Music

Rather than shrink away after seeing a mountain of social media chatter about her physical appearance on the Grammy Awards Sunday night, Madonna has confronted it head-on, writing a lengthy social media post saying “ageism and misogyny” are behind the commentary — not to mention “close-up photos of me taken with a long lens camera

How is it that the Americana Music Association has been holding annual Grammy eve tribute shows at the Troubadour since the mid-2010s, but never got around, until this year, to feting Lucinda Williams — of whom AMA director Jed Hilly said, “You are the voice, you are the songs, you are the soul of Americana”?

Gustavo Dudamel is leaving Los Angeles. But the city has a few years to brace itself for the looming departure of one of its favorite sons. The famed conductor will move to New York and take on the position of music director for the New York Philharmonic beginning in 2026. Dudamel shared the story via

The late Cuban American salsa singer Celia Cruz has been selected to appear on U.S quarters later this year, making history as the first Afro-Latina to receive the honor. Cruz is a beloved icon in Cuban music and is largely lauded for her contributions to the guaracha and salsa genres. Aside from her colorful looks

Tomorrow x Together have landed their first No. 1 album with the debut of “The Name Chapter: Temptation,” a collection of funky pop with lyrics in both English and Korean. Logging the equvalent of 152,000 album sales in the U.S., the five-song EP scored the largest sales week for any album since Taylor Swift’s “Midnights”

Amid reports of a disagreement between surviving Migos members Quavo and Offset that took place at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, footage of Cardi B loudly attempting to break up a fight that night has emerged. Sources say the argument took place before Quavo’s performance during the show’s “In Memoriam” segment, during which he

The Michael Jackson estate is in the process of selling half of its interests in the legendary singer’s music catalog in a deal in the $800 million-$900 million range, three sources confirm to Variety. While details are unclear, sources say that Sony and a possible financial partner are negotiating to acquire 50% of the estate’s

Leading up to their historic eight-minute rap performance of “God Did” at the 2023 Grammys, Jay-Z and DJ Khaled reflected on their complex relationship with the institution in an interview with Tidal, a subscription-based music service of which Jay-Z owns a share. The interview, which was released Monday, contains Khaled’s and Jay-Z’s reflections going into

What do you get the girl who has everything? And by everything, we mean multiple Grammy awards, an Oscar, an Emmy and countless chart-topping hits. Well, you get her an impromptu meeting with The Rock. At the Grammys this past weekend, superstar Adele was surprised by none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, proving that

Concord has announced that CEO Scott Pascucci and chief label officer Tom Whalley will step down from their positions on June 30, with Bob Valentine, currently the company’s president, taking over as CEO effective July 1. Pascucci will remain a member of Concord’s Board of Directors and both Pascucci and Whalley will be inaugural members of a newly formed Concord Advisory Board along with Jake

Premio Lo Nuestro has revealed the first round of performers set to take the stage at the 35th annual awards ceremony on Feb. 23. Confirmed acts include Colombian star Sebastián Yatra — the most nominated artist of the evening with 10 nods — Christian Nodal, El Alfa, Gloria Trevi, La Adictiva, Lupita Infante, Paulina Rubio, Prince

Pink Floyd singer-guitarist David Gilmour and his wife, Polly Samson, who wrote lyrics for the band’s later songs, are not pulling any punches about Roger Waters, whose stances on Israel, Ukraine and Russia have alarmed many of the band’s followers in recent years. On social media, Samson called Waters “rotten to your antisemitic core” and

The summer 2023 season for the Hollywood Bowl will kick off in June with an opening night concert pairing Janet Jackson with Ludacris and continue with shows by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Maxwell, My Morning Jacket, Sparks, the Beach Boys, Louis Tomlinson, Diana Krall, Maggie Rogers and many others, it was announced Tuesday

At the weekend’s other Grammy awards show — the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards Ceremony, held Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre — there was no danger of music arising to play someone off during a long speech, or of Satan showing up for a musical number, or anything being celebrated that hasn’t already proven

Advocacy group the 100 Percenters staged a protest outside Universal Music Group’s Santa Monica offices today (Feb. 6). The nonprofit founded in July 2020 by Tiffany Red, a Grammy-winning songwriter, is calling for songwriters to receive fair compensation — or as Red put it, “not giving credit where credit is literally due.” The protest came

Before Harry Styles took home the coveted Grammy for album of the year Sunday night, he took the stage alongside a team of backup dancers to perform his chart-topping “As It Was.” The dance number, reminiscent of the song’s official music video, saw Styles and the dancers deliver elaborate moves atop a revolving turntable. On

Chris Brown has apologized after throwing a hissy fit on Instagram after he lost the Grammy for best R&B album to Robert Glasper, the decorated pianist and producer whose work transcends jazz, R&B and hip-hop. Posting a screenshot of his own direct message to Glasper, Brown wrote, “Congratulations my brother… I would like to apologize

Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ fiery Grammys performance of their hit song “Unholy” was a bit too hot for Ted Cruz. Several conservative figures stormed social media in the aftermath of the performance to detest Smith and Petras for bringing a “satanic ritual” to screens across America. The playful and relatively tame “Unholy” performance featured

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Fans are always promised a full-glam moment when Lizzo is on the guest list, and the 2023 Grammys were no exception. The “About Damn Time” singer stepped out on the carpet in a maximalist

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Taylor Swift “made the whole place shimmer” at the Grammys on Sunday night, sparkling in a heavy set of Lorraine Schwartz jewels that reportedly cost close to $3 million. The jewels made for a

Iranian pop singer and songwriter Shervin Hajipour on Sunday won the first Grammy Award for Best Song for Social Change for his song “Baraye” which has become the unofficial anthem of the wave of protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. “Baraye” was posted by Hajipour on Instagram in September after Amini died while

How many classic hip-hop stars can dance on the head of a pin? We got something close to an answer to that question via a medley on the Grammy Awards telecast that featured close to three dozen rap legends quickly doing their thing, over the course of 15 minutes that never flagged for a second.

Though his North American tour just wrapped last week and he’s jetting off to Australia at the end of the month, Harry Styles told Variety backstage at the Grammys that he is “always writing.” “We’ve always tried to not really stop writing,” Styles said coyly of he and his “Harry’s House” co-writers Kid Harpoon and

Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, John Legend and Fridayy delivered hip-hop lovers the ultimate treat with their Grammy performance of “God Did,” which closed out the 2023 ceremony. DJ Khaled started the performance from inside the Crypto.com arena before the camera cut outside, where Khaled joined Legend, Ross, Lil Wayne and more in

On Sunday night, the Grammys celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a jam-packed and star-studded 15-minute segment that put a huge smile on the faces of Jay-Z, Doja Cat, Adele and Pharrell Williams, among others. After a short introduction from LL Cool J, performances kicked off with legacy acts such as Ice-T, Rakim with

This year’s Grammys In Memoriam tribute honored a diverse range of artists who died late last year, including Loretta Lynn, Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie and Migos rapper Takeoff. Barefoot and draped in red, Kacey Musgraves opened the segment by delivering an emotive performance of “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Musgraves’ voice was backed by a single Epiphone guitar once owned

Sam Smith just outdid their recent “Saturday Night Live” performance with “Unholy” collaborator Kim Petras in a horror movie-inspired performance of the smash hit. Smith started the song in red leather, surround a fleet of dancers that evoked Samara from “The Ring,” before cutting to Petras dancing in a cage, flanked by some dominatrices wearing

Harry Styles delivered a low-key performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards, where he is nominated in six categories and already won for pop vocal album. Styles opened his performance on a red, revolving stage amongst a group of casually costumed dancers. Dressed in a strikingly different silver sequined and fringe ensemble (similar to the looks

Lizzo turned the Crypto.com Arena into church at the 2023 Grammys with a gospel-tinged performance of “Special.” She opened the performance with a snippet of her hit song “About Damn Time” before fusing a gospel choir with electric guitars for an uplifting rendition of “Special.” “In case nobody told you today / You’re special (special),”

Kim Petras and Sam Smith’s chart-topping collaboration “Unholy” won the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance. Smith sat back while Petras accepted the award, giving her the spotlight as the first transgender woman to win in the category. Petras announced, “Sam graciously wanted me to accept this award because I’m the first transgender woman to