

Oct. 11, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

L.A.

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Sensory Friendly Saturday takes place on the second Saturday of every month, offering families the chance to explore the Museum in a calmer environment. During these special hours, from 9 to 11 a.m., sound levels are lowered, lighting is softened, and crowds are reduced to create a more comfortable experience. Tickets can be purchased in advance online for the selected Saturday or at the Museum upon arrival.

An Evening With HAIM

Oct. 13, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum is thrilled to welcome HAIM to the Museum for a special evening celebrating their latest album I Quit. Formed in Los Angeles, HAIM — sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana — HAIM's 2020 album Women in Music Pt. III earned a GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year and cemented their reputation for blending rock, pop, and R&B influences with electrifying live performances.

Released in May 2025, I Quit is the trio’s fourth album and their most unrestrained work to date. Co-produced by Danielle Haim and longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij, the record explores themes of reinvention and resilience, capturing both the band’s explosive live energy and inventive studio experimentation. HAIM are currently on a North American headlining tour, with UK dates to follow in October.

Celebrating the Music of The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Oct. 15, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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To mark the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the GRAMMY Museum will host a special evening in the Clive Davis Theater. First released in 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show became the longest-running film in theatrical distribution and a cultural phenomenon, celebrated for its groundbreaking soundtrack and enduring influence on music and pop culture. 

This anniversary program brings together key figures behind its creation and legacy, including producer Lou Adler,  Creative Director David Gorman, legendary actor Tim Curry, and multi-GRAMMY-winning composer David Foster in a conversation moderated by Fat Mike about the music behind the cult classic, followed by an audience Q&A.

The Drop: Braxton Cook

Oct.16, 2025 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

L.A.

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In celebration of his new album Not Everyone Can Go, the GRAMMY Museum will host an evening with Braxton Cook featuring a discussion of his career and creative process, followed by a performance.

Braxton Cook is one of today’s most versatile musicians, known for defying genre and collaborating with artists including Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, Giveon, and Masego. He has toured the world multiple times — making his Blue Note Tokyo debut in 2024 — earned an Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award nomination, and appeared six times on NPR’s famed Tiny Desk Concert series. 

As Cook noted, Not Everyone Can Go is "a reminder to myself and others to take stock in what it is you have and be grateful for the breath in your lungs. It's like, Man, I'm alive. I got up today. I have two beautiful kids. And, it's going to be alright."

Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers

Oct.20, 2025 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum celebrates Tom Petty’s 75th birthday with a special screening of the award-winning documentary Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers. The program will also feature a conversation with director Mary Wharton, Benmont Tench, George Drakoulias, Adria Petty, and Jim Scott, moderated by SiriusXM’s Mark Felsot.

Drawing from a trove of never-before-seen 16mm film discovered in Tom Petty’s archive in 2020, the documentary explores the making of Petty’s 1994 masterpiece Wildflowers, his first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. Blending archival footage with new interviews, the 89-minute film captures both the creative process and the personal transitions that shaped the record.

Since premiering at SXSW in 2021, it has earned multiple awards and critical acclaim as an intimate, unvarnished portrait of one of rock’s most enduring artists.

Reel to Reel: Janis Ian: Breaking Silence

Oct. 21, 2025 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

L.A.

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The GRAMMY Museum presents a special screening of the documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, followed by an intimate conversation with 10-time GRAMMY nominee Janis Ian and Emmy-winning director Varda Bar-Kar.

A fearless singer/songwriter since her teenage years, Ian has built a groundbreaking career that spans more than six decades, earning GRAMMY wins for "At Seventeen" and her spoken word autobiography Society’s Child. With nominations across eight different Categories, she remains one of the most versatile artists of her generation. Her latest nomination for The Light at the End of the Line in 2023 brought her career full circle, underscoring her enduring impact.

Directed by Varda Bar-Kar, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence explores Ian’s life, songwriting, and legacy as an artist who gave voice to social issues long before it was commonplace. The film, which made its broadcast premiere on PBS’ "American Masters" in June 2025, features appearances from Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, Laurie Metcalf, and more.

Living up to her feline persona, Doja Cat is an artist who's had many musical lives. From swirling pop anthems like "Say So" to rap records with the likes of Saweetie ("Best Friend") and City Girls ("Pussy Talk"), the GRAMMY-winning star has explored several sides of her artistry — and she's done it again with Vie.

Out now, Doja Cat's fifth studio album — whose title translates to "Life" in French — is a retro-futurist reflection on love, identity and the experience of living and reliving. And as lead single "Jealous Type" indicated, the LP leans into Doja Cat's pop sensibilities with '80s-inspired sounds.

On Vie, Doja keeps things light and fun with tracks like the funk-pop "Gorgeous," the groovy "Couples Therapy," and the lively "Take Me Dancing" featuring her "Kiss Me More" collaborator, SZA. She channels nostalgia on this album, not just of the '80s, but of her past musical styles that made her loved by many. In the disco-anthem "AAAH Men," we're reminded of her magnetically punchy bars, while "Acts of Service" and "Make It Up" take us back to her R&B ways.

Doja excels at keeping things fresh, all while staying true to herself and her artistry. And as she recently told V Magazine, Vie helped her realize just how wide-ranging her creativity is.

"Sometimes I'm surprised by what I can do now," she admitted. "I have a lot more knowledge of how to use my voice as an instrument, more than I ever have in my life."

In honor of the release of Vie, revisit nine of Doja Cat's singles that display her many musical sides.

"Candy" (Amala, 2018)

After releasing her EP Purrr! in 2014, Doja Cat took a creative break and returned to the music scene teasing her debut album with two provocative releases, "Go To Town" and "Candy."

While "Mooo!" and its meme-friendly video made Doja Cat a viral star, the second single from her debut album, "Candy," established her affinity for clever lyricism and a genre-blurring sound. "Candy" was also her first song to chart, hinting that she was on her way to big things.

"Tia Tamera" (Amala (Deluxe), 2019)

Almost exactly a year after releasing Amala, Doja issued a deluxe edition with three new tracks, including "Mooo!" But it was "Tia Tamera" that really showed the pop-rap stylings and witty songwriting that would make her a star.

She teamed up with fellow rapper Rico Nasty for the boastful track, trading bars that likened their breasts to twin actresses Tia and Tamera Mowry — one of many creative (and sexually charged) metaphors in the track. Along with leaning into Doja's humorous, irreverent writing style, "Tia Tamera" also helped prove her prowess as a collaborator.

"Say So" (Hot Pink, 2019)

By the time Doja began the rollout for her second studio album, Hot Pink, with a Tyga remix of her fan-favorite track "Juicy," she was certainly one to watch. And with the release of "Say So," she would soon turn her rising star status into superstardom.

Records were broken, trendy TikTok dances were recreated (which Doja later spotlighted in the disco-inspired visuals) and the rest was history, literally. While the retro-pop track initially debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, a surprise remix featuring Nicki Minaj pushed it to No.1 — a first for both artists.

The punchy, swirling pop track put Doja's artistry on full display. From the airy vocals and steady flow to the legendary co-sign from a rapper she's long admired, "Say So" marked a career-defining moment for Doja that set the stage for what was to come.

"Streets" (Hot Pink, 2019)

After scoring a massive pop hit with "Say So" and further flexing her rap skills on follow-up single "Like That," Doja closed out the Hot Pink era by showing a completely different side of her artistry with final single "Streets."

The steamy three-minute ballad features slow trap beats and a mix of breathy vocals and sultry bars. Perhaps most notably, "Streets" saw Doja express her feelings for an on-and-off lover more seriously than she typically had ("You the type I wanna marry and keep you merry/ I'll put the ring on when you ready," she raps). "Streets" remains one of the most versatile and raw tracks in her catalog, vocally and lyrically. 

"Kiss Me More" (Planet Her, 2021)

As "Streets" was still making waves, Doja kicked off the Planet Her era by returning to her pop stylings alongside SZA with "Kiss Me More." The disco-infused track brilliantly interpolates Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," yet another display of Doja's ever-evolving sound.

Combining fun lyrics, fiery bars and a catchy melody, "Kiss Me More" is a combination of everything Doja has become known and loved for. Perhaps that's why she was visibly emotional when she accepted her first GRAMMY for the track, which was named Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2022 GRAMMYs — along with recognizing that it was a hit song, the win acknowledged years of hard work and pushing creative boundaries.

"Woman" (Planet Her, 2021)

While the first few singles from Planet Her tapped into her pop sensibilities and rap skills, the fourth single "Woman" proved that she can do Afrobeats just as well. The high-energy track features a pulsing, punchy beat that provides a striking soundtrack to its empowering lyrics.

Bouncing between deep, sultry vocals and fast-paced bars, Doja suggested that there's truly no sound she can't master with "Woman." It's no wonder that the female empowerment anthem earned three nominations at the 2023 GRAMMYs, including her third Record Of The Year nod in a row.

"Paint The Town Red" (Scarlet, 2023)

To usher in her Scarlet era, Doja Cat told off naysayers in haunting fashion with "Paint The Town Red." Over a funk-infused trap beat, she loosely addresses comments she's made in response to those who don't approve of her pop-leaning rap music — firing back with impactful bars like, "You can't talk no s— without penalties/ B—, I'm in yo' s— if you send for me/ I'm going to glow up one more time."

The song further displays that Doja isn't afraid to address certain topics with her music, and she's going to continue to stay true to herself even if it causes backlash. This is a recurring theme throughout Scarlet, reflected in other tracks like "Attention" and "Shutcho."

"Agora Hills" (Scarlet, 2023)

Once again showcasing her versatility, Doja followed Scarlet's fiery, rap-heavy lead single with a slow jam. On the seductive and frisky "Agora Hills," she delivers racy lyrics and playful ad-libs over a blend of R&B melodies and trap beats.

Along with continuing to stretch her musical range, Doja unabashedly leans into her campy side with "Agora Hills." Whether she's rapping in a Valley-girl accent or flirting with bawdy humor, she declares that she's assured in who she is — as a lover and an artist.

"Jealous Type" (Vie, 2025)

After tapping into everything from rap and R&B to experimental jazz and rock with her previous albums, Doja hinted at a new musical chapter with the lead single for Vie. "Jealous Type" sees the GRAMMY winner singing and rapping over upbeat '80s production, setting the tone for the set's throwback vibes.

With breathy falsettos and dynamic snares, "Jealous Type" is reminiscent of the infectious pop hits that made Doja a star. But as she's always done, she stretches her creative limits yet again, reminding the world that she will never stop evolving.  

As Mariah Carey settles into the Friday night before Labor Day, she's the picture of cozy luxury, eating Chinese food and sipping a glass of wine. And as the superstar asserts, she wouldn't have it any other way: "The Era of Mi is fabulous."

Just a few days earlier, the five-time GRAMMY winner had heralded the "Era of Mi" in the countdown to her long-awaited 16th studio album, Here For It All. 

"The Era of Mi basically just means, like, I'm gonna do whatever I want," she declared on social media, seated elegantly in front of a gigantic screen displaying the album's beaming, black-and-white cover art. "It's really just about owning the moment." 

For both singer and her devoted Lambily, the moment in question has been a long time coming. After all, a new Mariah Carey album doesn't come around every day: Here For It All marks the icon's first collection of original music since 2018's chilly, atmospheric Caution. 

With its carefree attitude and timeless sound, the studio set not only embraces Mimi's outlook in her newly declared era, it serves as a jubilant celebration of everything she's built throughout her record-breaking career. Across its 11 tracks, the music of Here For It All represents everything Mariah does best — from laying bare a broken heart with commanding poise on "In Your Feelings" to throwing her trademark shade with devastating accuracy on the withering "I Won't Allow It."

Out Sept. 26, the album also provides a new soundtrack for what's turned out to be a particularly celebratory year for Carey. She just marked the 20th anniversary of her landmark, GRAMMY-winning 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi with a sprawling, 40-track re-release filled with remixes, previously unreleased bonus tracks, live cuts and more.

In recent months, she's also received recognition at numerous different awards shows for, remarkably, the very first time in her career. In June, she was honored with the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards; months later, she received the Michael Jackson Vanguard Video Award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards. ("I can't believe I'm getting my first VMA tonight…I just have one question: what in the Sam Hill were you waiting for?" she quipped to rapturous applause during her acceptance speech for the latter.)

In the intervening near-decade since her last album, the Songbird Supreme has also added exciting and mind-blowingly successful layers to the unparalleled business of being Mariah Carey — including publishing The Meaning of Mariah Carey, her No. 1 New York Times best-selling memoir; collaborating with pals like Ariana Grande ("yes, and?") and Latto ("Big Energy"); and completely dominating the Christmas season, thanks to "All I Want For Christmas Is You" making its annual trip to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the last six years and counting. 

And yet, amid the nonstop accomplishments and festivities, Mariah was also quietly at work in The Butterfly Lounge, her home recording studio/personal sanctuary, creating new music with a handful of trusted collaborators. According to Carey, the birth of Here For It All occurred thanks to those signature "Mariah ballads" she teased in a June sit-down with Apple Music. "I didn't really know where they were going, what we were doing," she recalled, "I just knew that I was in ballad zone."

The first song to come out of those early sessions was "Nothing Is Impossible," an inspirational number that follows in the grand tradition of past anthems like "Hero," "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" and The Emancipation of Mimi's Lambily-adored closer "Fly Like a Bird."

There's also "Here For It All," a personal favorite Mariah loved so much that she decided to make it the title track for the entire project. ("I named the album Here For It All because I didn't want anyone to skip over that one — even though it's the last one on the album," she quips.) Each intimate song proves that there's also a raw, vulnerable side to the Era of Mi, too — one that pulls back the curtain to show fans even more of the humanity behind one of the world's greatest voices.

Carey's new era is hardly all big ballads and melisma, though. On the chic, self-referential album opener "Mi," she sets the tone by leaning fully into her persona as the music industry's most fabulous diva, proudly declaring, "I don't care about much if it ain't about Mi/ Let the money talk first, conversations ain't free/ I'm the D-I-V-A, that's MC/ I'm the hot toddie, hottie body, yea that's tea."

And when it came time to kickstart the official roll-out for Here For It All at the beginning of the summer, she selected the hotshot "Type Dangerous" as its lead single — a banger that finds her strutting through a crowd of adoring, autograph-hungry fans on the hunt for a bad boy (all while "dripped in Balenci', cropped leather coat and some nine-inch Fendis," naturally).

With its swaggering sound rooted in old-school soul and new jack swing, "Type Dangerous" quickly earned Mariah the milestone 50th hit of her career on the Billboard Hot 100. It also turned into a crossover success at both urban and pop radio, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult R&B Songs chart, reaching the top 10 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and reaching the Top 40 of numerous pop tallies.

While the icon says that she was "super happy" about the single's success, she also gushes over sampling Eric B. and Rakim's 1986 debut single, "Eric B. Is President," on the track: "I mean, that sample is my favorite. Like, people have no idea how much I love that song." And though Carey admits she was initially hesitant to utilize such a treasured hip-hop classic, the choice led to yet another milestone moment this year, with Rakim joining her for an opulent, history-making performance on the BET Awards stage in June.

Along with sampling the song's stuttering, instantly recognizable refrain — "Ma-ma-make 'em, make 'em clap to this!" — Mariah cleverly interpolated some of Rakim's own lyrics from "Eric B. Is President" into the rhyme scheme of "Type Dangerous." But the most savage stanza is all Mimi as she coos, "Hit the little girls room to powder my nose/ Then came in three hatin' ass hoes/ They don't know the meaning of water nor soap/ I don't have time for the rigamarole."

Of course, hearing an unfamiliar word like "rigamarole" in a Mariah Carey song should come as no surprise to anyone who's been listening for the last 35 years. After all, the songstress has been expanding the Lambs' understanding of the English language from the moment she found herself "so enraptured" on "Vanishing," the pristine, melismatic ballad from her 1990 self-titled debut. In Mariah's world, why use a boring, basic word when you can educate the masses with something fabulous instead? 

It's not just the "rigamarole," either. The singer's sense of wordplay remains as reliably razor-sharp as ever throughout Here For It All — whether she's delivering an onomatopoeic "Clink, clink, clink, pow/ Look at me now" on the bittersweet "Confetti & Champagne," or promising she's "gonna use [her] expertise" to keep it "nice, nice, neat, neat" on the album's delightful, dancehall-inflected second single, "Sugar Sweet."

As Carey tells it, her legendary lyrical prowess is actually rooted more in the emotion of the moment rather than an academic approach to choosing the perfect word or turn of phrase. 

"It's more like, What is my vibe right now? What am I feeling? And then sometimes, a specific word will just come to me that works within the sentence that we're singing. So I use it," she explains matter-of-factly. "And it's so funny, 'cause a lot of people say to me, 'I learned to speak English from you' and different things like that. It's amazing."

On the business front, Here For It All marks Carey's first release under her very own namesake imprint, MARIAH, in an exclusive partnership with gamma. "I was so tired of the major label system," she sighs. "They're bleak, darling." 

Carey personally shouted out gamma. during each of her two acceptance speeches at the VMAs on Sept. 7. But in conversation, the Elusive Chanteuse remains rather, well, elusive about the specifics of her deal with the pioneering media company and how it may or may not change the ownership structure of her catalog.

"I've been doing this for a long time now, and I don't know what gives me more control, what doesn't," she muses. "It's just an interesting life." (Coincidentally, since its founding in 2023 by former Apple executive Larry Jackson, gamma. has also helped many of Carey's past collaborators, including Snoop Dogg, Usher, Rick Ross and French Montana, release their own records as well.)

While each of those stars have helped Mariah capture the zeitgeist over the decades on fan-favorite tracks like "It's Like That," "Crybaby" and "How Much," she went in an altogether different and more Mi-inspired direction with one particular quartet of collaborators on Here For It All: The Clark Sisters.

Together with the modern gospel icons, Carey wrote and recorded the reverential worship song "Jesus I Do." And as it turns out — despite being one of the most famous and successful artists in Billboard history — Carey is the first to admit she found herself positively starstruck once the pioneers of the famous "Clark Sound" walked into the studio. 

"I've wanted to work with them forever. Especially Karen. All of them, but especially Karen because she's the First Lady!" she raves over collaborating with the GRAMMY-winning sister act. "It was just like a miracle — they were The Clark Sisters, and there they were sitting on the couch next to me. I have no words for how amazing that was."

Releasing her first album in nearly seven years has also given Mariah — a star notoriously averse to acknowledging the passage of time — the rare opportunity to reflect on each chapter of her historic career, which she's done album by album in the lead-up to Here For It All's unveiling. 

"You know, sometimes I like it, sometimes I'm like, 'Ahh, I can't look at this, I don't want to look at this!'" MC jokes about the choice to revisit each of her 16 album covers. (She also spilled plenty of behind-the-scenes tea on the trip down memory lane — from the fact that "somebody didn't want [her] to be that uncovered" in the super-cropped artwork for 1993's Music Box to shooting the cover of 2002's Charmbracelet in Capri, Italy.) 

"But it is great, because I'm able to reminisce … From the time I first started till now, it's a pretty long time," she continues before dropping her voice and deadpanning, "But I don't know numbers."

One number Carey is willing to recognize is the 30th anniversary of 1995's Daydream, which magically happens to coincide with the release date for Here For It All. And in conversation, it's clear that the record, which was certified 11x Platinum by the RIAA and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, remains a cherished memory worth celebrating for the superstar.

"I would have to say that 'Always Be My Baby,' my first song that I wrote with my dear friend Jermaine [Dupri] — that's one of my favorite memories from Daydream," she says, before adding fellow charttopper "Fantasy" to the list. 

"Especially the version with O.D.B.," Mariah continues. "And everybody was telling me, 'Oh, you shouldn't do that. Why are you gonna work with him? What does that mean? Why are you even doing that?' And they didn't know what they were talking about, and then it went on to be one of my biggest records ever." (Clearly, as every Lamb well knows, following her artistic intuition despite the naysayers has been a guiding principle in Mariah's career since long before she put a name to it in her current Era of Mi.)

Next up, the singer is set to return to her throne as the Queen of Christmas with her latest residency, Mariah Carey's Christmastime in Las Vegas (once "It's Time," of course). The slate of festive shows run from Nov. 28 through Dec. 13 at the Dolby Live at Park MGM, but don't expect Carey to hit the road for a tour any time soon.

"I just want to take a little time for me — the Era of Mi," she says. "I think we're gonna do a deluxe album and then take it from there. But right now, I just really don't want anyone to tell me that we're gonna do any kind of touring. I can't handle it."

Instead, after getting some magical help from Santa Claus and Rudolph through the holiday season, Mariah plans on jetting off for a private holiday in the sun where things will remain, obviously, all about Mi: "Up my sleeve is Eleuthra. It's a beautiful place in the Bahamas, and I've gotta go there. [It's going to be] next level. Eras and eras of Mi."

Sarah McLachlan is not sure how many albums she has left in her — but she knew she had to make Better Broken.

The pop rock veteran's first album of new material in 11 years is a cathartic exercise of finding beauty within the madness. While McLachlan has long used music to navigate her feelings — and the malaise and uncertainty ever-present in our modern world — Better Broken shares her knowledge, strength and hope for humans to come together. 

The 11-song set is a collection of tracks McLachlan has had for several years and others she's been inspired to write in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the face of the world's current political climate. After taking time away from music to pursue other projects and raise her two daughters, she thought about not only what she needed to say, but how crucial it was to say it.

"When I started to work on the album I thought this might be my last record, so I owed it to myself to step out of my comfort zone," McLachlan tells GRAMMY.com. "It was really important for me to come to a place with this record where I felt brave enough — and confident enough — to speak my mind, perhaps, more directly than I ever have in the past."

The result is arguably the most thought-provoking album of her career. And it's one that lingers — from the beauty of the title track, which finds McLachlan at peace with past failures, to women's empowerment anthem "One in a Long Line," which features hard-hitting lines like, "I've worked hard to know myself, you don't get to decide/ What I believe, what I give up, how I grieve/ So take your dirty hands off of my wheel."

McLachlan has built a career singing songs that resonate with listeners, whether they are about matters of the heart or about the universal human condition. Her legacy was further cemented through Lilith Fair, the groundbreaking all-women's music festival she created in 1997; the fest was recently chronicled in a new feature documentary, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 13, the doc highlights several poignant themes that carry through the album. And with Better Broken arriving just six days later, McLachlan reminded fans that the voice behind her message is as strong and powerful as ever.

Catching up with McLachlan a few days after the film's world premiere finds the three-time GRAMMY winner all smiles. Her gratitude is palpable. During an engaging conversation, she spoke about her return to music, Lilith Fair's legacy and the inspiration behind some of the stirring songs on Better Broken.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. That must have been an incredible and moving experience to witness this story come to life on the big screen.

It was quite unbelievable. I know I was there, and I know I did all that stuff, but it felt like I was watching another person. Maybe that's just the magic of cinema? But to see it on the big screen in this amazing cinematic masterpiece that captured those three years in the late 1990s succinctly and beautifully and molding it into 90 minutes, I was just so proud, grateful and overwhelmed. 

They did such an amazing job telling the story … I remember all those moments and so much more. It was incredible to revisit it and what made it even more special is Paula Cole and Joan Osborne both showed up at the premiere. I had not seen either of them in years.

The more things change the more they remain the same. This aphorism credited with French critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr feels apropos when thinking about today's political climate. Nearly 30 years on since Lilith Fair created a supportive space for women and showed the music industry and the male-gazers the power of the women's voices to stand — and tour — on their own, do you feel things are any better today for women in the music industry and in society?

Well, the music industry definitely looks very different these days, but if you look at the world right now, in many ways, we are heading backwards again. Life is cyclical. Music is cyclical. Patterns are cyclical. In some ways, many things have progressed and moved forward greatly for women. 

The challenge often, when there's a huge seismic shift, like the "Me Too" movement for instance, where all of a sudden there's this newfound awareness, obviously not for us as women, but perhaps for men, there's this general consensus now of, Okay, we women can now feel way more comfortable and confident to say, 'Hey, that's not okay. I don't want to be treated like that. I don't want to be talked to like that.' And with that there was this incredible empowerment for us.

The flip side, unfortunately, is the knee-jerk reaction from men of having their power taken away. Not all men, but a lot of men going, "Oh, wow, we have to change the way we behave now." For most evolved men, they're like, "Well, I get it. I can learn. I can change and we'll figure this out." But then, there's a faction of men who are holding on to their power and having no interest in changing things and we're certainly seeing this play out today in the political world.

That's pretty hard to digest most days, isn't it?

It is disheartening and it is upsetting, but I look at Lilith — what we achieved, and the beauty and the strength in that — and I think that message is so important to bring to the younger generation today, especially women who are perhaps feeling like, "Really, are we here again?" or other young women who do not even realize how challenging it was, and being surprised by this, but the reality is that we've seen this time and time again. 

We've seen this pattern repeat and there's always a step backwards before there's a step forward. My hope is that what people will take from this documentary, especially women, and especially any marginalized person, is that when we stand together and when we support each other and lift each other up, things shift. Sure, it pisses people off, too, but it's super important to stand together and to stand for what you believe in and to support each other instead of tearing each other down.

That's a perfect segue into talking about some of the overarching themes on the new record Better Broken and some of the songs. Let's start with the hard-hitting, no holds-barred female empowerment song, "One in a Long Line," with acerbic lines like, "F— your judgment, your violence/ I am a wildfire/ I am a forest burned/ But I will rise, you'll see/ And if you think that you can bring me down/ Well, go ahead and call the cavalry." Speak to that song and that moral struggle artists often have of getting overly political and using their voice to speak out on issues.

I had a lot of trepidation going into this record and deciding what I was going to talk about, partly because of that. There's this crazy cancel culture and everybody's sitting behind their screens spitting out the most mean and unpleasant things and judging everybody.

It was really important for me to come to a place with this record where I felt brave enough — and confident enough — to speak my mind, perhaps, more directly than I ever have in the past. Part of learning that ability came from Lilith, and also being out of the industry and out of the limelight for a long time. 

It also came from looking at the way our current culture/society is so quick to cancel people for having a different opinion. We can't have discourse about things anymore. People are just instantly off in their corners, left and right, shrieking and screaming, and it's like, This is not going to get us anywhere. We need to speak our minds, but we also need to stay open and curious and continue to try and build bridges. That's a large part of what music does … it creates an opening in our emotional worlds and allows us to see humanity in ourselves and in each other.

Music provides that moment where sometimes we can leave our labels at the door — our politics and our bridges, our religious and social beliefs — and all of a sudden find common ground in something that reminds us of our shared humanity. I know it sounds really Utopian, but I'm a firm believer it's like that. 

You can never underestimate the power of a moment, and the power of somebody doing or saying something that resonates really powerfully with other people, that can create positive change, even if it's just a ripple. Those ripples go out into the world, and it allows for a softening and allows for shifts to happen. If we're going to survive, we have to start listening to each other and start figuring out a way together instead of apart.

Better Broken is your first studio album of all new material in 11 years. Why so long between records?

Life just kind of got in the way. I was raising two teenage daughters and was a very busy dance mom for several years! I'm also the principal fundraiser for my music school, which was almost a full-time job, and I still continued to play shows even though I wasn't touring. And, during a lot of this time, I was in between record labels, so I didn't have a deadline. So I just got busy doing other things. I wrote a little bit, and forgot about it, and then I wrote a little bit more, until I felt maybe I had enough material to make a record. 

"Rise," which I started writing with Luke Doucet, is one of the first songs that started the process towards this new record. It began just coming out of the pandemic as this hopeful lament about the world, thinking that, maybe this crazy, awful thing that happened would actually bring us together … not so much as it turned out.

But these beautiful lines from that song really struck: "We're going to need each other/ Sisters and brothers/ Who do we turn to/ If we turn on each other." That's so profound and so true and that kind of paved the way for me saying, "I'm ready to make a record" and "This feels like we need to hear this so I need to get this out right now." It still took two and a half years!

Was part of what took time stepping out of your comfort zone and working with two new producers in Tony Berg and Will Maclellan?

For sure. When I started to work on the album I thought this might be my last record, so I thought I owed it to myself to step out of my comfort zone. I've always worked with producer Pierre Marchand and I absolutely love and adore him. I love the records we've made together, but I thought I should try and challenge myself and do something a little different because it just felt like a safe choice to go back to Pierre. Honestly, at first, it felt like cheating, not working with him, but he was very gracious and lovely and told me to go for it. 

So I started working with Tony Berg and Will Maclellan, a fellow Canadian, and it reignited this passion that I had forgot about — being in the studio, and the exploration and the discovery of finding out what this song could become above and beyond me just writing it on guitar or piano in the privacy of my living room. That was really exciting. It was also very creative and collaborative. 

After that, things came together relatively quickly. I had six or seven songs on top of everything else that was a grouping of songs about an old relationship that had long since run its course and that was well behind me. I needed to write these songs as part of my process … it's really cathartic as a songwriter and it's my therapy.

But, when I brought them back out, I was like, "I don't want to give that old thing any more energy." Tony felt the same way.  I had this moment of, "Ah s—! Now I don't have enough songs for a record," but Tony was like, "Let's just start working on what you do have." And, as we did that, creativity just begot more creativity. Then it was other songs that were sort of ideas that were a lot easier to finish because I was just in that mode and I was doing nothing but making music. 

"If This is the End," the song that closes the record, is a hopeful tune; yet, it's also quite sad. How did this rumination about the end of the world arrive?

I guess it is somewhat hopeful. That song idea started with a guitar riff from 14 years ago that Lyle Workman showed me using Nashville tuning, which takes all the octave/high strings within a 12-string set and puts them on a six-string guitar. This tuning creates such a beautiful sound. I wrote that part using this technique and I also wrote the bridge to that song, lyrically, but I never had anything else — just the melody. 

I played that for Tony and we were talking about the end of the world, just because s— is getting crazy, right? These are things that I've been thinking about, like, What's my place as an artist? What's my place as a humanitarian? and What do I have to say anymore? I figured that I have to find a way to talk about this stuff that's kind of scary and find a place to put it so that it's not overwhelming all the time. 

Tony reminded me of this movie, On the Beach, from the 1950s, about the atomic bomb and how Australia was the last place on earth where the bomb was yet to hit. Everybody knew it was coming and there was a whole story surrounding that, but they all just ended up walking out to the beach and singing "Waltzing Matilda." What a beautiful story! 

I hadn't seen the film, but Tony told me the story and I started to think that's what I would do if it was the end of the world. I'd go to the beach and I'd probably bring some really good tequila and just hold on to people you love and sing.

Speaking of tequila, I understand you all did a few shots and sang on the final day, and that spirit of camaraderie and joy ended up in the final mix?

Yeah, that was the magic of Tony. He was like, "We should get everybody together, folks who worked on the record, and a bunch of their friends, and we should have this thing at the end." It was our last day in the studio and so we all got together, we got a bartender, and got everybody drunk and sang the song out. It was such a beautiful end to the record. 

The song is also sad because we f—ed it all up, didn't we? We really f—ed everything up, and now we're paying the price. But there's some kind of weird, sad hopefulness and sad euphoria in it, too — we're all together here, so let's just drink and sing like an Irish bar/pub song. 

That's kind of the overall theme of the record, isn't it? Hopefulness and the power of music to unite us and help us heal.

Music is so personal and I purposely write, to a certain degree, a little ambiguously, about certain things so that there's a story, but as soon as I release it to the world it becomes about what's important to you and what you, as a listener, get from it. What's the story for you? How do you impose your story onto it so it then becomes your story? 

I hope that people take this record and take it as medicine, or take it for whatever they need it for, and I hope that it lifts them and helps them feel less alone and maybe helps them feel more connected.

Where did that phrase "better broken," the first single and title of the record come from?

Well, that was actually the first song I wrote with Matt Morris about 14 years ago. Again, it was one of the ones that didn't make it on the record back then because we didn't have a bridge and it wasn't quite done and we ran out of time. So, I brought it out of the archives and played it for Tony and he loved it. So we worked that up, and it just kind of became an emblem for the whole record. 

I'm 57, and none of us get to this point unscathed. As privileged and lucky as I am in my life, I've still seen and felt a lot of pain and challenges and loss and grief, and we all have to find a way to process that stuff. For me, music has always been the way through, so "better broken" just felt like it captured this idea. 

We all fall down. We all get hurt and have our hearts ripped out. We suffer. And, we have to figure out a way to patch ourselves up and pick ourselves back up and keep moving forward for the sake of ourselves — and for the sake of our children — and find a way to move forward with grace, or as much grace as one can muster and continue to find purpose. 

To me, that is the message of this record. It's about resilience. It's about reclamation of self. It's about finding joy and finding love again, and gratitude.