Jin attends Milan Fashion Week in September 2024.
Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Gucci
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As October nears its end, dig into new albums from Bastille and MUNA's Katie Gavin, a special anniversary edition of Green Day's 'American Idiot,' and even a long-awaited new track from Sade.
Glenn Rowley
|GRAMMYs/Oct 25, 2024 - 03:43 pm
It's the final New Music Friday before Halloween, and this Friday (Oct. 25), there are tricks and treats for every kind of music fan.
As she's been promising for months, Lady Gaga kicked off the roll-out for LG7 with the as-yet-untitled album's sinister lead single. And while the pop star can no longer claim it's "STILL NOT OCTOBER," the pounding track doesn't give Little Monsters any more insight into those cryptic posts on their queen's social media feed.
Elsewhere, Green Day celebrates a major anniversary for one of the band's most beloved albums, Jin makes his return with an upbeat single, G Herbo drops the deluxe version of his latest full-length, and Addison Rae ascends to higher pop girl status by paying reverence to Madonna.
Below, press play on nine new releases to round out your spooky season playlists.
Lady Gaga — "Disease"
Lady Gaga launches her hotly anticipated LG7 era with "Disease," a glitchy, industrial lead single that's sure to serve as a cure-all for many a Little Monster's pop music maladies.
Casting aside the Great American Songbook she sang circles through on the recently released Harlequin, Gaga opts to return to a darker, more techno-infused aesthetic on the track, which sounds like a spiritual descendent of Born This Way-era deep cuts like "Government Hooker" and "ScheiBe" with shades of "Alejandro" thrown in for good measure.
"Poison on the inside/ I could be your antidote tonight," the superstar promises on the throbbing pre-chorus before snarling, "I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease/ If you were a sinner, I could make you believe/ Lay you down like 1, 2, 3/ Eyes roll back in ecstasy/ I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya/ Cure your disease." Consider us infected, Mother Monster.
Jin — "I'll Be There"
It's been an exciting month for the BTS ARMY! Just eight days after j-hope completed his military service, Jin — who was the first BTS member to be discharged earlier this year — unveiled a brand new single, "I'll Be There."
The rockabilly-inspired, high-energy song is a preview track from Jin's forthcoming debut solo album, Happy, which arrives Nov. 15. As Jin's first solo music since 2022's "The Astronaut," the guitar-charged "I'll Be There" hints that his album may feature more rock influence than his previous solo releases.
As Jin switches from Korean to English across the song, he makes fans a sweet promise in the chorus: "I will be there forever (Forever)/ I don't change/ I'll be there for you/ There for you, oh-oh-oh/ I'll tell you with this song/ I swear that I will always sing for you."
Green Day — 'American Idiot (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)'
Two decades after brashly declaring, "Don't wanna be an American idiot!," Green Day are celebrating their politically-charged pièce de résistance with a 20th anniversary re-release.
The band's punk rock opera spawned four hit singles, a Broadway musical, its own rock documentary (2015's Heart Like a Hand Grenade) and a tidal wave of pearl-clutching from the pre-MAGA conservatives of the early 2000s — not to mention GRAMMY wins for Best Rock Album and Record Of The Year. The album's latest, well-deserved victory lap includes a treasure trove of bonus material for fans, including 15 unreleased demos, nine previously unreleased live recordings, and an entire 2004 concert recorded at New York City's Irving Plaza.
The four-disc 20th anniversary edition of American Idiot also arrives in a wide array of physical formats for collectors, from a Super Deluxe Box Set that include a brand-new 110-minute documentary titled 20 Years of American Idiot and new liner notes penned by producer Rob Cavallo and journalist David Fricke to vinyl and CD Box Sets each with their own unique merch.
Read More: 10 Reasons Why 'American Idiot' Is Green Day's Masterpiece
G Herbo — 'Big Swerv 2.0'
Just seven weeks after dropping the standard edition, G Herbo re-ups on his sixth studio album with Big Swerv 2.0.
The rapper's follow-up to 2022's broad double LP Survivor's Remorse gets front-loaded with seven new bonus tracks including "YN," "Dark Knight," "Clap" and "Nothin." Meanwhile, collaborations with Chris Brown (the melodic, sexual "Play Your Part"), Meek Mill (the heartfelt "Ball") and Lil Durk (emotional highlight "In The Air") add to the star-studded list of guest features on the LP, which already included the likes of 21 Savage, Sexyy Red, Chief Keef, and others.
Katie Gavin — 'What a Relief'
After three albums of shimmering, intimate indie pop with MUNA, frontwoman Katie Gavin strikes boldly out on her own with the release of her debut solo album What a Relief.
Pre-release singles "Aftertaste," "Casual Drug Use" and "Inconsolable" each made clear that the queer icon in the making would be spreading her wings on the LP, but she continually mines both new sonic terrain (the fiddle-riddled "The Baton," the sour '90s-alt of "Sanitized") and undiscovered layers of lyrical vulnerability (heartrending love song "Sweet Abby Girl") throughout its 12 tracks.
Gavin recruits Mitski, meanwhile, for the album's emotional cornerstone, which makes a lifetime of quiet domesticity and resolute partnership sound "As Good As It Gets."
Bastille — '"&" (Ampersand)'
No story is taken solo on Bastille's new full-length, "&" (Ampersand). Yes, every song on the English pop band's fifth studio effort contains the connective punctuation mark of its title, from opening salvo "Intros & Narrators" to inventively titled album cuts like "Drawbridge & The Baroness" and "Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze."
Frontman Dan Smith gives insight into the album's storybook-like approach in the swirling opener, singing, "Maybe, to me, other stories are more interesting/ Maybe, to me, they're a mirror back on everything." By the end of "Intros & Narrators," however, he warns, "Never lay your trust in the narrator," so it's up for each listener to come to conclusions about the meaning of the 13 musical fables he and the band then lay out about Eve, Marie Curie, Oscar Wilde, the Greek myth of Narcissus, legendary 19th century Chinese pirate Zheng Yi Sao and more.
Addison Rae — "Aquamarine"
Fresh off her viral appearance at the Madison Square Garden stop of the Sweat Tour alongside Troye Sivan, Charli XCX and Lorde, Addison Rae continues to step into her power as a rising pop star with new single "Aquamarine."
"The world is my oyster/ Baby, come touch the pearl," she nonchalantly declares at the outset over the track's gauzy, glittering production. (And is it just us, or is that a clever reference to Madonna's "Ray of Light" in the second verse?)
The song's chic music video, meanwhile, begins as a party girl's tour de Paris — complete with an avant-garde masquerade, Louboutins walking dimly lit streets and spritzes of Chanel No. 5 — before morphing into a transfixing, lyrical dance break with the kind of vogueing that would make Her Madgesty proud.
BØRNS — "Letting Myself Go"
BØRNS might just be falling to pieces. Or at least that's what the indie rocker thinks on his single "Letting Myself Go."
The simplistic visual for the track opens with a home video of the artist born Garrett Borns as a toddler, adorably demanding, "Stop singing, I want everybody to hear what I'm singing!" From there, the grown-up BØRNS' inner monologue takes center stage as he wonders aloud, "Do I have to burn the pages/ Written in my heart?/ I'm done running through the mazes/ Tell me how to break the cages/ Now I know/ And I can't wait another second/ I think it's time I let myself go."
Sade — "Young Lion"
Red Hot Organization teases its forthcoming concept album TRANƧA with a five-track EP, TRANSA: Selects. The project features Sade's first release in six years, which marks perhaps one of the most personal songs of her career: "Young Lion," a stirring and hopeful ballad dedicated to the four-time GRAMMY winner's son Izaak, who came out publicly as trans in 2016.
"Young man/ It's been so heavy for you/ You must've felt so alone/ The anguish and pain, I should've known," Sade sings over downcast orchestration, pleading with her son for forgiveness for not intuiting his struggle before telling him, "You shine like a sun." (For his part, Izaak effusively thanked his famous mom for supporting his transition back in 2019.)
TRANSA: Selects also includes previously releases collaborations between Sam Smith and Beverly Glenn-Copeland ("Ever New") and Lauren Auder and Wendy & Lisa ("I Would Die 4 U") as well as a 26-minute experimental opus in allyship by André 3000 titled "Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I'm Happy To Stand For The Understanding."
The full TRANƧA compilation will arrive Nov. 22, and, according to a press release, "highlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working in culture today, and celebrates the beauty of trans life."
The Latest Pop Music News & Releases
Lady Gaga attends the UK Premiere of 'Joker Folie à Deux.'
Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
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September closes out with a hoard of new songs and albums that both celebrate milestone anniversaries and usher in new eras. Check out new music from Stevie Nicks, Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood, and more.
Glenn Rowley
|GRAMMYs/Sep 27, 2024 - 04:17 pm
Hope you're ready for a little musical time travel, because this week's New Music Friday is filled with music old, new and everything in between.
Luke Bryan finally unveils his latest album "Mind of a Country Boy" after teasing it with two years' worth of singles, and Moneybagg Yo adds seven new tracks to SPEAK NOW OR…, the deluxe edition of his fifth album Speak Now. Plus, Michael Bublé compiles the greatest hits collection Best of Bublé as he takes his seat in one of the spinning chairs on "The Voice"; Gavin DeGraw celebrates the 20th anniversary of his debut album with a re-recorded version, Chariot 20; and Christina Aguilera honors the 25th anniversary of her self-titled debut with live versions of classic singles.
Elsewhere, Rosalía is still riding high from the Sept. 24 release of her new single "Omega," Miranda Lambert teams up with Jake Worthington on new single "Hello S—ty Day," and Kygo recruits Imagine Dragons for "Stars Will Align." There's even two intriguing covers to enjoy: Sierra Hull's roots-laced rendition of the Grateful Dead's "Black Muddy River," and Nile Rodgers and Cedric Gervais's revved-up dance remix of the Sister Sledge classic "We Are Family."
Below, press play on nine more new releases, including a surprise side project from Lady Gaga to celebrate her starring turn in Joker: Folie á Deux, a powerhouse duet from country powerhouses Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood, a solo career kick-off from Måneskin frontman Damiano David and more.
Lady Gaga — 'Harlequin'
One week before the curtain rises on Lady Gaga's latest acting role in Joker: Folie à Deux, Little Monsters got something else they've long been waiting for: a brand new album from their queen.
Gaga's Harlequin serves as a companion album to the upcoming Joker, filled with thrillingly genre-defying reinterpretations of the Great American Songbook that give insight into the lush soundtrack playing inside the mind of Lee Quinzel — the pop star's take on Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix's clown-faced Arthur Fleck.
Songs like the free-wheeling "Get Happy" and "That's Life" (made famous by Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, respectively) land stylistically in the realm of Gaga's GRAMMY-winning jazz albums with late friend Tony Bennett, and the album also contains a pair of original tracks — the waltzing "Folie á Deux" and vulnerable centerpiece "Happy Mistake." All of it should keep Little Monsters everywhere temporarily sated as they anxiously await LG7.
Stevie Nicks — "The Lighthouse"
Stevie Nicks pens a powerful rallying cry for women's rights in the form of new single "The Lighthouse." Spurred to action following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the legendary singer/songwriter said in a statement that she's been working on the anthem "ever since."
Nicks continued: "I have often said to myself, 'This may be the most important thing I ever do. To stand up for the women of the United States and their daughters and granddaughters — and the men that love them."
The iconic Fleetwood Mac frontwoman refuses to pull any punches on the timely protest anthem, warning, "Don't close your eyes and hope for the best/ The dark is out there, the light is going fast/ Until the final hours/ Your life's forever changed/ And all the rights that you had yesterday/ Are taken away/ And now you're afraid/ You should be afraid."
Cody Johnson & Carrie Underwood — "I'm Gonna Love You"
Cody Johnson teams up with Carrie Underwood for "I'm Gonna Love You," the first bonus track off the deluxe edition of his 2023 album Leather and the "American Idol" champ's first release since news broke she'd be replacing Katy Perry on the judging panel of the reality show's ABC reboot.
On the stunning ballad, the two country stars weave together an all-encompassing love story that lasts a lifetime. "So good that it almost hurts/ Steady and true as a Bible verse/ My heart skips just thinking of you/ Go on and bet it all, baby we can't lose," they sing in harmony as herds of wild horses thunder across the screen in the Dustin Haney-helmed music video.
SOPHIE — 'SOPHIE'
SOPHIE's posthumous, self-titled album is equal parts love letter to the late producer (whose life was cut devastatingly short after falling from a rooftop in Athens, Greece in January 2021) and an enduring testament to her influence as an avant garde pioneer of hyperpop, electronica and underground dance music.
Completed by her family, SOPHIE's 16-song project is filled with the producer's trusted collaborators and friends, including Kim Petras (lead single "Reason Why"), LIZ (one-two punch "Live in My Truth" and "Why Lies"), Hannah Diamond ("Always and Forever") and more.
"Sophie didn't often speak publicly about her private life, preferring to put everything she wanted to articulate into her music," SOPHIE's family shared on social media ahead of the album's unveiling. "It feels only right to share with the world the music she hoped to release, in the belief that we can all connect with her in this, the form she loved most. Sophie gave all of herself to her music. It's here that she can always be found."
Damiano David — "Silverlines"
After nearly 10 meteoric years fronting Måneskin, Damiano David launches his solo career with the unveiling of his debut single "Silverlines."
Produced by Labrinth, the intimate track is a surprising departure from the Italian rock god's signature, high-energy stylings. Instead, David shows off a more vulnerable and emotional side of himself as he sings, "I feel sorrow no more/ The calm after the storm/ And peace belongs to me/ Until my tears run dry/ And clouds fall from the sky / And all my fears, they disappear/ And I see silverlines."
Rahim Redcar — 'HOPECORE'
Just 15 months after releasing the transcendent concept album PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE, the artist formerly known as Christine and the Queens officially retires his stage name and reintroduces himself to the world as Rahim C Redcar with the new LP HOPECORE.
Though just seven tracks compared to its predecessor's sprawling triptych of angelic visitations in 20 songs, HOPECORE is equally prodigious in its ambition. Redcar shifts his gaze from the heavens to the club, describing pulsating highlights like "ELEVATE" and "DEEP HOLES" as "a call of the flesh, a prayer for justice and freedom" and "a healing, metatronic purple grid."
To support the latest chapter in his artistic vision, the French auteur will embark on a club tour of Europe and the U.S. this November, with stops in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, New York, and more.
NLE Choppa — 'SLUT SZN'
Continuing the momentum from his 2022 single "SLUT ME OUT" featuring Sexyy Redd, NLE Choppa doubles — and triples — down on the raunch factor with his new project SLUT SZN.
The eight-track collection contains both "SLUT ME OUT 2" and "SLUT ME OUT 3" featuring Whethan and Carey Washington as well as "SLUT ME OUT 2 — COUNTRY ME OUT" with J.P. Other tracks include opener "Gang Baby," recently released single "Or What" and Yausel LM collaboration "Catalina."
Mickey Guyton — 'House on Fire'
Mickey Guyton delivers the heat with her sophomore album, House on Fire. On pre-release single "Make It Me," the four-time GRAMMY nominee splashes her country sound with a dose of flirtatious dance-pop while album cut "My Kind of The Country" finds her happily eschewing Nashville elitism in favor of inclusivity ("Go on make yourself at home/ On my side of the country") as she leads a do-see-do-ing line dance and proudly declares, "Yeah, we got country coast to coast!"
Elsewhere, the LP includes "Nothing Compares To You," a resplendent duet with Kane Brown and "Scary Love," a tribute to her three-year-old son Grayson in the wake of a recent near-death experience.
The Fray — 'The Fray Is Back'
A decade after their last release, The Fray returns with a new EP, appropriately titled The Fray Is Back.
Now a trio following the departure of frontman Isaac Slade in 2022, the four-time GRAMMY nominees behind 2000s hits like "How to Save a Life" and "Over My Head (Cable Car)" deliver more reliable pop-rock anthems like the wistful "Time Well Wasted" and the crescendoing "Don't Look Down." To mark the new era of the band, The Fray have also embarked on a headlining tour across the U.S., with sold-out stops in Washington, D.C.; New York City; Chicago and more.
The Latest Pop Music News & Releases
Green Day in 2004.
Photo: Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images
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In the midst of Green Day's Saviors Tour, the group's seminal 2004 album turns 20. In honor of the anniversary, dig into all of the ways it became the band's magnum opus.
Jon O'Brien
|GRAMMYs/Sep 20, 2024 - 02:04 pm
Green Day looked in danger of slipping into irrelevancy following the underperformance of 2000's Warning and 2001's International Superhits collection that reaffirmed they'd lost their creative mojo. Instead, the Californian punk rockers staged one of the most triumphant comebacks of the decade with a blockbuster that served as both a grandstanding rock opera and furious state of the nation address: American Idiot.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool had initially planned to return with Cigarettes and Valentine, a bizarre-sounding collection of polka, salsa and smutty reworkings of festive classics. But they were forced to start from scratch when its demo master tapes were stolen, a crime that proved to be a blessing in disguise.
Indeed, encouraged by regular producer Rob Cavallo, the four-time GRAMMY-winning trio hit several Hollywood studios determined to better what they'd laid down before. And over a five-month period in which they fully embraced the hard-partying rock 'n' roll lifestyle, the band took their frenetic sound into previously uncharted waters, embracing everything from political diatribes to musical theater.
The result was a sprawling, near-hour-long masterpiece that told the story of a wayward teen desperate to leave his dead-end hometown, while simultaneously leaving a certain United States president's ears burning. Twenty years after American Idiot's release, here's a look at how the record immediately put Green Day back on rock's A-list, and why it's remained a pop culture touchstone ever since.
It Made Punk Rock Matter Again
Green Day may have been responsible for ushering in the likes of Blink-182, Sum 41, and practically every other pop-punk outfit who broke through at the turn of the century. But by the time they came to record their seventh LP, the trio essentially believed they'd created a monster.
"It just seemed trivial," Armstrong later told Billboard about the scene, being careful not to name any specific names. "It seemed really generic, and I didn't really like it at all. The subject matter was just really shallow."
While most of the groups they inspired were largely concerned with cars, parties and girls, Green Day took the genre back to its socially and politically conscious roots. Whether rallying against the injustices of the Bush administration or decrying the state of the modern media, American Idiot proved punk rock could have substance to its style.
It's Still Relevant Today
Cool once revealed that American Idiot was born out of a desire to "make the world a little more sane." Unfortunately, 20 years on, its rabble-rousing themes are still wholly relevant — well, for one half of the political spectrum, anyway.
Even with George W. Bush no longer in power, Green Day (and their fans) have found ways to make "American Idiot" a message to future presidents. While performing at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival, Armstrong altered the title track to reflect their disdain toward one of Bush's successors, Donald Trump: "I'm not part of a MAGA agenda."
The year previously, UK protestors against the 45th launched a campaign to get "American Idiot" to No. 1 in time for his visit with the Queen. And much to the ire of Elon Musk, the band rung in 2024 by once again voicing their anti-Trump sentiment at "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."
It Conquered Two Big Charts
While both Dookie and Insomniac had to settle for the runner-up spot in the '90s, American Idiot finally gave Green Day that elusive No. 1 on the Billboard 200 by selling an astonishing 267,000 copies in its first seven days. It remained in the Top 10 of the chart for more than a year, becoming the third biggest-selling LP of 2005 in the process.
It also gave the trio a long overdue debut hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Yes, despite a decade-long career in which they ascended to the top of the punk rock chain, Green Day had remarkably never reached the main singles chart until "American Idiot" peaked at No. 67. But it would be far from their last visit: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" reached No. 2, "Holiday" landed at No. 19, and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" peaked at No. 6.
It Revived The Rock Opera
The rock opera had fallen out of favor since the 1970s golden period that spawned The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall and Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. Still, Green Day were determined to revive the art form with a record that placed just as much emphasis on narrative as blistering pop-punk.
When the trio weren't taking aim at the Bush administration, they were telling the story of "Jesus of Suburbia," a disenfranchised teenager raised on "soda pop and Ritalin," and his attempt to leave his working-class suburban hometown. As he heads for the big city, he also meets polar opposite revolutionaries named Whatsername and St. Jimmy, who, in a twist that M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of, is revealed to be his alter-ego.
Good luck trying to make sense of the plotline, which tackles everything from suicide and drug addiction to the fall of the American Dream — all the while, swerving any kind of concrete resolution. Nevertheless, the journey is consistently entertaining.
It Wasn't Afraid To Go Big
In an age when certain artists are pandering to the miniscule attention spans of the TikTok generation, the idea of a mainstream band placing not just one but two nine-minute epics on the same album seems perverse. Back in 2004, though, Green Day personified that old adage of "go big or go home."
A concerted attempt to write a pop-punk version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Jesus of Suburbia" incorporates thrash metal, heartland rock, and twinkling acoustic pop while setting the story in motion. Also split into five parts, penultimate number "Homecoming," meanwhile, reveals that the protagonist ended up back where he started amid a similarly ambitious musical collage in which Cool and Dinrt are given a rare opportunity to take center stage. The two-minute "Rebel Girl," however, showed that the trio could still be just as effective in short, sharp bursts.
It Spawned An Alternative National Anthem
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is the emotional crux of American Idiot, a heartfelt rock ballad in which Armstrong addresses the grief he continues to feel over his dad's death ("Like my father's come to pass/ Twenty years has gone so fast"). However, it's since taken on a life of its own, being adopted as an anthem of healing for multiple world events.
Considering its title, and the fact it was released just three years after 9/11, it's little surprise that "Wake Me Up" is often interpreted as a meditation on one of the darkest days in recent American history. It also went viral in 2005 after being paired with footage of Hurricane Katrina, with the band later performing the track at benefit concert ReAct Now: Music and Relief. Then, in 2020, Armstrong recorded a solo version for the COVID-19 relief charity livestream One World: Together At Home.
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It Made Awards History
Green Day are the first, and still the only, band, to win the MTV Video Music Award for Video Of The Year and the GRAMMY for Record Of The Year GRAMMY with the same song. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was awarded the former in 2005 at a ceremony where the band cleaned up with a total of seven gongs. And it was crowned the latter in 2006, a year after American Idiot had picked up Best Rock Album and received a further five nominations, too.
It Built A Legacy
American Idiot's legacy didn't end when the final single was sent to radio in October 2005. A month later, Green Day immortalized its accompanying tour with Bullet in a Bible, a live album recorded at the Milton Keynes National Bowl. In 2015, a documentary about the LP's recording, Heart Like a Hand Grenade, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival. And the band have continually celebrated the record, issuing a 20th anniversary special edition and performing it in full during their recent tour.
Of course, the album's biggest spinoff has been the same-named musical that took Broadway by storm upon its 2010 debut. Expanding on the album's coming-of-age narrative, American Idiot enjoyed a 422-show run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and St. James Theatre, occasionally starring Armstrong himself in the role of St. Jimmy. Despite winning two Tony Awards in 2010 and a Best Musical Show Album GRAMMY in 2011, the show closed in April 2011; sadly, after years of behind-the-scenes negotiations, a planned big-screen adaptation was shelved.
It Was A Visual Feast
Inspired by the art of Chinese communist propaganda, American Idiot's front cover was adorned with a blood-soaked fist gripping a hand grenade shaped like a heart. Its striking black-and-red imagery was reflected in the band's two-tone uniform, too, while the campaign's music videos also helped to consolidate the era as Green Day's most aesthetically-striking.
In the title track promo, for example, the trio perform in front of the American Flag — a green version, of course — whose stripes gradually melt onto the warehouse floor. Its director, Samuel Bayer, also cleverly used a Mercury Monterey convertible to segue the Vegas partying of "Holiday" into the roadside comedown of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." And "Wake Me Up When September Ends" cast Hollywood stars Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell in a cinematic mini-movie about a soldier sent to the Iraq War. Little wonder that the band cleaned up at the MTV VMAs.
It Borrowed From The Greats
American Idiot was perhaps always destined to be a multi-medium, multi-million-selling blockbuster. After all, the band took inspiration from the cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, David Bowie's concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and the chart-topping nu-metal of Linkin Park during its recording.
You can also hear elements of The Clash's London Calling on "Are We The Waiting," the melodies ofJohn Lennon and Paul McCartney on quieter moments such as closer "Whatsername," and Hüsker Dü 's Zen Arcade in its overarching narrative of a disillusioned youngster who discovers that the wider world isn't the utopia he anticipated. The band even managed to rope in one key inspiration, Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna, to narrate the note Whatsername sends Jesus in "Letterbomb." By borrowing from such classic source material so efficiently and effectively, American Idiot became one of the greats itself.
Explore The World Of Rock
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
Photo: John Esparza
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Between Post Malone's first country album and an unexpected collab from two of pop's biggest names, today is chock-full of thrilling new music. Listen to new tracks from YG, Jean Dawson and Lil Yachty and more.
Glenn Rowley
|GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2024 - 02:25 pm
Summer may be slowly edging toward fall, but the red-hot streak of this summer's musical output shows no signs of slowing down.
This New Music Friday (Aug. 16), Post Malone goes country with his sixth studio album F-1 Trillion, Meghan Trainor adds four songs (and rearranges the track list) to the deluxe edition of her latest LP Timeless, and global girl group KATSEYE unveil their debut mini-album SIS (SOFT IS STRONG). Plus, Muscadine Bloodline share their fourth full-length The Coastal Plain and Nikka Costa drops Dirty Disco, her first album in eight years.
When it comes to singles, there's just as many new songs to explore — from superstar collabs like ROSALÍA and LISA's empowered "NEW WOMAN" to the latest releases from Hozier and Peggy Gou.
Below, dive into eight more new releases from pop and K-pop to rap, rock, country, dance, and more.
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars — "Die With a Smile"
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars gave the world just 12 hours notice that they were dropping "Die With a Smile" this week, sending Little Monsters and Hooligans alike into a tizzy as they braced themselves for the surprise duet.
Mars' sensual vocals lead off the moony, apocalyptic love song, which marks Mars' first release since his GRAMMY-winning work with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic. Strumming an electric guitar, the 15-time GRAMMY winner vows, "I, I just woke from a dream/ Where you and I had to say goodbye/ And I don't know what it all means/ But since I survived, I realized/ Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow."
As for Mother Monster's oeuvre, "Die With a Smile" lands somewhere between Joanne and "Shallow" as her fans wait impatiently for LG7. Not to be outdone, Gaga takes over on the second verse, supported by Mars' swooning harmonies as the duo crescendo the intensity of their devotion to meet the literal end of the world.
LISA & ROSALÍA — "NEW WOMAN"
On New Music Friday eve, BLACKPINK member LISA added to her blossoming collection of solo bangers with "NEW WOMAN," an empowering shapeshifter of a duet that sees her joining forces with ROSALÍA.
"Hit it when I serve/ B—, you better swerve/ Revving up my aura/ Focus on my mind/ Taking my time/ I'm a new woman, woman," the K-pop star proudly announces on the chorus of the song before Rosalía slams on the brakes to sing and rap her way through a sultry verse in her native Spanish that translates, in part, to "I was born pure, yes/ Not an era will be a flop in my future/ W—, I'm Rosalía, I only know how to serve."
The accompanying Dave Meyers-directed video is filled with high-fashion looks (thigh-high boots on fire, that massive, floor-sweeping pearl necklace…or is it made of ball bearings?), Y2K nostalgia (flip phones!) and a bevy of quirky, genuinely off-beat moments that will be sure to help drive the conversation as LISA continues to establish herself — and her nascent LLOUD partnership under RCA Records — as a global force in control of her musical destiny.
Benson Boone — "Pretty Slowly"
Fresh off "Death Wish Love" — his folksy contribution to the Twisters soundtrack — Benson Boone uses his newest single "Pretty Slowly" to celebrate his sudden rise as one of pop music's shiniest new stars.
The deceptively upbeat track's lyrics reflect on the dissolution of a relationship lost to all the recent, stratospheric changes in his life as he croons, "Oh, how come all the best things fall apart/ And it started pretty slowly/ When you asked about the old me/ Oh, is he gone? Oh, is he gone/ Oh, I don't know/ I think I left him somewhere I no longer go."
However, the song's accompanying music video acts as a both a victory lap in the wake of his debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblade, from earlier this summer and and energetic peek into the "Beautiful Things" breakout's high-octane live show — complete with thousands of ecstatic fans and his signature, onstage backflips.
YG — 'Just Re'd Up 3'
More than a decade after his 2013 mixtape Just Re'd Up 2, YG adds to the series with the long-awaited Just Re'd Up 3.
The Compton native has released six other albums and a litany of other mixtapes and collaborative projects in the interim, and his decade-plus in the spotlight allows him to recruit a wide array of contemporaries for the two-disc LP — from Saweetie ("SHE PRETTY") and Ty Dolla $ign ("IT'S GIVIN," "RESCUE ME") to Tee Grizzley and G Herbo ("MALIBU") and Lil Yachty and Babyface Ray ("STUPID").
Jean Dawson & Lil Yachty — "Die For Me"
"Die For Me," Jean Dawson's new collaboration with Lil Yachty, blends the experimental leanings of the L.A.-based polymath (and musical arranger on Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER) with the bubblegum trap rapper's one-of-a-kind flow — and the result is magnetic.
Sonically, the swirling track feels like a logical follow-up to Bad Cameo, the "Poland" rapper's recent collaborative album with James Blake. After Dawson warbles the hook ("Don't show up at my funeral/ If you won't die for me"), Lil Yachty grabs the mic for a blunt-force eulogy that demands repeated listening.
Morgan Wade — 'Obsessed'
Morgan Wade preceded her fourth album, Obsessed, with delicate, heart-on-her-sleeve singles like "2AM in London" and "Time to Love, Time to Kill." Arriving almost a year to the day since her previous full-length Psychopath, the country upstart — and occasional Real Housewives of Beverly Hills guest star — is just as vulnerable on the rest of the album.
Showing off her aptitude for laying bare emotional storytelling and heart-crushing nostalgia, Wade cleverly exposes her fragilities and regrets across the album's 14 tracks — whether she's gender-flipping Shakespeare and competing with Romeo on the forbidden "Juliet," finding somber inspiration in fairy tales on the wistful "Hansel and Gretel," or duetting with Kesha on the repentant "Walked on Water."
Falling In Reverse — 'Popular Monster'
Seven years since 2017's Coming Home, Falling In Reverse are back with their fifth studio album, Popular Monster. The LP's rollout has been spread across nearly half a decade, with the title track being released as the lead single way back in November 2019. Six additional singles have followed in the lead-up to the long-awaited project, including collaborations with Tech N9ne and Slaughter to Prevail vocalist Alex Terrible ("Ronald") and Jelly Roll ("All My Life"), as well as a reimagined cover of Papa Roach's "Last Resort."
And while Popular Monster's cover art is plastered with frontman Ronnie Radke's 2012 mugshot for alleged domestic assault, the release is hardly a solo project. In fact, it's the first Falling in Reverse album to feature Max Georgiev on guitar, Tyler Burgess on bass and Luke Holland on drums. (Derek Jones, the band's late rhythm guitarist, also contributed to the title track before his untimely death in 2020 from a subdural hematoma.)
DJ Snake & Fridayy — "Complicated"
Fridayy is practically begging to keep things simple on "Complicated," his yearning, pulsating new collaboration with DJ Snake. "Tell me what you want/ Girl, I want to know/ Please don't make it complicated/ We ain't gotta complicate it," he repeats over the DJ's hypnotic rhythms filled with Spanish guitar and distant jungle sounds.
Eventually, the three-time GRAMMY nominee's desperate pleas morph into an atmospheric echo as DJ Snake's handiwork takes center stage, plunging the track into a spellbinding synth breakdown that dances all the way to the finish.
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A slightly less muddy crowd at Woodstock '94
Photo:Getty Images/John Atashian
feature
Held 30 years ago Aug. 12-14, Woodstock '94 featured an eclectic (and muddy) lineup that launched Nine Inch Nails, Green Day and others into the limelight.
Chloe Sarmiento
|GRAMMYs/Aug 12, 2024 - 01:07 pm
Woodstock '94 is no middle child music festival. While not as groundbreaking as Woodstock '69 or as infamous as Woodstock '99, Woodstock '94 boasts a unique legacy that deserves recognition.
Held Aug. 12-14 in the Hudson Valley town of Saugerties, New York, Woodstock '94 was set to commemorate the silver anniversary of the original Woodstock festival in 1969. Nodding to its origins in '69, Woodstock '94 was billed as "2 More Days of Peace and Music" (a third day of the festival was eventually added).
Woodstock '94 featured a wide range of acts that both reflected the nostalgia of Woodstock '69 and highlighted a myriad of new groups. Original Woodstock performers such as (minus Neil Young) and Santana topped the bill, and now-household names including Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers performed some of their earliest festival sets.
Even Bob Dylan, who initially declined an appearance at Woodstock '69 despite living near the festival at the time, had a change of heart and agreed to play at Woodstock '94.
It seemed that everyone wanted to capture a sliver of the magic from the original Woodstock. Although roughly 164,000 tickets were sold, the actual number of attendees exceeded 350,000 (surpassing even Coachella 2024's attendance rates).
Spirits were high as the festival opened on Friday with dry, sunny skies highlighting performances from Sheryl Crow, Collective Soul, and others. By the weekend, the weather took a turn and transformed the festival grounds at Winston Farm in Saugerties into a giant muddy puddle. Although Woodstock '69 was also rainy and mud-filled, the madness that ensued at Woodstock '94 led it to be dubbed "Mudstock."
As Primus performed "My Name Is Mud" on Saturday, festival-goers seized the opportunity to fling the wet dirt at the band on stage.
"Once I started singing the words to "My Name Is Mud," all of a sudden huge chunks of sod started flying my way and it was pretty frightening," Primus' lead singer told Billboard 20 years later. "I still have those [speaker] cabinets to this day, and those cabinets still have mud in them."
With high energy from Friday's acts and some mud-induced chaos, attendees were buzzing with anticipation and excitement for the rest of the weekend. The party atmosphere continued throughout day two — and not solely because Blind Melon lead vocalist Shannon Hoon strolled on stage tripping on acid, wearing his girlfriend's dress.
Aerosmith may have been day two headliners, but Nine Inch Nails' 15-song set remains a highlight of Woodstock '94. The band drew the biggest crowd of the festival, and were catapulted into wider mainstream visibility. Taking advantage of the unpredictable weather, then-bassist Danny Lohner pushed lead vocalist Trent Reznor into the mud, prompting Reznor to retaliate. The other members of the band soon joined in on the fun, strutting onto the stage covered in mud.
Opening with Pretty Hate Machine's "Terrible Lie," NIN turned the massive audience into a giant mosh pit and maintained that high energy until the end of the set. While the band faced technological difficulties onstage, it only seemed to enhance their raw, gritty image.
The set was so celebrated that it is forever memorialized in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with art installations featuring a life-sized mannequin replica of Reznor singing into the microphone and his keyboard, both covered in mud.
By day three, Woodstock '94 was clearly becoming an iconic music festival that would be discussed for years to come. If Saturday's mud-slinging electric performances weren't enough, the final day of the festival featured performances from Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan, Santana, and others.
When Green Day — fresh off the success of their third studio album Dookie — took the stage, all hell broke loose. While the band was and continues to be known for their rowdy live sets, their performance at Woodstock '94 remains unmatched.
By the time Green Day started performing, the fairgrounds had turned into a full-blown mud fight. The band tried to push through the performance and embrace the chaos, but the set came to an abrupt stop when lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong told the crowd, "Everybody say shut the f— up and we’ll stop playing." When the crowd shouted the phrase back, Armstrong said goodbye on behalf of the band, and the rest of the group fled the stage.
By the end of the performance, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong had lost his pants and the band had to be escorted out of the festival grounds by a helicopter. On their way off the stage, security confused mud-covered bassist Mike Dirnt for a crazed fan and tackled him, leaving him with five fewer teeth than he started the set with.
"He actually sheared my teeth, and I blew like five teeth. Only one of them died. I fixed the rest of them, but he all sheared up the back of my teeth," Dirnt confessed to The Aquarian in 2013. "It was horrible. But the great thing about it is that I was able to get out of there, and I'd do it again tomorrow if I had to."
Peter Gabriel closed out the weekend by remaining true to the original mission of the festival, offering fans peace filled with good vibes. Gabriel's music, though deeply contrasting with the hard rock and punk acts that dominated the festival, provided a flawless end to the chaos that had unfolded over the past three days.
While the 1994 installment of Woodstock hasn't basked in the same spotlight as its 1969 and 1999 siblings — the latter of which has been the subject of two documentaries in as many years — it remains far from forgotten.
Woodstock '94 stands as one of the legendary music festivals of all time. Although the rain may have soaked the grounds, turning it into a muddy catastrophe, it also nourished the roots of some of the most iconic musical acts and sent them into the mainstream media. The festival was more than just a series of performances, but rather a unique cultural event.