During an interview with Billboard, he said it was his fans who deserve the credit for helping him reach this massive milestone in his decade-plus career. “After Hours was always meant to be a very personal project. It’s a story I had to tell,” The Weeknd said. “The fact I’ve been able to tell it with the world listening is incredible. This Billboard chart record is truly a result of the fans. I’m so humbled and forever grateful to them.”
The Weeknd’s recent success with the single arrives after his performance at the Super Bowl where he closed his set with the single. To date, “Blinding Lights” has 1.1B audio and video streams combined and 726K downloads sold across the U.S.
Even though the single wasn’t announced as a nominee for the Grammys, it looks like the award show’s Canadian equal has got it right. The Junos announced their nominees on March 9th, earning the song three nominations including Single Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year.
Congrats to The Weeknd for his latest accomplishment.
Next week marks one year since The Weeknd released his acclaimed album After Hours. Since then, the singer has had many accomplishments. He was invited to perform at the Super Bowl half time show, and even honored with his own day by Toronto’s mayor. Now, The Weeknd can claim another impressive achievement: “Blinding Lights” was officially the best-selling song of 2020.
According to a year-end report released by the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry (IFPI), “Blinding Lights” sold more units globally than any other song last year. Coming behind him in second place is Tones And I with her 2019 track “Dance Monkey,” followed by Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” Saint Jhn’s “Roses,” and Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now.”
While The Weeknd had the highest-performing song of the year, he wasn’t the best-selling artist. That title was recently given to BTS after they had a wildly successful year. The Weeknd did, however, come in at fourth place behind Drake and Taylor Swift.
News of the massive success of “Blinding Lights” arrives shortly after the song secured another feat. On Monday, “Blinding Lights” became the first single to ever spend a full year in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “After Hours was always meant to be a very personal project. It’s a story I had to tell,” The Weeknd told Billboard about his chart victory. “The fact I’ve been able to tell it with the world listening is incredible. This Billboard chart record is truly a result of the fans. I’m so humbled and forever grateful to them.”
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Quality Control has solidified its dominance over the rap game over the past three years thanks to the success of acts like City Girls, Duke Deuce, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, and Migos, but the Atlanta-based label isn’t satisfied with just being hip-hop’s most successful label. Now, Coach and P have their sights set on Hollywood and won’t stop until they’ve tapped into every possible genre and form.
Not only do Lil Yachty and Migos have multiple projects coming down the pike, including Yachty’s heist comedy based on Uno and Quavo’s turn as a drug kingpin alongside Robert De Niro, but the label is also jumping into the horror genre soon, according to Deadline. The industry trade magazine reports Quality Control has partnered with Trioscope Studios in a co-production deal developing a TV series based on a graphic novel about the horrors of being Black in America.
Trioscope Studios is best known for its Netflix series The Liberator, a World War II drama using hybrid animation that blends CGI with live-action actors. The technique will be applied to QC’s upcoming series. The report doesn’t note exactly which horror comic will be adapted, but there’s no shortage of stories they could have chosen from, including The Ballad of Black Tom and The Box of Bones, while shows like HBO’s Lovecraft Country have proven that there’s certainly an appetite for more Black-focused horror-style work.
Well… we’re finally here. After a brief postponement, the 63rd annual Grammy Awards will be taking place on Sunday, March 14. As with many awards shows nowadays, things will be presented a bit differently than we’re used to. Per The Recording Academy’s website, there will be a virtual red carpet ceremony and premiere ceremony, where artists like Burna Boy, Lido Pimienta, Rufus Wainwright, and more will perform.
The circumstances don’t negate the ceremony’s esteem, however, and some of the biggest names in music could take home some serious hardware. Given The Recording Academy’s commitment to diversifying their business and the industry at large, there are a handful of exciting nominations and possibly historic wins music fans may be treated to this year. They say “it’s an honor to be nominated,” and that certainly rings true this time around.
Read on to discover some major nomination moments and potential milestones that the 2021 Grammys hold.
Legendary Nominations
The Biggest Pool Of Potential Honorees
There were 23,207 entries submitted for nomination consideration this time around, which is more than ever before. After the nominations were announced in November, Recording Academy Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said that this year’s honorees are “proof that the creative spirit continues to be alive and well.”
Women Rule Country and Rock
Here’s a first: never before in the history of the Grammys have there been only women or women-fronted acts nominated in the Best Rock Performance and Best Country Album categories. Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, Brittany Howard, Grace Potter, HAIM, and Big Thief are up for Best Rock Performance, while Ingrid Andress, Brandy Clark, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde and Little Big Town could win the Best Country Album honor.
Best New Artists Bring Heavy Representation
Even more exciting: every nominee in the Best New Artist category is either a woman or a person of color. They include country singer Ingrid Andress, indie rock singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, rapper Chika, alternative act Noah Cyrus, rapper D Smoke, rapper/singer Doja Cat, deejay/producer Kaytranada, and rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
BTS Breaks Barriers
BTS is the first K-Pop act and the first South Korean group to be recognized by the Recording Academy. They are nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for the 2021 ceremony, thanks to their song “Dynamite.”
The Potential Milestones
Taylor Goes For Three
If Folklore goes home with an Album Of The Year win, Taylor Swift would become the first woman to win the honor three times. Previously, Swift won the night’s top award in 2010 for Fearless and in 2016 for 1989. She would join Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra as the third solo artist in history to achieve the feat. (Paul Simon has won Album Of The Year three times, but one of those wins came for a Simon & Garfunkel album.)
Queen Bey Watches The Throne(s)
After securing nine nominations this year, Beyoncé became the second-most nominated artist in Grammy history, tying with Sir Paul McCartney. (The only other musicians with more nominations are Quincy Jones and her husband JAY-Z, who are tied for first.) If Bey wins three of those gramophones, she ties with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss for the most wins by a female artist in the show’s history. (If she wins four, of course, that means the record now belongs to her.) We also have to mention that her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is up for a “Best Music Video” nomination for her appearance in “Brown Skin Girl.” If the video wins, Blue would become one of the youngest Grammy winners ever.
Potential Sister Success
Haim’s Women In Music, Pt. III is up for Album Of The Year. If the group wins the night’s biggest honor, they’d be the first all-female group in 15 years to win the award. The last time this was achieved was at the 49th ceremony in 2006, when The Chicks’ Taking The Long Way nabbed the win. This would also be the first time since then that sisters would be winning Album Of The Year together. (Haim’s members are all sisters, while Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Strayer from The Chicks are sisters.)
Dua and Posty’s Potential Big Three Wins
Dua Lipa and Post Malone have the potential to join an exclusive squad of just eight musicians who have won Album, Record and Song Of The Year in the same night. (Paul Simon, Carole King, Christopher Cross, Eric Clapton, Dixie Chicks, Bruno Mars, Billie Eilish, and Adele, twice.) Dua’s Future Nostalgia and “Don’t Start Now” and Post’s Hollywood’s Bleeding and “Circles” are up for the honors.
Female Rappers May Reign Supreme
If either Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, or Chika wins in the Best New Artist category, she will become the first female rapper to win in 22 years, and just the second to win (after Lauryn Hill). Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea were nominated in the category in 2012 and 2015, while genre-bending musician Lizzo, who began her career rapping and singing, was nominated in 2020.
Roddy Ricch and Megan Thee Stallion’s Groundbreaking Chances
There are a few possible milestones wins in the Best Rap Song category. If Roddy Ricch wins for “The Box,” he will be the youngest recipient of the award. (He is 22 years old.) If Megan Thee Stallion wins Best Rap Song and/or Best Rap Performance for “Savage (Remix),” she’ll be the first female winner in both of those categories. And how sweet would it be to share the honor with her idol and collaborator, Beyoncé?
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
With her new EP dropping this week, Chika stopped by Spotify Sessions to offer up a soulful performance of her song “U Should,” along with a poetic cover of Billie Eilish‘s “My Future.” In a funny twist, Chika is up for the Grammy Award Eilish won at last year’s ceremony, Best New Artist. She noted as much in a statement accompanying the performance, saying:
I picked “My Future” by Billie Eilish as my [Best New Artist] cover for Spotify because the song is beautiful and presents an interesting opportunity to talk about where I am as an artist, especially on the heels of this nomination. My present is moving so fast that each passing moment is practically the future already. And I’m in love with the ride I’m on.
Chika’s ride started in an unconventional way, with a viral freestyle she called an “open letter to Kanye West” that wound up being shared by such hip-hop luminaries as Sean “Diddy” Combs. That exposure led to a Calvin Klein ad, a Warner Records deal, an electrifying television debut, a role in a film, a XXL Freshman placement, and her debut EP Industry Games — all before her debut album was even announced. With a new EP dropping just days before she could possibly win a Grammy Award, Chika will be a winner either way this weekend, earning that Best New Artist moniker through sheer force of will even without a trophy.
Listen to Chika’s cover of Billie’s “My Future” above.
Chika is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
For the second of her two recently released Spotify Singles (which arrive in celebration of her Best New Artist Grammy nomination), Chika has decided to share a cover of Billie Eilish’s emotional slow-burner “My Future.” Though Chika is more than capable of spitting high-caliber bars, she’s also in possession of some serious melodic chops, which happen to be on full display throughout this new two-pack. Retaining the spirit of Eilish’s original, Chika’s version is decidedly more laid-back, stripping away the percussion in favor of a lush acoustic arrangement that really highlights the melody and chord progression.
“I picked ‘my future’ by Billie Eilish as my BNA cover for Spotify because the song is beautiful and presents an interesting opportunity to talk about where I am as an artist, especially on the heels of this nomination,” explains Chika, speaking on her new Spotify Singles release. “My present is moving so fast that each passing moment is practically the future already. And I’m in love with the ride I’m on.” Should you be interested in hearing reimagined takes on existing hits — realized by talented and creative artists at that — check this one out right now.
QUOTABLE LYRICS
I know supposedly I’m lonely now Know I’m supposed to be unhappy Without someone But aren’t I someone?
Pooh has deleted his posts about Kodak and, from the looks of it, their issues appear to be dissipating. On Twitter, people have been predominantly siding with Kodak, where the rapper just gave an update on his feud with the “Back In Blood” star.
Seemingly having fun getting people riled up, Kodak then decided that it was the right time to rehash his beef with Megan Thee Stallion. Previously, Megan took credit for popularizing the term “drive the boat” but many have corrected her by saying that Kodak is actually the influencer behind that phrase. Seemingly directing another message at the Hot Girl on Tuesday, Kodak said, “We In Miami On Da Yacht She Wanna ‘Drive Da Boat’ I Got Her F*cked Up Bout My Lingo She Been Stealing quotes.”
Megan and Pooh have not responded to Kodak’s recent round of jabs their way. What do you make of all this?
New York rapper 50 Cent‘s baby mother Daphne Joy is speaking out to women across the globe. The popular vixen has lit up social media with a powerful message about the qualities every female has in them. 50 Cent’s Baby Mama Gives Powerful PSA Daphne went to her Instagram page with a selfie and strong […]
With Chika having recently secured her first Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, Spotify has opted to spotlight her work as part of the ongoing Spotify Singles series. Now, Chika has delivered two reimagined versions of both “U Should” and “My Future,” with the former kicking off the two-pack. While this new interpretation retains the same laid-back energy as the album version, the Spotify take of “U Should” is even more stripped-down than its predecessor.
Over a delicately finger-picked acoustic guitar progression and some lush production flourishes, Chika’s vocal chops are given room to soar, highlighting her versatility. As she transitions into rapping, the percussion enters the mix, imbuing the track with the spirit of an old-school jam session. What really shines however is Chika herself, who delivers each line with a refreshing clarity not often seen in a live rap performance. While it’s not entirely different from the studio version, the Spotify version of “U Should” emphasizes how talented Chika really is, and we can only hope she continues to explore this acoustic sound on further releases.
QUOTABLE LYRICS
I’m always in the position Of sipping my drink, tryna make a decision Of how I can shoot my damn shot with precision I swear that it’s harder than what I envisioned Cause mama got ass for days But hold herself well, she got class for days
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