World Soundtrack Awards Nominees Announced
The World Soundtrack Academy announced nominees for the 2012 World Soundtrack Awards with GRAMMY winners Alexandre Desplat, Howard Shore and John Williams garnering nominations for Film Composer of the Year and Best Original Film Score of the Year for The Ides Of March, Hugo and The Adventures Of Tintin, respectively. Garnering nominations in the Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film category were GRAMMY winners Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Damon Thomas, and Recording Academy Los Angeles Chapter Governor Harvey Mason Jr. ("The Living Proof" from The Help); Madonna ("Masterpiece" from W.E.); Bret McKenzie ("Man Or Muppet from The Muppets); and Sinead O'Connor ("Lay Your Head Down" from Albert Nobbs). Winners will be announced during the Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium, on Oct. 20. In other awards news, Latin GRAMMY winners Juanes and Wisin Y Yandel, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and Romeo received nominations for cable network TR3's Latino Artist of the Year award. The winner will be announced during the network's Spanish-subtitled broadcast of the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 15. (8/14)  

This year's Met Gala invited guests to step into the enchanting "Garden of Time" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where fashion meets fantasy. Celebrating the Met's exhibit "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," the first Monday in May saw stars transform the red carpet into a vibrant display of sartorial storytelling. The theme showcased a collection too delicate to wear but alive with the stories of fashion's past.

From co-chairs Zendaya and Bad Bunny to Tyla and Jennifer Lopez, see how music icons and film stars embodied this year's theme with spectacular flair. The gala not only highlighted the sensory and emotional richness of fashion but also set the stage for a night of memorable styles — groundbreaking florals, tiered tulle and all. 

Explore the full spectrum of this year's enchanting looks from fashion's grandest night in the showcase below.

Bad Bunny

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez

Photo: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Zendaya

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Tyla

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Glover

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Stray Kids

Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Jon Batiste

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Queen Latifah

John Shearer/WireImage/Getty Images

Kylie Minogue

Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Christian Cowan and Sam Smith

Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jack Harlow

Marleen Moise/Getty Images

Teyana Taylor

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Ariana Grande

Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Rosalía

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Laufey

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Shakira

John Shearer/WireImage

Doja Cat

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

FKA Twigs, Stella McCartney, Ed Sheeran & Cara Delevingne

John Shearer/WireImage

Lana Del Ray

Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Karol G

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Lil Nas X

John Shearer/WireImage

Charli XCX

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Cardi B

Gotham/Getty Images

Dua Lipa

Gotham/Getty Images

Lizzo

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Eryka Badu

Gotham/Getty Images

Dua Lipa Is Confidently In Love On 'Radical Optimism': 4 Takeaways From The New Album

The Recording Academy has partnered with leading online learning platform Coursera on GRAMMY GO, a new online initiative to offer classes tailored for music creators and industry professionals.

This partnership empowers the next generation of the music community with practical, up-to-the moment digital content that provides wisdom for both emerging and established members of the industry. Continuing the Academy’s ongoing mission to serve all music people, courses cover a variety of specializations tailored to creative and professional growth. 

GRAMMY GO on Coursera includes courses taught by Recording Academy members, featuring GRAMMY winners and nominees and offers real-life lessons learners can put to work right away.

Starting today, enrollment is open for GRAMMY GO’s first Coursera specialization, "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals," taught by Joey Harris, international music/marketing executive and CEO of Joey Harris Inc. The course features Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and five-time GRAMMY winner Jimmy Jam, 10-time GRAMMY nominee Janelle Monáe and three-time GRAMMY winner and the 2024 GRAMMYs Best New Artist Victoria Monét. This foundational specialization will help participants gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to build a strong brand presence and cultivate a devoted audience within the ever-changing music industry. 

The partnership’s second course, launching later this summer, aims to strengthen the technological and audio skills of a music producer. "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" will be taught by Carolyn Malachi, Howard University professor and GRAMMY nominee, and will include appearances by GRAMMY winner CIRKUT, three-time GRAMMY winner Hit-Boy, artist and celebrity vocal coach Stevie Mackey, five-time GRAMMY nominee and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr., and 15-time GRAMMY winner Judith Sherman. Pre-enrollment for "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" opens today.

"Whether it be through a GRAMMY Museum program, GRAMMY Camp or GRAMMY U, the GRAMMY organization is committed to helping music creators flourish, and the Recording Academy is proud to introduce our newest learning platform, GRAMMY GO, in partnership with Coursera," said Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy. "A creator’s growth path is ongoing and these courses have been crafted to provide learners with the essential tools to grow in their professional and creative journeys."

"We are honored to welcome GRAMMY GO, our first entertainment partner, to the Coursera community," said Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera. "With these self-paced online specializations, aspiring music professionals all over the world have an incredible opportunity to learn directly from iconic artists and industry experts. Together with GRAMMY GO, we can empower tomorrow's pioneers of the music industry to explore their passion today."

GRAMMY GO also serves as the music community’s newest digital hub for career pathways and editorial content that provides industry insights for members of the industry; visit go.grammy.com for more. For information and enrollment, please visit the landing pages for "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals" and "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song."

Meet 5 GRAMMY Nominees Who Started At GRAMMY U: From Boygenius Engineer Sarah Tudzin To Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying

Since the 1999 launch of her unstoppable music career, Jennifer Lopez has released eight studio albums and over 60 singles that have racked up billions of streams worldwide. So it's hard to believe there's been a full decade between the multihyphenate's last album, 2014's A.K.A., and her ninth studio LP, This Is Me… Now.

Released on Feb. 16 and described as "an intimate, fantastical and narrative-driven reflection of Lopez's journey to find love," This Is Me… Now is the highly anticipated sequel to Lopez's now-iconic This Is Me… Then. The 2002 project spawned megahits "Jenny From the Block" and "All I Have," but it's the hidden gems like "The One," "Again" and "I've Been Thinkin'" that perfectly capture a special moment in time for Lopez, whose then-budding romance with Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck was beginning to take the world by storm.

Though their widely beloved (and broadcasted) romance fizzled in the early 2000s, "Bennifer" is back together two decades later — and in classic J.Lo fashion, love is inspiring her more than anything else. The 20-year span between losing each other and reconnecting is chronicled in This Is Me… Now, Lopez's self-proclaimed magnum opus.

"In a strange magical twist of fate, I wound up back together with Ben, and it inspired me again to go back in the studio in the same way I did with This Is Me… Then," Lopez tells GRAMMY.com. "I believe true love exists, I believe that some things are forever.

"If you've ever wondered about that, I'm sharing that with you: Don't give up," she continues. "That was a worthy message to put out into the world because I know I needed that a lot in my life. I wasn't sure and it led me down some very questionable roads. What I think a lot of people do is look for love outside themselves instead of inward, so that more than anything was the inspiration for the new album."

The 13-track LP is accompanied by a musical film, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, which is available on Prime Video now. Self-funded by Lopez and directed by Dave Myers, the film drives home Lopez's journey of self-love, discovery and awareness while finding her happily ever after.

Lopez, along with BMG's A&R Brandon Riester and the album's executive producer Rogét Chahayed, reflected about her career-defining LP and how it all came together.

The Goals

From the start, Lopez was relentless about making the album sound incredible, even converting part of her Los Angeles home into a studio and shutting down everything — including stepping back from making movies in order to maintain focus on the recording sessions for This Is Me… Now. She also shared private love letters from Affleck with the songwriters and producers to convey the narrative she wanted to translate into the music. 

"She said to me, 'Let's make an album that I'm excited about because I'm in love and that's when I make my best music,'" Riester says. "Jennifer is very much an integral part of the vision and the production and the songwriting on this album. This is her story."

Lopez recruited Chahayed after hearing Jack Harlow's GRAMMY-nominated No. 1 hit "First Class," which he co-produced in 2022. Their initial conversations about musical influences led to Lopez giving Chahayed the rundown of her and Affleck's history together, along with the concept for the album itself.

"She actually wanted to start making music the next day," Chahayed recalls. "But I definitely needed a few days to process everything because I had been manifesting for a while to be able to work with an artist that has a legacy and decades of success, and my prayers were answered."

This Is Me… Now sees Lopez fully leaning into being a hopeless romantic — something she's been heavily scrutinized over for decades. In the extravagant film of the same name, she makes light of her three failed marriages, but it's with the intention of inspiring others that true love exists, which has always been at the core of Lopez's music.

"We're living in a society where the value of relationships and marriage has been sort of lost," Chahayed suggests. "Her album will not only give people a new perspective on her music in general, but also give them a chance to believe in love again — and feel like there's someone out there for you, even if it's someone that you broke up with 10, 20 years ago."

This Is Me… Now picks up right where 2002's twice platinum-selling This Is Me… Then left off with some obvious nods to the prequel; the most blatant is "Dear Ben Pt. II," a follow up to "Dear Ben," on which Lopez describes Affleck as "my lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend, and my king." Still, the 54-year-old global icon didn't want to get caught up in trying to chase hits or recreate the past.

"We never listened to This Is Me... Then in the studio, not one time. That record is always going to have such a special place in my heart, but the sequel is just like another level," Lopez says. "People who have been on this journey with me and who have seen me fall down and get back up and make mistakes and get divorced — that journey got me to a place where I can now go, 'I've figured some things out about myself.'"

As much as the 13-track LP seizes the fairytale-like rekindling of Lopez and Affleck's relationship, it's also about something much bigger: how self-love, or lack thereof, plays a role in the relationships we have with others. "Hearts and Flowers" is a testament to Lopez's inner strength, as evidenced by the defiant chorus. ("It ain't all hearts and flowers/ So many nights and hours/ Every day of my life, in the grind faithfully/ Superpowers, we all got superpowers," she sings.)

"I'm a more evolved, healed person. I'm not saying I'm completely healed, or that I got it all figured out. I don't. But This Is Me... Now represents where I am in my journey right now," Lopez says.

"It's me embracing all of it, even the bad decisions," she adds. "I had to learn to be loving and forgiving of yourself, because then you can be loving and forgiving of other people. You can be empathetic toward other people and great for the world. But until you can give that to yourself, you can't do anything for anybody."

The Moments

Celebratory songs like lead single "Can't Get Enough," "This Time Around" and penultimate track "Midnight Trip to Vegas" have the same giddiness heard in 2002's "I'm Glad" and "Baby I Love U!" — the final two singles off This Is Me… Then. The autobiographical title track is a culmination of a lifetime, merging Lopez's working-class upbringing in The Bronx with the feeling of gratitude for a second chance at true love with Affleck. 

"I watched my mother miss out on her life/ All those could-have-beens became her sacrifice/ But here in the darkness, it's not the future nor the past/ And 'cause it's meant to be with you, boy, it will last," she sings in the opening verse. 

Stripped-down ballad "Broken Like Me" unflinchingly stands as Lopez's most personal work to date, as she deconstructs her J.Lo persona into diaristic lyrics that are bound to surprise even longtime fans. "Two babies at home/ Mama had to be strong/ In a battle for love/ In a war of my own/ And I tried to be honest/ But it made me feel weak/ And when I think about it/ It brings me to my knees/ Couldn't look in the mirror/ Afraid what I'd see/ 'Cause I still loved you/ Loved you more than me," Lopez confesses midway through the track, which moved Affleck to tears after hearing it for the first time.

"Ben would come in the studio and spend hours with us and tell us stories to help set the tone," Riester says. "I remember one moment where he said, 'Where's the pain that I went through of not being with the one that I love for so long?' That's how some of the darker songs like 'Rebound' and 'Broken Like Me' were born. It takes the dark to get to the light, and that's a really big theme of this album."

But there were plenty of fun, lighthearted moments, too; like how an Incredible Hulk-themed guitar autographed by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was used for "Mad in Love," a lullaby-esque anthem for soulmates everywhere. Or the night before "Midnight Trip to Vegas" was written, which pretty much sums up everything we love about Bennifer 2.0.

"Jennifer texted me and said, 'Hey, what are you doing today?'" Riester recalls. "I responded and then I didn't hear from her. The next thing I notice is all these news alerts that Jen got married, so I'm texting management like, 'Yo, what's going on? Did you guys not want to tell me about this?' They were like, 'We had no idea.'" 

He continued, "The whole team had been with her every single day for months, but we found out about it the way everybody else did. But it was an amazing story, because Ben was like, 'Everyone's so worried about all the different elements of this wedding. Let's just put it all aside.' I think that just shows you how much they love each other, because it wasn't about the wedding that's for everybody else. This is about their love for each other."

The Outcome

Whether you've been bumping J.Lo since her 1999 debut, On the 6, or simply admire her work ethic, This Is Me… Now defies expectations as she reaches the pinnacle of creative freedom.

"This is truly an artist's project because it is her heart and her soul all pushed into a pen and written out for the world to see," Riester says. "I was telling someone the other day, 'When will an album rollout be like this again?' The story really is well-crafted and the music is incredible. Everyone can pull something from it because we've all been through those moments of heartbreak or finding what you think is your true love."

Days before announcing her first tour in five years, Lopez hinted that her ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now, may be her last ("I really feel very fulfilled," she recently told ET). Whatever her musical future looks like, baring her soul and creating a cinematic experience with This Is Me…Now forced her to grow artistically in ways she never expected — which has brought an entirely new purpose to her remarkable career. 

"I've never done anything like this with a record in my life, or felt inspired to do anything like this with an album. This is the most honest record I've ever made," Lopez asserts. "I was able to do that because I was more mature and had done more work on myself to be really open and vulnerable in ways that I've never been. Everything about me is all in here. This is the album that I've been trying to make all my life — and I finally made it."

Jennifer Lopez's Biggest Hits, From Her Best Hip-Hop Collaborations To The Dance Floor Classics

The five nominated works for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 2024 GRAMMYs underscore how incredibly pluralistic the genre has become. 

Recorded live on tape with a cadre of virtuoso players, Mexican songstress Natalia Lafourcade’s De Todas las Flores explores grief, impressionism and the healing power of love. Motivated by a deep marital crisis, Vida Cotidiana by Colombia’s Juanes is a middle-aged rocker’s message of hope — and it grooves like crazy. A collage of alternative sonics hand-crafted at his Puerto Rico home studio, MARTÍNEZ finds former Calle 13 founder Cabra delving into trance-inducing electro and slick Afrobeats. A cool, sophisticated affair, Diamante Eléctrico’s seventh album Leche de Tigre fuses Colombian rock with nocturnal vibes and cosmopolitan funk. In Argentina, Fito Páez lovingly reinvented his 1992 masterpiece El Amor Después del Amor on EADDA9223, populated by a gallery of iconic guest stars.

If the nominees at the 66th GRAMMY Awards are any indication, Latin rock and alternative are more than a sound. They signify a point of view, a credo, a way of doing things that spans countries.

With that in mind, GRAMMY.com organized a roundtable with this year’s nominees, who discussed their influences, the current state of the multifarious genre, and the dreams of future albums that keep their creative fires burning. 

Is rock 'n'roll eternal? Will its mystique continue to influence musicians for generations to come?

Natalia Lafourcade: It is eternal, yes. Rock is like life itself. It evolves and transforms in language and form — its tempests, energy and meaning. I would never have imagined my album being nominated in this category. But then I think about the idiosyncrasies of rock — a style spawned from broken places, the crevice where a flower can blossom   and it makes sense. I cherish the fact that rock can encompass so many different possibilities of singing about emotion.

Cabra: I understand rock’n’roll as an agent of change and attitude is already dead. In my work, I like using musical references from the past as I create in the present mode.

Juanes: Rock will be eternal to me for as long as I live. In my own universe, rock was the channel that allowed me to transform as a person and I find in it a very powerful energy. I hope future generations will learn to play instruments, form their own bands and write songs — even with the current avalanche of technology and AI.

Fito Páez: Rock is much more than just a genre. It represents an open minded, eccentric cultural reality that fears nothing and transcends the music itself.

Juan Galeano (vocalist and bassist, Diamante Eléctrico): Rock has evolved, just like music has. It will live on as long as it preserves its avant-garde qualities and continues to challenge the establishment.

Who were the rock artists who first inspired you?

Juanes: Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd. Heavier stuff too: Slayer, Sepultura. Even Venom. [Laughs.] That was my path during the ‘80s here in Medellín. Before I discovered rock, the sounds of Latin American popular music that I heard during childhood defined my path as a musician as well.

Lafourcade: The works of women like Julieta Venegas, Joni Mitchell, Björk, Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey and Erykah Badu, among many others. All of them acted as anchors on my artistic path. They offered guidance and illumination.

Páez: I was influenced by artists outside the confines of rock — people who played all kinds of music, like Charly García and Luis Alberto Spinetta. Is [Brazilian MPB icon] Chico Buarque rock? Sort of. You could say he’s part of the rock culture, much like [tango master] Astor Piazzolla was. 

There’s something really cool about the Alternative Field. It goes beyond the mainstream — there’s an extra serving of fun in it; it defies logic. An artist is truly alternative when he’s different from everyone else.

During the ‘70s, rock became exceedingly ambitious — incorporating elements of jazz and classical, folk and the avant-garde. I believe the same ethos informs the Latin Alternative today, a time when stylistic experimentation is accepted as the norm. Do you agree?

Cabra: I agree about 50 percent. I believe the experimental tendencies of the ‘70s and ‘80s signified the genre’s finest moment. Right now, there are artists who dare to innovate. At the same time, many defend the purity of various musical styles, and as a result, everything sounds the same.

Lafourcade: Rock will always be linked to that utmost freedom of expression. It’s connected to the soul, and it’s deeply spiritual. There is no strategy in it. It’s about seeking the disruptive, the unexpected — that which will surprise and shake us up. It allows you to scream, weep and laugh — to be silent following heartbreaking chaos.

Galeano: Something that we really enjoy about the last few years is the increasing blurring of genre boundaries. We’ve always believed that Diamante is much more than just a rock band. We borrow from different styles: funk, soul and cumbia; jazz and classical; Black music in general, and, of course, rock 'n' roll. I love that the younger generations don’t listen to any specific genres anymore — just good songs.

Are reggaetón and urbano the new rock? Could they coexist with the works of Soda Stereo or Café Tacvba?

Páez: No, they’re not. Clearly not. I’m writing a lengthy essay on the current state of the music scene. I think it will generate an interesting debate.

Juanes: I notice in artists like Bad Bunny the same kind of rebellious spirit and desire to provoke that was present in rock. That said, I think music will continue to evolve. It can never stagnate.

Cabra: Rock is a feeling, a lifestyle. That is why I believe it is dead.

Within a rock context, is there a fusion or experiment that you have yet to attempt? Is there a treasured album percolating in your soul, waiting to emerge?

Lafourcade: I’d love to return to the electric guitar at one point, and explore beyond the familiar limits. To navigate alternate possibilities that can continue to surprise me and make me feel like it’s the first time doing this.

Juanes: I’d like to record an album or EP focused on cumbias, slow and heavy. Haven’t found the time yet, but it’s something I would love to do at one point.

Páez: The music I desire the most is the one I have yet to record — that much is clear. The advantage of music over words is that the potential combinations are infinite. You just have to play, something I’ve been doing my entire life. Sometimes you have to push the new melodies away so that you don’t step on them when you get out of bed in the morning. At other times, you can’t find a single tune. It’s all about being adventurous, studying and researching — the kind of activities that are not in vogue at the moment.

Cabra: This year I’d love to make a record of complicated duets in different genres. Right now I’m dreaming of that album.

Galeano: We’d love to experiment with jazz, corridos tumbados, cumbia and Brazilian. Whenever we collaborate, we gravitate to artists who come from different worlds. I’d love to record a song with Carín León.

2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List