By Daniel Kreps Joni Mitchell  will perform on the Grammy stage for the first time in her legendary career  at the 2024 award show taking place Sunday February 4th at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. The singer-songwriter, who is nominated for Best Folk Album for Joni Mitchell at Newport , previously received the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. However, Mitchell has never performed live at the Grammy Awards itself, until now. Mitchell returned to playing live in 2022 following a two-decade-long absence from the stage, first making a surprise appearance  at the Newport Folk Festival that year before making her official comeback at the Echoes Through the Canyon festival  in June 2023. She also performed at a Gershwin Prize concert  in her honor as well as a guest  at Brandi Carlile’s Hollywood Bowl shows. Mitchell joins a star-studded Grammy performers lineup that includes Dua Lipa, Burna Boy, Billie Eilish, Luke Combs, Travis Scott, Olivia Rodrigo and Billy Joel, who is returning to the award show for the first time in over 20 years . U2 will also stage a performance live from their Sphere residency  in Las Vegas. The show will air Sunday, February 4th on CBS and Paramount Plus at 8 p.m. ET. Trevor Noah will once again serve as the Grammys’ host, his fourth year in a row taking on hosting duties.

by Scott Detrow Scott Detrow talks with Pitchfork editor Andy Cush about ambient music and the growth in popularity of marketing it as so-called mood music on streaming platforms. SCOTT DETROW, HOST:  And finally today, to create a certain mood, people may often turn to ambient music. DETROW: That's music, usually without words and curated in playlists, that's sometimes meant to achieve a particular mood or feeling, and marketing it as so-called mood music has become big business. Streaming giant Spotify has an entire genre dedicated to it, with dozens of playlist options, and one market research firm says in recent years, the background music industry has been valued at $1.5 billion, driven in part by demand from places like cafes. But if you think it's just background noise, you are mistaken. That's according to Andy Cush, a contributing editor at Pitchfork magazine who's written about the genre. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. ANDY CUSH: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. DETROW: What's the best way to describe ambient music? I feel like a lot of us kind of know what it is in theory, but what's the specific way you would describe what we're talking about when we have this conversation? CUSH: Yeah. So I think that I would kind of default to the definition of it that was put forth by Brian Eno, who is the person most often credited with sort of inventing ambient music, and the key part of that definition for me is it's something like music that is ignorable as it is interesting. He was really fascinated by music that could just sort of exist in a space, whether or not anyone was paying close attention to it. That was still an OK way to listen to it. And yet, if you wanted to sit, you know, with your head right between the speakers and try to take in every detail, there would be enough there to keep you interested and excited. And the way that that kind of ends up manifesting in terms of the way it sounds is like, you know, a chord that might just stay in one place for several minutes at a time and slowly change the way that it sounds. It's not particularly dissonant or loud. There's, like, a meditative, relaxing and kind of ambiguously emotional feeling that comes along with it. DETROW: Yeah. I mean, you focus a lot on Brian Eno, like you said, as the person who really kind of made this stand out. What was it that he did that really set him apart, that made this take off? CUSH: Well, one thing was that he came up with the terminology for it. You know, there was music that we might, like, look back on as being sort of adjacent to ambient music. Like, minimalist classical composers kind of were exploring similar ideas sometimes. But in this album, "Ambient 1: Music For Airports," in the liner notes, you know, sort of put forth a mission statement for what ambient music was. And honestly, his contribution to ambient music has as much to do with kind of, like, the theoretical terminology side as it does, like, with music itself. CUSH: At its outset, like, ambient music was something that, like, you would have been kind of a nerd about music to be even encountering, you know? It was like music that record collectors or enthusiasts of ambient music specifically were into. And I think in the streaming era, a lot of this music is being presented to listeners under the auspices of, like, aids for relaxation, or, you know, you could just go on Spotify and pull up, like, a deep focus ambient playlist. CUSH: And that has in a cool way, from my perspective, opened up music that is, like, quite easy to understand and could be quite widely appealing to an audience of people who are maybe, like, outside of this sort of niche... DETROW: Yeah. CUSH: ...Of listeners who were initially attracted to ambient music. DETROW: Right - because it feels like there's a tension here. And it seems like you feel like there's a tension here - right? - because this is a genre that people are putting a lot of thought and work into it. And then it's being widely consumed but, in a lot of ways, just as, like, white noise, in a sense. CUSH: Yeah. And when I wrote this piece for Pitchfork, I talked to quite a few ambient musicians. And honestly, I would say, like, the primary response that I got was people were just happy with this idea that people might be encountering their music in some new way that wouldn't have heard it otherwise. DETROW: Yeah. We talked about Brian Eno for a bit. Are there other artists or specific algorithms you'd recommend or point people to as a starting point? CUSH: Yeah. I mean, probably my favorite artist ever kind of in the space of ambient music is this guy Hiroshi Yoshimura whose music I first encountered, like, not too dissimilarly. I first heard it as, like - on YouTube, just being kind of - recommended one of his albums after something else I was listening to. And that kept happening to the point where I was like, man, this music is so beautiful. I have to actually, like, learn who this guy is. And he's got a whole fascinating catalog, and it's just really - it's not difficult music. It's just - it makes its sort of charms apparent right away. It's just, like, so soothing and tender. And every time you hear it, you might find something new in it. DETROW: That's Andy Cush. He's a musician and contributing editor at Pitchfork. Thank you so much. CUSH: Thank you.

by Erick Massoto Antoine Fuqua  ( The Equalizer  trilogy) confirmed that Michael  finished filming a couple of months ago , which means that the project is making its way to the final stages of production. However, since we still have to wait more than six months to check it out and there isn't even a trailer out, there's only so much that the director can reveal  at this point. But Fuqua was straightforward about why he wanted to make the movie:  "Why I wanted to make it? It’s Michael. I'm in the early stages of editing the film right now. We just wrapped on May 30. I’m very excited about it. I'm very happy with what we got in the can. Like I said, it's so early in the editing process, so I don’t want to talk too much about it. Michael was a big part of my life growing up, a big influence on my career, an incredible artist, but he was a human being and we’re exploring that. I'm very excited about it." Michael has the potential of being the kind of biopic that lures millions of people to movie theaters. Jackson was one of the most popular artists that the world has seen and not by chance he was dubbed King of Pop . Jafaar Jackson  bears a whopping resemblance  to Michael, which is why the actor was chosen to portray his late uncle in the movie. The cast of Michael  also features Colman Domingo  ( Rustin ) as Jackson's overbearing father Joe Jackson, Nia Long  ( You People ) as Jackson's mother Katherine Jackson, Kat Graham  ( The Vampire Diaries ) as legendary singer Diana Ross , Kendrick Sampson  ( Insecure ) as Quincy Jones, Derek Luke  ( 13 Reasons Why ) as controversial lawyer Johnnie Cochran and Miles Teller  ( Top Gun: Maverick ) as John Branca — the co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate. Michael  is slated to premiere on April 18, 2025.

by Keith Caulfield Post Malone ’s first country  album, F-1 Trillion , rolls in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 31) with 250,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 22, according to Luminate. It’s the sixth top 10 and third No. 1 for the artist. He last led the list with Hollywood’s Bleeding  in 2019 which racked up five weeks atop the list. He first reigned with Beerbongs & Bentleys for three weeks in 2018. The standard edition of the F-1 Trillion  album was released on Aug. 16 and has 18 songs, 15 of which are collaborations with country stars ranging from Dolly Parton and Hank Williams Jr., to Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton, to HARDY and Morgan Wallen. Later on Aug. 16,   F-1 Trillion  garnered a deluxe reissue, dubbed the “Long Bed” edition, with nine additional solo Post Malone tracks. F-1 Trillion  also leads the Top Country Albums — where it’s Post Malone’s first entry — and the Top Streaming Albums and Top Album Sales tallies. F-1 Trillion  debuts with 250,000 equivalent album units earned — the second-largest week for any country album in 2024. Only Beyoncé ’s Cowboy Carter  earned a bigger week this year among country sets when it opened in April with 407,000 units.

Band will turn state-of-the-art venue into the Hotel California for four weekends in September & October. By Daniel Kreps The Eagles  will be the next artist to nest at the Sphere  as the “Hotel California” band has announced a four-weekend residency at the state-of-the-art Las Vegas  venue. A month after Dead and Company wrap up their own Sphere residency in August, the Eagles will swoop in on September 20 and 21 for the first of four Friday/Saturday concerts at the venue. The band — Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Vince Gill, and Deacon Frey — are then scheduled to play the weekends of September 27/28, October 11/12, and October 18/19 at the Sphere. An artist presale registration for the Sphere shows is now open at the Eagles’ site , where fans can also see general on-sale and limited VIP ticket information. The Eagles mark the fourth band to play the Sphere, following U2 — who opened the venue  — Phish and Dead and Company . The Sphere residency comes as The Eagles are in the midst of their Long Goodbye “official farewell tour,” which kicked off in 2023 with a string of arena dates and is expected to run into 2025. “The Eagles have had a miraculous 52-year odyssey, performing for people all over the globe; keeping the music alive in the face of tragic losses, upheavals and setbacks of many kinds,” the band said in a statement last year.  “Credit and thanks go to our longtime management team, our dedicated road crew and our exceptional backup musicians for providing skilled and steadfast support throughout these many years. We know how fortunate we are and we are truly grateful. Our long run has lasted far longer than any of us ever dreamed. But, everything has its time, and the time has come for us to close the circle.” Eagles Sphere Dates: Friday, September 20  Saturday, September 21  Friday, September 27  Saturday, September 28  Friday, October 11  Saturday, October 12  Friday, October 18  Saturday, October 19

By Anna Chan December 19th, 2023 It’s always a big loss when the world loses a talented artist and, unfortunately, 2023 kicked off with several notable deaths in music. It began with Gangsta Boo, the pioneering Southern female rapper formerly of hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, who was found dead on New Year’s Day at age 43. The next day, Alan Rankine of post-punk New Wave act The Associates, who also produced the Cocteau Twins and pursued his own solo music, died at age 64. Since then, we’ve also lost rock guitar legend Jeff Beck — who died at age 78 on Jan. 10 — and singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, who suffered cardiac arrest and died on Jan. 12 at age 54. Since then, the world has lost musical greats including Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Gordon Lightfoot, David Crosby and more. While their loved ones and fans around the globe mourn the loss of these artists, they will not be forgotten. Here, Billboard  remembers the musicians who left us in 2023. Denny Laine ( Oct. 29, 1944 – Dec. 5, 2023 ) Jean Knight ( Jan. 26, 1943 – Nov. 22, 2023 ) Rudolph Isley ( April 1, 1939 – Oct. 11, 2023 ) Gary Wright ( April 26, 1943 – Sept. 4, 2023 ) Steve Harwell ( Jan. 9, 1967 – Sept. 4, 2023 ) Jimmy Buffett ( Dec. 25, 1946 – Sept. 1, 2023 ) Robbie Robertson ( July 5, 1943 – Aug. 9, 2023 ) Sinead O’Connor ( Dec. 8, 1966 – July 26, 2023 ) Randy Meisner ( March 8, 1946 – July 26, 2023 ) Brad Houser ( Sept. 7, 1960 – July 24, 2023 ) Tony Bennett ( Aug. 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023 ) Astrud Gilberto ( March 29, 1940 – June 5, 2023 ) Tina Turner ( Nov. 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023 ) Gordon Lightfoot ( Nov. 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023 ) Harry Belafonte ( March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023 ) Ryuichi Sakamoto ( 1952 – March 28, 2023 ) Gary Rossington ( Dec. 4, 1951 – March 5, 2023 ) Burt Bacharach ( May 12, 1928 – Feb. 9, 2023 ) David Crosby ( Aug. 14, 1941 – Jan. 19, 2023 ) Lisa Marie Presley ( Feb. 1, 1968 – Jan. 12, 2023 ) Jeff Beck ( June 24, 1944 – Jan. 10, 2023 )

October 31st, 2023 “Now And Then” is the last Beatles song — written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr and now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later. The track will be released worldwide on November 2 and is one of the most anticipated releases of the band’s long and endlessly eventful history. Hear “Now And Then” Tune in to The Beatles Channel (Ch. 18) on November 2 at 10am ET to hear “Now And Then” at the top of the hour the moment it’s released. The song will continue to be played multiple times throughout the day November 2–5 on The Beatles Channel as well as on Classic Vinyl, Classic Rewind, Deep Tracks, The Spectrum, The Blend, 60s Gold, and 70s on 7. Preorder/pre-save “Now And Then”/”Love Me Do” double A-side single. Hear Exclusive Celebrity Track-By-Track Specials for ‘The Red Album’ and ‘The Blue Album’ The Beatles’ 1962-1966 ( The Red Album ) and 1967-1970 ( The Blue Album ) collections will be released in 2023 Edition packages on November 10. Featuring expanded track lists, the albums have been mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos.

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