Culture Representation: The documentary film “I Am: Celine Dion” (filmed in 2023) features an all-white group of people discussing the life and career of French Canadian superstar singer Celine Dion.
Culture Clash: Dion has personal struggles and uncertainty about her career after she is diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.
Culture Audience: “I Am: Celine Dion” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Dion and people interested in watching documentaries about how celebrities deal with health problems.
Celine Dion in “I Am: Celine Dion” (Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
“I Am: Celine Dion” can be commended for how Celine Dion openly shares what her life was like shortly after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome. However, this documentary did not need so many “greatest hits” archival clips as interruptions. These archival clips are edited into the movie in ways that seem like distractions and filler to stretch out the length of the film. Without these archival clips, there’s barely enough new footage for a feature-length film.
Directed by Irene Taylor, “I Am: Celine Dion” (filmed in 2023) has a format that constantly switches back and forth between the footage filmed exclusively for the documentary and the archival footage, usually a music video or a live performance that has already been widely seen. Just when things get interesting with the new footage, the movie then abruptly segues to the archival footage. People watching this documentary don’t need these constant archival reminders to show why Dion is famous. The expected hits are featured, including “My Heart Will Go On,” “The Power of Love,” “All by Myself” and “Because You Loved Me.”
The footage that was filmed exclusively for the documentary shows Dion mostly at her home in her native Québec, as she begins her recovery and rehabilitation for stiff person syndrome, a rare autoimmune neurological disorder that causes muscle stiffness, spasms and seizures. “I Am: Celine Dion” notoriously includes Dion having a seizure on camera during a medical appointment. This clip was widely shown before the documentary became available, so anyone who saw this clip before seeing the documentary won’t be as shocked as those who never saw this footage.
Aside from this revealing footage of Dion having a seizure, ” Am: Celine Dion” shows her having other moments of vulnerability. She says of the part of her recovery that is not in the documentary: “It got to a point where I couldn’t walk anymore … A lot of pain. And I can’t use my [singing] voice yet.
Dion also wonders aloud if stiff person syndrome will rob her of her greatest joy as a singer: performing in front of a live audience. She comments, “Music, I miss it a lot. But also: people. I miss them.
Dion adds, Before got SPS, my voice was the conductor of my life. I was okay with that because I was having a great time. When your voice brings you joy, you’re the best of yourself.”
During this period of recovery, the documentary shows that Dion kept a small circle of people around her. Those in her inner circle include her three sons: René-Charles (born in 2001) and fraternal twins Eddy and Nelson (born in 2010), from her marriage to her late husband/manager René Angélil, who died of throat cancer in 2016. Also seen in the documentary are Dion’s co-managers Dave Platel and Denis Savage.
As candid as the documentary is, Dion still seems a little guarded because she’s aware she’s being filmed. In the documentary’s first scene, her twin sons Eddy and Nelson ask her: “What’s your favorite color?” Dion replies: “That’s a hard question to answer.” She is then asked, “If you could be anywhere, where would you be?” Dion answers, “Will you believe me if I tell you that I’ve traveled the world, and I didn’t really see anything?”
“I Am: Celine Dion”—just like many other celebrity documentaries that are sanctioned by the celebrity or celebrity’s estate—presents the celebrity in the way that the celebrity probably wants to be presented. Dion is not depicted as perfect (her sadness and vulnerability are on full display), and she certainly didn’t do this documentary to get pity because of her medical condition. However, it seems a little fake that Dion is never seen getting angry or showing any personality flaws that would make her more relatable as a human being. How she’s dealing with her diagnosis is certainly admirable, but “I Am: Celine Dion” still gives the impression that the entire story isn’t told in this documentary.
Amazon MGM Studios released “I Am: Celine Dion” select U.S. cinemas on June 21, 2024. Prime Video premiered the movie on June 25, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place from 2018 to 2023, mostly in Mexico (and briefly in Thailand, England, Israel, and Switzerland), the musical film “Emilia Pérez” (based on the operetta of the ame name) features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with some black people and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A ruthless drug cartel leader enlists the help of an attorney to get gender affirmation surgery as a woman named Emilia Pérez, but things get complicated when she has her unsuspecting former wife and kids live with her.
Culture Audience: “Emilia Pérez” will appeal primarily to fans of the movie’s headliners and unconventional movie musicals that have better performances than songs or screenplays.
Selena Gomez in “Emilia Pérez” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)
“Emilia Pérez” (about a transgender former drug trafficker) is a musical but it’s more like an artsy telenova. The performances are the main reason to watch this uneven movie that has a messy screenplay and mediocre songs. “Emilia Pérez” is not even close to being the masterpiece might be hyped up to be some of the movie’s biggest fans. However, the dramatic parts of the film are watchable enough for viewers who are curious to see how the story is going to end.
Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez” is based on Audiard’s operetta of the same name, which was inspired by Boris Razon’s 2018 novel “Écoute.” The word “écoute” means “listen” in French. “Emilia Pérez” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where the movie won the Grand Jury Prize (the equivalent of second place); Best Soundtrack; and Best Actress, with the prize shared by “Emilia Pérez” co-stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. “Emilia Pérez” is also France’s official entry for consideration for Best International Feature Film for the 2025 Academy Awards.
“Emilia Pérez” (which takes place mostly in Mexico) begins in 2018, by showing a 36-year-old defense attorney named Rita Morena Castro (played by Zoe Saldaña), who was born in the Dominican Republic but has been living in Mexico for years because she was educated in Mexico. Rita is having conflicted feelings as she prepares for a murder trial in Mexico City. Her client Gabriel Mendoza (played by Emiliano Hasan) is accused of murdering his wife. Rita suspects he is guilty, but her supervisor/lead defense attorney Berlinger (played by Eduardo Aladro) has decided that their strategy is to say that Gabriel is not guilty because Gabriel’s wife committed suicide. Gabriel ends up being found not guilty by a jury.
Rita is feeling unfulfilled in her life. In the musical number “Todo y nada” (which means “everything and nothing” in Spanish), Rita mentions she’s becoming disillusioned with her work, and she’s tired of people asking her why she’s not married and has no children. Rita also wants to start her own law firm, but she doesn’t have the money and thinks she’ll experience obstacles because of her race. (She identifies as Afro-Latina.)
Shortly after this verdict, Rita is in a courthouse restroom when she gets a strange phone call from an unidentified man, who tells her if she wants to become rich, she needs to go to a nearby newsstand in 10 minutes. It’s under these circumstances that a curious Rita goes to the newsstand. She is kidnapped on the street while waiting at the newsstand. Rita is taken in a van, where she meets her kidnapper while she has a hood over her head.
The kidnapper is a drug cartel boss named Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (played by Karla Sofía Gascón), who has a very unusual request. Manitas has been living as a man, but Manitas really identifies as a transgender female and has felt this way since childhood. Manitas wants Rita’s help to find a safe place to get gender-affirming surgery, and then fake Manitas’ death, so that Manitas can start a new life living openly as a woman with a new name.
Rita knows about Manitas’ reputation for being a ruthless criminal. However, she relates to Manitas feeling “stuck” and wanting a drastic life change. The money that Manitas wants to pay Rita would also make her a millionaire, so she accepts this offer with little hesitation. Of course, being kidnapped and pressured into this taking this offer is a big reason why Rita says yes to Manitas.
Manitas has a wife named Jessi (played by Gomez) and two sons: Diego (played by Lucas Varoclier) and Angel (played by Théo Guarin, who are about 4 and 6 years old at the time of Rita’s kidnapping. Jessi (whose full name is Jessica) was born in the United States and still has several family members living there. Jessi is a loving parent to the children, but she remains a bit of a hollow enigma throughout the story.
Manitas plans to have Jessi, Diego and Angel live in Switzerland, where Jessi doesn’t really know anyone. Rita has been tasked with telling Jessi that Jessi and the children have to go into hiding in Switzerland because Manitas’ criminal enemies want to harm them. Manitas death will then be faked, so that Manitas can start a new life as a woman.
“Emilia Pérez” (which has a total running time of 132 minutes) takes an awfully long time before Manitas gets gender affirmation surgery, which doesn’t happen until about 40 minutes into the movie. Before that, there are some very contrived-looking scenes of Rita going to the Thai city of Bangkok and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv to find the place that will give the surgery. She decides to choose a surgeon named Dr. Wasserman (played by Mark Ivanir) in Israel to give Manitas the procedure. The musical scenes for this search for a surgeon have the weakest songs in the movie.
After the surgery, Manitas has been reinvented as a bachelorette named Emilia Pérez (also played by Gascón), although she uses the title Señora (Mrs.) for her name. Four years later, Emilia and Rita see each other again at a dinner party in a London restaurant. Rita is surprised to see Emilia there but soon finds out that Emilia planned for Rita to be there.
Emilia wants Rita’s help again: This time, Emilia wants Rita to bring Jessi, Diego and Angel over from Switzerland to live with Emilia in Mexico. (Gaël Murguia-Fur has the role of older Angel. Tirso Rangel Pietriga has the role of older Diego.) Emilia explains that she misses her children and she wants Rita’s assistance in telling Jessi, Diego and Angel that Emilia is a distant cousin of Manitas, who gave her some inheritance money to take care of them financially.
For a while, the plan works. At first, Jessi is a little suspicious over how Emilia is overly affectionate with Diego and Angel. And at times, Emilia slips up when she describes Dego and Angel as her kids. (The children call her Auntie.) Overall, the family is harmonious but this wouldn’t be telenova-type of story if things continued to go smoothly.
Because Manitas is supposed to be dead, Emilia doesn’t mind that Jessi has a lover named Gustavo Brun (played by Edgar Ramírez), whose occupation is unclear. However, it’s implied that whatever he does for money is suspicious. What Emilia doesn’t know is that Jessi and Gustavo were secret lovers when Jessi and Manitas were married. Although Jessi says that she loved Manitas, she apparently married Manitas when they were very young, and she wasn’t sure if Manitas still loved her.
Emilia feels guilty about all the murders she was responsible for when she was a drug cartel boss, so she reinvents herself as a philanthropist who has started a nonprofit charity to find missing people whose disapperances are believed to be related to drug cartels. Rita works as Emilia’s attorney for this charity and is morally conflicted when Emilia solicits donations from rich criminals. It’s during this charity work that Emilia meets Epifanía Flores (played by Paz), whose missing husband’s body was found by Emilia’s workers. Emilia and Epifanía have an instant attraction and become intimately involved with each other.
“Emilia Pérez” has moments that are thoroughly engaging, especially in the scenes where Emilia and Rita are interacting with each other. But the first third of the movie is somewhat confusing because it looks more like Rita’s story. For a movie called “Emilia Pérez,” it’s a bit of creative misstep that the title character appears so late in the movie.
Another flaw in the movie is the relationship between Jessi and Gustavo is not shown enough for viewers to understand what Jessi sees in him. All that viewers will see about the romantic part of their relationship is that Jessi likes to talk dirty to him over the phone, they’re definitely in lust, and they like to have sexy dances with each other when they go out to a nightclub. Gomez is adequate in her role as Jessi, who is an underdeveloped character.
“Emilia Pérez” is also sketchy with details over why Emilia has so much financial control over Jessi and the kids. As the “widow” of Manitas, Jessi would be entitled to a lot more that what she gets, in terms of an inheritance and financial independence. Viewers can only conclude that Jessi must be less-than-smart if she believes everything that Rita tells her and willingly goes to live with a “cousin-in-law” whom Jessi has never met before and knows almost nothing about. Jessi’s financial dependence on Emilia is crucial to a major plot development in the last third of the film.
Gascón (who is a transgender woman in real life) and Saldaña are the obvious standouts with their committed performances. Saldaña’s song-and-dance number of “El Mal” during a charity event is a highlight of the movie. Gascón also excels in her dual roles as Emilia and Manitas. “Emilia Pérez” blends romance, action and drama into a poutpourri that isn’t thoroughly appealing because of some plot holes, unanswered questions, and songs that are underwhelming. However, the personalities of Emilia and Rita are interesting enough to keep viewers engaged in story that isn’t often seen on screen.
Netflix released “Emilia Pérez” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024. Netflix premiered the movie for streaming on November 13, 2024.
A 2018 photo of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii, in Cape Town, South Africa, in “Avicii — I’m Tim” (Photo courtesy of Candamo Film/Avicii Music AB/Netflix)
Culture Representation: The documentary film “Avicii — I’m Tim” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and Asian people) who are friends, colleagues or family members talking about life and career of Avicii, the Swedish electronic dance music (EDM) artist whose real name was Tim Bergling, died by suicide (cutting himself with glass) in 2018, at the age of 28.
Culture Clash: Avicii was one of the top EDM artists in the world, but he struggled in with mental health and addiction issues at the height of his fame.
Culture Audience: “Avicii — I’m Tim” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Avicii and 2010s EDM/pop music.
Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii, in “Avicii — I’m Tim” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)
“Avicii — I’m Tim” is a bittersweet documentary about this talented artist but it omits a lot of details about his life, even with rare archival interviews. It’s ultimately a cautionary tale about how fame and fortune cannot erase mental health struggles. Through archival recordings, Avicii (whose real name was Tim Bergling) is the narrator of the documentary, which gives the movie a haunting quality but serves as a vital voice for an overall conventionally made but effective biography film.
Directed by Henrik S. Burman, “Avicii — I’m Tim” had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. Netflix is releasing the documentary on the same day (December 31, 2024) as the Avicii concert film “Avicii — My Last Show,” which was filmed in 2018 at Ibiza’s Ushuaïa. “Avicii — I’m Tim” is told in chronological order and has the expected mix of archival footage mixed with interviews that were done exclusively for the movie.
Avicii (pronounced ah-vee-chee)/Tim Bergling was born on September 8, 1989, in Stockholm, Sweden. As he says in previous interviews, he had a very sheltered childhood, which was centered on just a five-block radius in his Stockholm neighborhood. He was the son of Klas Bergling (a manager of an office supply business) and actress Anki Lidén. Avicii’s mother and father provide some of the commentary in the documentary. Avicii’s three siblings—David Bergling, Linda Sterner and Anton Körberg—are not interviewed in the movie. In 2019, Avicii’s family established the Tim Bergling Foundation, to help with suicide prevention and people struggling with mental health issues.
“Avicii — I’m Tim” begins with a montage of Avicii’s career highlights. He can be heard saying in a voiceover: “I’ve always wanted to make timeless music. I feel like I’m filled with music. It’s my life’s biggest passion.” As a child, he says he was a class clown to avoid getting bullied. He also says he became nicer to people after a teacher told him that he had a reputation for being a snitch.
Tim began making music by remixing songs when he was 8 years old. He had diverse tastes in music, but eventually was most attracted to electronic dance music (EDM) because the technology gave him more freedom to experiment on his own. However, even before he became famous, Tim/Avicii knew he needed to find collaborators because he had no aspirations to be a singer.
In his teenage years, one of his earliest music collaborators was his best friend at the time: Flip “Philgood” Akeson, one of the people interviewed in the documentary. Akeson says that teenage Tim was “shy” and “very anxious. We were polar opposites.” Akeson adds, “He was a geek, to be honest.” Bergling chose the stage name Avicii (respelling of Avīci), which means “the lowest level of Buddhist hell.” Akeson says that he and Avicii drifted apart as Akeson went into a self-described “downward spiral” of drug addiction.
It was during these formative years that Tim developed his “night owl” lifestyle because less people bothered him at night. Tim soon caught the attention of Arash “Ash” Pournouri, who became Tim’s manager and is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. By all accounts, Pournouri becoming Tim’s manager was the turning point for Tim, who was too introverted to be a self-promoter. Pournouri’s unshakeable ambition and confidence to make Avicii a rich and famous artist, combined with Avicii’s prodigious talent, proved to be an unbeatable combination.
The rest of “Avicii — I’m Tim” chronicles Avicii’s rapid rise from EDM star to mainstream celebrity who could sell out arenas and festivals as a headliner DJ/artist. (His best-known hits are 2011’s “Levels” and 2013’s “Wake Me Up.”) He also became an in-demand producer and remixer with a reputation of not being afraid to experiment musically. But with success came enormous pressure to work as much as possible and continue making several hits.
Akeson says that when he knew Avicii, Avicii was very much against drugs, even marijuana. Toward the end of his life, Avicii had gone public about being in rehab for alcohol addiction and pills. Avicii’s anxiety also got worse in dealing with the demands of fame. As he says in an archival interview: “I was a lot happier before I was famous than after I was famous.” On April 20, 2018, Avicii committed suicide (cutting himself with glass) in Muscat, Oman, while he was on vacation.
Although “Avicii — I’m Tim” has a lot of talk about Avicii’s personal struggles and his career achievements, there’s not enough information in the documentary about what was really done behind the scenes to get him the help that he needed. Pournouri (who parted ways with Avicii in 2016) makes vague comments about people trying to do the best they can to help Avicii. Jesse Waits (a Las Vegas nightclub entrepreneur) says of Avicii: “He was very fragile and insecure. He was like a little brother to me.”
The movie, without explanation, also never talks about Avicii’s love life or how he dealt with fans/hangers-on who wanted to date him. Someone in Acivii’s position obviously gets this type of attention. (Waits tells a brief story of how he met Avicii when Avicii and two women used Waits’ home as an overnight crash pad.) But the documentary refuses to even mention any former lovers he had who might have known about his personal challenges and who possibly tried to help him. Did Avicii ever fall in love? That’s a question the documentary won’t answer.
Most of the people interviewed in “Avicii — I’m Tim” are people who knew Avicii because they had a business relationship with him. They include Per Sundin, CEO of Universal Music Nordic Region; singer Aloe Blacc; DJ/artist David Guetta; Neil Jacobson, A&R executive at Interscope Records; Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay; country singer Dan Tyminski; music producer songwriter Nile Rodgers; Sony Music Publishing executive Johnny Tennander; songwriter/producer Carl Falk; musician/songwriter Mike Eizinger; music journalist Katie Bain; musician Salem Al Fakir; and singer/songwriter Joe Janiak.
In 2016, Avicii announced that he was taking a hiatus from touring because he was exhausted and wanted to work on his mental health. When people experience this type of burnout, they often feel like they are being treated like workhorse robots in their life. By refusing to show a full picture of who was in Avicii’s support system at the lowest points in his life, “Avicii — I’m Tim” sidelines some of his humanity. But with his voice as the narration, some of that humanity is retained instead of being drowned out by the documentary’s talking heads who profited from knowing Avicii in some way.
Netflix will premiere “Avicii — I’m Tim” on December 31, 2024.
Culture Representation: Filmed in 2023, mostly in the United States, the documentary film “Music by John Williams” features award-winning music composer John Willams and a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) who are his friends, colleagues or family members talking about Williams’ life and career.
Culture Clash: Williams started off as a jazz musician and classical music orchestra player but transitioned into become the most famous and most-awarded movie composer of all time.
Culture Audience: “Music by John Williams” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Williams and the movies he composed music for, including “Star Wars,” “E.T.,” the “Indiana Jones” films, and the first three “Harry Potter” movies.
John Williams in “Music by John Williams” (Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney+)
The tribute documentary “Music by John Williams” gives an admirable career retrospective of the world’s most famous movie composer. John Williams and his colleague friends provide most of the commentary in a formulaic but educational and delightful film. Even the most ardent fans of Williams will see or learn something new from seeing this well-researched documentary. “Music by John Williams” had its world premiere at the 2024 edition of AFI Fest.
Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, “Music by John Williams” is the type of documentary that would be hard get wrong, considering the subject matter and the participation of all the immensely talented people (including Williams) in this film. Born in New York City in 1932, Williams has an extraordinary body of work that includes composing the iconic scores for numerous high-profile films, including “Star Wars” movies, the “Indiana Jones” movies, 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” 1982’s “E.T. the Extraterrestrial,” 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan” and the first three “Harry Potter” movies.
Williams has won every major award for film music composing (including several Oscars and Grammys) and has earned the description of being a “legendary” composer. “Music by John Williams” has the expected descriptions of Williams’ most famous movie scores with clips from these films and some anecdotal stories. As such, “Music by John Williams” is very much a nostalgia documentary, but it’s also an inspirational story of someone who refuses to follow the conventions that most people follow when it comes to aging and retirement.
“Music by John Williams” tells Williams’ story in chronological order and includes personal photos of Williams in his youth. Williams is candid about his experiences but mostly talks about his career, his compositions and the fondness he has for his colleague friends. He came from a family of musicians and creative people: His father Johnny was a drummer/percussionist, his mother Esther was a dancer, and his younger brothers Jerry and Don and older sister Joan also had musical talent and became musicians. Williams’ three children—daughter Jenny, son Mark and son Joe—also became musicians. (For the purposes of this review, John Williams will be referred to as Williams.)
Williams describes having a happy childhood, which is when he taught himself a lot of what he knows about music through constant practicing. By the time he was in high school, he was writing music for the school’s orchestra. Williams describes this accomplishment in such a modest way, it’s almost easy to forget that most high schoolers wouldn’t be able and wouldn’t be asked to write music for their school orchestra.
In his late teens and 20s, Williams studied music while he attended the University of California at Los Angeles, Juilliard, and the University of Rochester. For a brief time, he was in the U.S. Air Force. When he relocated permanently to Los Angeles, Williams became a session musician for many movies and TV shows from the mid-1950s onward. He worked with mentors such as Harry Mancini and André Previn. Some of Williams’ film credits during this time included 1956’s Carousel, 1959’s “Peter Gunn” and 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
Williams also became known as a jazz musician. And it wasn’t long before he was composing and conducting his own film and TV scores. Some his TV credits in the 1960s included “Gilligan’s Island” and “Lost in Space.” His first movie score as a composer was the 1958 forgettable flop “Daddy-O.” It’s an example of how Williams didn’t let any early career failures deter him.
Because so much of Williams’ best-known music is in movies directed and/or produced by Steven Spielberg, it should come as no surprise that Spielberg is one of the producers of “Music by John Williams” and is one of the enthusiastic commentators in the documentary. As Williams says in the documentary, the “luckiest day” of his life was meeting Spielberg, who has worked with Williams for all of the feature films directed by Spielberg so far. In the documentary, Spielberg gushes about Williams’ music: “It’s the purest form of art I’ve experienced from any human being.”
Other filmmakers who are interviewed for the documentary are “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Ron Howard, Kathleen Kennedy, Chris Columbus, Lawrence Kasdan, James Mangold and Frank Marshall. Musicians who pay homage to Williams in this documentary include Chris Martin (lead singer of Coldplay), Branford Marsalis, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Alan Silvestri, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gustavo Dudamel, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Thomas Hooten and Master Sergeant Karen Johnson of the U.S. Marines Chamber Orchestra. Other interviewees include actress Kate Capshaw, actor Ke Huy Quan and journalists Alex Ross, Elvis Mitchell and Javier Hernandez. Williams’ daughter Jenny and her singer/musician son Ethan Gruska are also interviewed.
The commentators for the documentary have nothing but praise for Williams as an artist and as a person. Spielberg says his first impression of Williams is who Williams remained for all of these years: “He was an elegant man—always has been—but very warm.” Williams gets absolutely no criticism in this movie, which makes him look almost too good to be true.
However, observant viewers will notice that if there’s one major flaw that Williams seems to have is that he’s a workaholic who has often put his career above his personal life. This not-very-surprising revelation comes directly from Williams. He describes how although he was a happily married father during his marriage to actress/singer Barbara Ruick (his first wife, whom he married in 1956), when their three kinds were young, he deliberately spent more time at the music studios of 20th Century Fox than he did at home because being around his kids at home was too much of a noisy distraction for him.
Williams’ daughter Jenny is the only one of his children who is interviewed in the documentary. She doesn’t mention how her father’s absences affected her childhood but she does say that she had to become a mother figure for her younger brothers after their mother tragically died at age 41 of an aneurysm in 1974. Williams says in the documentary that her sudden death is still hard for him to talk about, and he admits he had problems handling being a widowed father of teenagers. Williams and photographer Samantha Winslow (who is not interviewed in the documentary) got married in 1980, and he briefly mentions their happy marriage in the documentary.
One of the most poignant parts of the documentary is when Williams says that he believes that his music improved during this widower part of his life because he felt that Ruick (in spirit) was helping him be a better composer. The phenomenal success of the 1977 “Star Wars” score soundtrack catapulted Williams to a new level of fame. He has been performing at the Hollywood Bowl every year since 1978 and has been a Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor at Tanglewood Music Center every year since 1980, except for 2024, when he could not attend for an undisclosed health reason. As for his prolific career as a composer and conductor, Williams says that he has no intention of retiring.
“Music by John Williams” has scenes (exclusively filmed for this documentary) of Spielberg and Williams happily reminiscing about their collaborations. Spielberg repeats a well-known story about how he was skeptical at first when he heard the shark theme for “Jaws” because Williams had first played it on a piano, and Spielberg didn’t think it sounded menacing enough. However, Spielberg was convinced nce he hear the entire musical sequence in orchestra form.
Speaking of orchestras, Williams is one of the few major film composers who still records entirely with an orchestra and writes out his music by hand. He admits that this way of writing and recording film music is “dying,” as more film composers turn to digital technology. Williams doesn’t seem snobbish about it, but he does express some concern that some of the art form might be lost with new generations of film composers relying only on digital technology to make and record music.
At 105 minutes, “Music by John Williams” skillfully packs in Williams’ entire robust career so far in a well-edited compilation of archival footage and exclusive new interviews. There are very few surprises, except for Williams’ confession that he rarely watches movies and has never been that interested in being a moviegoer. What isn’t surprising is Williams saying that music will always be his biggest passion. Whether or not you’re the type of person to buy classical music scores, “Music by John Williams” makes his passion for music very infectious in the best ways possible.
Disney+ released “Music by John Williams” in select U.S. cinemas and on Disney+ on November 1, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place from 1961 to 1965, in New York City and other parts of the United States, the dramatic film “A Complete Unknown” (a biopic of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Asian people) who are connected in some way to Dylan.
Culture Clash: Bob Dylan goes from being an unknown singer to a star in folk music, but he angers and alienates many people when he decides to peform rock music with electric instruments.
Culture Audience: “A Complete Unknown” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of Dylan, the movie’s headliners and well-acted music biopics that are jam-packed with performances.
Edward Norton and Timothée Chalamet in “A Complete Unknown” (Photo by Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures)
The Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” greatly benefits from talented cast members who give very credible performances. At times, the movie resembles a compilation of music videos, but Timothée Chalamet is perfectly cast as Dylan. Because the real-life Dylan has a deliberately mysterious public persona, don’t expect this movie to give any further insights that numerous books, feature profiles and documentaries about Dylan haven’t already covered.
Directed by James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown” was co-written by Mangold and Ja Cocks, The screenplay is adapted from Elijah Wald’s 2015 non-fiction book “Dylan Goes Electric.” The movie takes place in chronological order, from 1961 to 1965. It was in 1965 that Dylan controversially evolved from performing acoustic folk music to electric rock music. Predictably, the movie’s big climactic scene (as shown in the “A Complete Unknown” trailers) is the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the event in Rhode Island where Dylan first performed with electric instruments in public and was nearly booed off of the stage.
The title “A Complete Unknown” is taken from a phrase in Dylan’s 1965 anthem “Like a Rolling Stone,” which exemplified his musical metamorphosis. Of course, Dylan went on to even more musical experimentation after 1965, including recording some Christian music albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And it can be argued that Dylan became a lot more interesting after 1965. But as it stands, “A Complete Unknown” capably covers Dylan’s rise to stardom as a young artist in the first half of the 1960s decade. (For the purposes of this review, the real people are referred to by their last names, while characters in the movie are referred to by their first names.)
“A Complete Unknown” begins by showing Bob (whose birth name was Robert Zimmerman) arriving from his native Minnesota to New York City in 1961, when he literally was a complete unknown at the age of 19 or 20. (“A Complete Unknown” was filmed in New Jersey.) The movie hits all the expected beats in depicting how Bob became part of the New York City folk music scene, where Greenwich Village nightclubs such as Cafe Wha? showcased up-and-coming music artists. Bob didn’t like to talk about his past and freely admitted that he fabricated stories about himself to make himself appear more interesting.
Around the same time that Bob relocates to New York City, folk singer Pete Seeger (played by Edward Norton) is found guilty of contempt of Congress because Pete refused to answer questions from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Woody doesn’t seem to bothered by this conviction in this high-profile trial. On the courthouse steps, he cheerfully sings Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” in front of assembled reporters and other spectators. Pete later becomes an important mentor to Bob, whom Pete thinks is the ideal artist to make folk music more popular and mainstream.
One of Dylan’s goals as a new arrival in New York City was to find and visit his musical hero Woody Guthrie (played by Scoot McNairy), who at the time was a Huntington’s disease patient at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in Morris County, New Jersey. Huntington’s disease is a genetic brain disorder that causes loss of speech, memory and other physical/mental abilities. After asking people where to find Woody, Bob makes his way to the hospital, where he sees Pete at mute Woody’s bedside.
Pete hands a Woody Guthrie business card that to Bob. The card says on the back, “I’m not dead yet,” which Pete says is given to all of Woody’s visitors. (This is a true story that is part of Dylan’s early history as a performer.) It’s an amusing part of the movie that shows Woody still has a spark of personality. McNairy does an admirable job in his brief appearances in the movie, as he portrays someone who can’t talk and has to express himself in other ways.
It’s in this hospital scene that viewers first see Bob open up and show who he really is as an artist and perhaps as a person. Bob is star-struck by Woody, who is curious about this young stranger who says he’s a big fan of Woody. Bob ends up playing an original song that he wrote for Woody. In response, Woody seems emotionally moved and knocks on a nearby dresser table in approval. It’s all a young Bob needs for encouragement. In real life and in the movie, Dylan wrote 1962’s “Song for Woody” shortly after this encounter with Guthrie.
“A Complete Unknown” is a story about Bob being torn between folk music and rock music, with many people telling him that he had to choose between one or the other. The movie also shows that Bob faced a similar situation in his love life, when he got caught up in a love triangle with a young progressive activist/college student named Sylvie Russo (played by Elle Fanning) and folk singer Joan Baez (played by Monica Barbaro), who was a star on the rise when she first met Bob. Idealistic and vulnerable Sylvie wants to have a “normal life,” while independent and confident Joan most certainly does not want this type of “normalcy” as a well-known artist and activist.
Bob meets Sylvie during a church service. They have an instant attraction to each other and begin dating immediately. In real life, the character of Sylvie Russo was really Suze Rotolo, who was photographed walking down a street with Dylan for the cover of Dylan’s 1963 breakthrough album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” In this album cover photo, the body language between the then-couple is an indication that the relationship wasn’t going to last: Dylan and Rotolo are walking with their arms locked, but Rotolo is leaning in close to Bob in a snuggling manner, while Dylan is looking down, with his hands in his trouser pockets.
In the movie, Sylvie is portrayed as Bob’s first major love (Bob eventually moves in with Sylvie), but she’s frustrated by his aloofness and his refusal to talk about his past or his family, while she has been open with him about all of the things abut herself that she wants to know about him. A turning point comes when Sylvie goes away for a trip to Rome. And during this trip, Bob becomes intimately involved with Joan after they meet at a nightclub and start a flirtation that is eventually consummated.
Joan’s manager Albert Grossman (played by Dan Fogler) eventually sees Bob’s talent and quickly signs on to be Bob’s manager too. “A Complete Unknown” somewhat over-simplifies the process of how Bob got a record deal with Columbia Records. One minute, Bob is his manager and some record company people see Bob performing at a nightclub. Not long after that, Bob gets signed to Columbia Records after doing an audition, where he casually showed up more than one hour late.
The movie briefly depicts Bob’s frustrations when his first album (1962’s “Bob Dylan”) is a flop, while Joan continues to be a hit-making artist. “A Complete Unknown” acknowledges and portrays the huge influence that Joan had on Bob’s career, as she frequently brought him on stage to perform with her when he was still a fairly unknown artist. Chalamet and Barbaro’s charismatic duet performances as Bob and Joan are among the movie’s best standout scenes.
The power dynamic between Bob and Joan is interesting to watch in the movie because who seduced whom is left open to interpretation. Certainly, Bob enjoyed the perks of Joan’s help in his career, but there are many indications that he eventually expected to surpass her in artistic and hitmaking importance. It’s left mostly unspoken, but the performances show that Joan having more power and fame early in the relationship was something that Bob both liked and feared. He would insult her artistic talent to her face, perhaps as a way to soothe his ego and feel like he wasn’t just being a “boy toy” to Joan.
“A Complete Unknown” spends some time showing how Bob was able to juggle his on-again/off-again relationships with Sylvie and Joan during this time period, until neither relationship became sustainable. Each woman knew about the other but didn’t really want to get in any major confrontations with each other about it. Sylvie becomes increasingly insecure when she begins to understand that she’s not cut out to be the love partner of a celebrity. Joan has her own issues with Bob, who seems to love Joan but he’s competitive with her.
“A Complete Unknown” depicts Bob as being less concerned what his girlfriends think of him and much more concerned about the opinions of his mentor Pete and another musician whom Bob greatly admires: rebellious country singer Johnny Cash (played by Boyd Holbrook), nicknamed the Man in Black. Johnny shows up in the movie from time to time to give Bob encouragement and advice. The movie portrays Bob and Johnny becoming pen pals after Johnny sent Bob a note saying that “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” was Johnny’s “most prized possession.”
When Bob meets Johnny at the 1963 Monterey Folk Festival, Bob is just as star-struck as when he met Woody, but at this point Bob is famous and is very self-conscious about “playing it cool” for the Man in Black. The movie’s dialogue for Johnny tends to be more like soundbites than meaningful dialogue. (Johnny tells Bob to surprise people and “make a mess” of people’s expectations.) “A Complete Unknown” also downplays the drug use that happened in real life, by showing only brief references to Bob smoking marijuana and Johnny’s addictions to amphetamines and alcohol.
Pete gets much more screen time than Johnny because Pete was a more permanent presence in Bob’s life. Pete is depicted as a happily married family man who is generally open-minded and laid-back. However, one thing he is fiercely passionate about is the idea that Bob should remain true to his folk roots and not experiment with any other type of music. Pete and many others in the folk music industry feel strongly that it would be a major betrayal if Bob turned his back on folk music to perform rock music.
“A Complete Unknown” is a feast for viewers who want to see scenes of Bob performing on stage and in recording studios. Dylan classics such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “These Times They Are A-Changing” and Like a Rolling Stone” are among the songs that get rousing showcases. However, the movie’s editing often places these performances in between dialogue-heavy scenes so that these performances look like chunks of music videos dropped into this biopic drama. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but the musical sequences could have flowed a little better. “A Complete Unknown” should keep viewers interested if they are already inclined to like Dylan’s music, while it might take others a little longer to feel engaged with this 140-minute movie.
What’s most impressive about “A Complete Unknown” is how Chalamet, Barbaro, Norton and Holbrook are able to perform as Dylan, Baez, Seeger and Cash in ways that look natural and not like “try-hard” impersonations. The movie avoids being a hagiography because it portrays Dylan as flawed and self-centered, with his quest to be an “important” artist as the highest priority in his life. Most superstar entertainers have these qualities before, during and after their ambitions to make it to the top of their profession. However, many have mixed feelings about fame and are often unprepared for the problems that come with being a celebrity. “A Complete Unknown” touches on Bob’s discomfort with fame, but because the movie ends in 1965, “A Complete Unknown” can only be snapshot of a certain period of Dylan’s life and not his complete story.
Searchlight Pictures will release “A Complete Unknown” in U.S. cinemas on December 25, 2024.
Culture Representation: The documentary film “The World According to Allee Willis” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans), who are mostly entertainers, discussing the life and career of songwriter/visual artist Allee Willis, who died from a heart attack in 2019, at the age of 72.
Culture Clash: Willis struggled for years with going public about being a lesbian and had other insecurities because of turmoil in her family and her failure to become a famous singer.
Culture Audience: “The World According to Allee Willis” will appeal primarily to fans of pop music from the 1970s to 1990s and people who are interested in documentaries about underrated artists.
Allee Willis on the set of MTV’s “Just Say Julie” in “The World According to Allee Willis” (Photo courtesy of the Estate of Allee Willis/Magnolia Pictures)
“The World According to Allee Willis” is an engaging tribute to songwriter/visual artist Allee Willis, who wasn’t a household name, but much of her work is world-famous. The documentary has her quirky charm and empathetically details her personal struggles. People who consider themselves to be aficionados about pop music can still find new things to learn from watching this documentary because so much about Willis is unknown to the general public.
Directed by Alexis Manya Spraic, “The World According to Allee Willis” has its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Several people are interviewed for this 97-minute documentary, but it does not feel overstuffed or long-winded. Long before the Internet and reality shows existed, Willis filmed much of her adult life from 1978 onward. A great deal of this personal footage is used in the documentary.
Allee Willis was born as Alta Willis in Detroit on November 10, 1947. She was the youngest of three children born to scrapyard dealer Nathan Willis and elementary school teacher Rose Willis. Allee, who was raised Jewish, was heavily influenced by the music of Motown Records, which had its original headquarters in Detroit.
According to interviews shown in the documentary, Allee said she knew from an early age that she was “different” from most other girls. She didn’t like to wear dresses and was attracted to doing things that were usually considered only appropriate for boys. Her mother accepted Allee for who she was, in contrast to Allee’s father.
According to Allee, she always had a difficult relationship with her father, who expected her to be more “ladylike.” In an archival interview, Allee says her father only wanted her to get married. And if she had a career goals, he only wanted her to become a teacher. “I was an outrageous tomboy,” Allee comments.
As she got older and became a teenager, the conflicts between Allee and Nathan increased. They would argue about what radio stations she enjoyed listening to, which were usually stations that played R&B music. Allee said she would often find comfort by going to Motown headquarters and hanging around outside the building when she didn’t want to be at her house, just so she could listen to the music coming out of the Motown building.
The Willis family turmoil went from bad to worse for Allee after her mother died when Allee was 15 years old. Within a year, her father remarried. Allee’s stepmother had daughters who were more feminine than Allee. According to Allee, her father turned his attentions to his new family, and she became an outcast.
When Allee’s mother died, Allee’s older siblings—brother Kent and sister Marlen, who are both interviewed in the documentary—had already moved out of the family home. Marlen (whose married surname is Frost) comments in the documentary: “My mother was my sister’s protector. When she died, that protection was gone.”
The documentary makes it clear that a great deal of the friction between Allee and her father Nathan had to do Nathan being a racist who disliked that Allee had a passion for music made by African American artists. Allee tells a story in the documentary about a note that her father wrote to her before she left home to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the note, he warned her: “Stay away from black culture.”
Far from taking that racist advice, Allee became involved in civil rights activism when she was in college. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, she moved to New York City and worked as a copywriter for Columbia Records, while actually wanting to be a songwriter at a time when songwriting was still very much a male-dominated field. Through her connections at Columbia Records, she got a record deal with Columbia’s sister label Epic Records, which released her first and only album as a solo artist—1974’s “Childstar.”
“Childstar” got good reviews, but it was a sales flop. Many of the people who reviewed Allee’s performances at the time made sexist remarks about her androgynous and unconventional performance style, even though male artists at the time such as David Bowie, Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls were getting praised by critics for being androgynous and unconventional. In archival footage, Allee also talks about how interviewers sometimes mistook her for a man because of her deep voice.
Allee was dropped from Epic after “Childstar” bombed. She decided to start over as a songwriter by relocating from New York City to Los Angeles. And it was in Los Angeles that her luck and her career changed.
Allee was introduced to Earth, Wind & Fire lead singer/songwriter Maurice White by A&R executive Carole Childs, who is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. Maurice White died of Parkinson’s disease in 2016, at the age of 74. However, Maurice’s younger brother Verdine White, who is Earth, Wind & Fire’s bass player, is interviewed in the documentary.
Maurice White and Allee had an instant connection and ended up co-writing (with Al McKay) one of Earth, Wind & Fire’s most beloved songs: the 1978 smash hit “September.” Allee would go on to co-write two more Earth, Wind & Fire songs: “Boogie Wonderland” and “In the Stone,” both released in 1979. The hits set her on a path to becoming an in-demand songwriter.
Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters (whose Grammy-winning 1984 hit “Neutron Dance” was co-written by Allee) says in the documentary that Maurice White told her that he felt Allee was “put on this earth to be a communicator.” “Neutron Dance” was one of the songs on the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack, which also featured another song co-written by Allee: Patti LaBelle’s “Stir It Up.” LaBelle is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. Allee was among of the songwriters who won a Grammy Award (her first Grammy) for the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack, which took the prize for Best Soundtrack Album Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television.
“The World According to Allee Willis” actually begins by telling a true story about how “Neutron Dance” briefly caused controversy in Russia because the Russian government misinterpreted the song as encouraging people to rebel by using neutron weapons. For a while, Allee was described in Russian media as “the most dangerous woman in America.” The documentary has archival footage of Allee being interviewed about this controversy and laughing about it.
Allee was a prolific songwriter who claims to have written hundreds of songs per year, many of which were not recorded by artists. The list of hit songs she’s co-written is long, but among her other best-known hits are the Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You,” the Emmy-nominated theme song from the 1994 to 2004 sitcom “Friends”; the Pet Shop Boys’ “What Have I Done to Deserve This” (featuring Dusty Springfield), released in 1987; and Maxine Nightingale’s “Lead Me On,” released in 1979. Allee also co-wrote the Tony-nominated songs for the stage musical “The Color Purple,” which was made into a 2023 movie.
The documentary dutifully notes Allee’s success as a songwriter, but the movie is much more interesting when it takes a look at her personal life. Allee had a uniquely eccentric style that was reflected in her choice of friends, her fashion wardrobe, how she decorated her house, and how she liked to entertain. She loved to collect kitschy art, which has been kept preserved by her custodian/archivist Sean Welch, who gives a tour of Allee’s pink house (designed by William Kessler) where things have been left intact. One of her quirks was that she liked to collect saddles shoes and had hundreds of pairs of these shoes.
Not content to rest on her songwriting laurels, Allee also became a prolific visual artist who made paintings, sculptures and set designs. She was also successful in visual arts, with her artistic style best described as maximalist and flashy. Her art always conveyed that she seemed to be a kid at heart, bursting with a lot of creative and vibrant energy that was very offbeat but uniquely her own.
Still, Allee had lingering frustrations over two areas of entertainment that she wasn’t fully able to break into as an artist: First was her short-lived career as a recording/performing artist. She also battled sexism in her attempts to become a successful music producer, which is an area of the music industry that is still overwhelmingly dominated by men.
“The World According to Allee Wills” has numerous friends and colleagues of Allee talking about her generous and welcoming personality and her parties where people were encouraged to be as pleasantly weird as they wanted to be. One of her closest friends who’s interviewed in the documentary is actor Paul Reubens, who died at age 70 of respiratory failure in 2023, after living with lung cancer for several years. Reubens was best known for creating the Pee-Wee Herman character for children’s television.
Other friends and colleagues interviewed in the documentary include actress/comedian Lily Tomlin; singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper; entrepreneur Mark Cuban; writer/director/producer Paul Feig; writer/director/producer Michael Patrick King; musician/former Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh, who composed the music for this documentary; actress Lesley Ann Warren; writer/comedian Bruce Vilanch; singer/songwriter Brenda Russell; Pet Shop Boys singer/songwriter Neil Tennant; producer/songwriter Andrae Alexander; comedian/actress Lunell; writer/director Stan Zimmerman; director Jeff Stein; musician Stephen Bray; actor Tim Bagley; humorist/historian Charles Phoenix; singer/songwriter Siedah Garrett; and actress/writer Pamela Adlon, who was Allee’s art assistant when Adlon was in her late teens; and actress/comedian Julie Brown, whose 1980s MTV series “Just Say Julie” had a production set designed by Allee.
Although she had plenty of success and friends in the entertainment business, the documentary doesn’t gloss over that Allee was deeply hurt by her fractured relationship with her father. She remained estranged from her father for years. On the rare occasions that she and family reunions with her father, their conversations remained tense. The documentary includes footage of one such family reunion, where Nathan Willis seems to have a condescending attitude toward Allee, who is clearly bothered by it, but she’s trying not to let her feelings show too much on camera.
Allee was afraid to tell her father and many other people about being a lesbian. At times, she would outright deny her true sexuality because—according to friends in the documentary—she was fearful that it would ruin her career at a time when LGBTQ people weren’t as accepted in the entertainment industry as they are now. Singer/songwriter Lauren Wood, who dated Allee in the early 1980s, says that Allee abruptly ended their relationship out of fear of being “outed” as a lesbian.
Adlon comments, “Allee was an open book, but everyone has a private side.” Cuban, who worked with Allee on Internet ventures in the early years of social media, says about how Allee handled her public image and what she chose to film about her life: “Her life was a movie, and she was always rewriting the script.”
According to what people say in the documentary, Allee didn’t feel completely comfortable about coming out as a lesbian until she became involved with animator/producer Prudence Fenton, who was her partner from 1992 until Allee’s death. Fenton is interviewed in the documentary but she doesn’t get as much screen time as you might expect for someone who was Allee’s partner for 27 years.
“The World According to Allee Willis” is not a pity party for Allee’s problems. Rather, it’s an inspirational look at how someone who had a lot of obstacles and insecurities was able to turn a lot of her pain into bringing joy to other people. It’s a story of resilience and how she found a level of self-acceptance that came with a lot of hard-fought battles. Most of all, “The World According to Allee Willis” stands as great testament for celebrating people for who they are and not what other people expect them to be.
Magnolia Pictures released “The World According to Allee Willis” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on November 15, 2024.
Pictured in front, clockwise from upper left: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City in “Beatles ’64” (Photo courtesy of Apple Corps/Disney+)
Culture Representation: The documentary film “Beatles ’64” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans), who are artists, producers, writers and Beatles fans discussing their thoughts on the Beatles in 1964, the year that the superstar British rock band first arrived in the United States.
Culture Clash: The Beatles experienced hysterical fan adulation as well as backlash from conservative adults who thought that the Beatles were harmful influences to young people.
Culture Audience: “Beatles ’64” will appeal primarily to music fans who want to get a deep-dive documentary look at an important year in the life of the Beatles.
Pictured in front, from left to right: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City in “Beatles ’64” (Photo courtesy of Apple Corps/Disney+)
“Beatles ’64” is a cinematic celebration about this pivotal year in Beatles history. This documentary doesn’t uncover new information, but it has great archival footage and notable interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and a variety of Beatles fans. There are already many books, news reports and other documentaries that cover the same subject of the Beatles’ 1964 arrival in America—the first time that this world-famous British band toured in the United States. “Beatles ’64” gives perspectives mostly from people who personally saw and experienced Beatlemania.
Directed by David Tedeschi, “Beatles ’64” features a lot of archival footage originally directed by documentarian brothers Albert Maysles and David Maysles, who accompanied the Beatles on the band’s first tour of America. The Maysles footage in “Beatles ’64” was restored in 4K. New interviews for this documentary are mostly from famous or semi-famous people who are in the creative arts, although there are some interviews with people who aren’t famous but who were Beatles superfans in 1964 and still consider themselves to be Beatles superfans.
“Beatles ’64” makes attempts to put Beatlemania in a cultural perspective that has been covered elsewhere numerous times. Any comprehensive book on the Beatles will probably mention how the Beatles’ February 1964 arrival in the United States came at a time when America was mourning the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the Beatles came along like a breath of fresh air and pure joy. The documentary opens with a montage of President Kennedy as a way to confirm this widespread theory.
The Beatles formed in Liverpool, England, in 1960, and broke up in 1970. Beatlemania had already been a part of Europe for at least a year by the time the Beatles arrived in America in 1964. Because of America’s overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the Beatles, the year 1964 was the year that Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon. New York City was the first U.S. city that the Beatles visited on February 7, 1964. The band’s arrival at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy Airport caused a media frenzy and is part of pop culture history that has been widely examined and parodied.
There’s no need to describe in this review how the Beatles’ appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964 had a tremendous impact on the band and countless people who saw these performances because these “Ed Sullivan Show” performances are such an immensely covered and discussed part of Beatles history. It was the first time on American television that people got to see Beatlemania happening live during a Beatles performance. Young people (usually teenage girls but quite a few boys too) screamed, cried, cheered, hyperventilated, and generally became obsessive fans.
“Beatles ’64” assumes that most people watching the documentary are familiar with at least some of the Beatles’ music. The Beatles songs that are featured prominently in “Beatles ’64” include “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “In My Life,” “With Love From Me to You” and “This Boy.” The documentary doesn’t bother with a detailed examination of the Beatles’ individual personalities and the nicknames that the band members were given by the media. And even if viewers aren’t familiar with the band members’ images, the archival footage in “Beatles ’64” does a fairly good job of showing the band members’ personalities at this time.
Lead singer/bass player McCartney was the “cute” Beatle and the one most likely to be a polite charmer in interviews. Beatles drummer Starr (whose birth name is Richard Starkey) was the “funny” Beatle and the one most likely to act goofy in public. Lead guitarist/singer George Harrison was the “quiet” Beatle who seemed to be the most uncomfortable with doing interviews. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist John Lennon was the “smart” Beatle who was most likely to give witty and acerbic comments to the media.
Lennon was murdered in 1980, at the age of 40. Harrison died of cancer in 2001, at the age of 58. The documentary includes archival interview footage of Lennon from the 1970s, and Harrison from the 1980s and 1990s, where they separately talk about their Beatlemania fame.
“Beatles ’64” interviewed McCartney at New York City’s Brooklyn Museum, which had a 2024 exhibit titled “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm.” McCartney tells a few anecdotes when looking at some of the exhibit’s photographs. McCartney comments on how the Beatles felt about America at the time: “To us, it was the land of freedom. Once we got here, we learned it wasn’t quite the story.”
To its credit, “Beatles’ 64” acknowledges how racial tensions and the civil rights movement were very much a part of American history that affected how the Beatles were perceived and treated in America. On the one hand, the Beatles were extremely popular with young people. On the other hand, many older adults despised or distrusted the Beatles because rock music (which originated with African American artists) was associated with open sexuality and rebelling against the establishment.
“Beatles ’64” goes out of its way to mention that the Beatles gave credit to many African American artists for being influences on the band. Rock music pioneer Little Richard was one of those major influences. Little Richard’s signature “whoo” holler was copied by the Beatles in the Beatles hit song “She Loves You.”
In the documentary, Smokey Robinson (former lead singer of the Miracles) talks about how flattered he was that the Beatles did a cover version of the Miracles’ 1962 hit “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” which was on the Beatles’ 1963 second U.K. album “With the Beatles” and the Beatles’ 1964 third U.S. album “The Beatles’ Second Album.” Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers did not write the Isley Brothers’ 1962 hit version of “Twist and Shout” (which was originally recorded by the Top Notes in 1961), but Isley says in “Beatles ’64” that he thought it was great that the Isley Brothers’ version of the song inspired the Beatles to do their own version of “Twist and Shout” on the Beatles’ 1963 U.K. album “Please Please Me.”
The documentary also includes a 2014 interview with Ronnie Spector (former lead singer of the female trio the Ronettes) talking about how she and the Ronettes were unofficial ambassadors to the Beatles when the Beatles first came to America. Spector (who died in 2022, at age 78) tells stories about how the Beatles had an insatiable curiosity about America and asked the Ronettes to teach the Beatles as much as possible about America. And when Beatlemania almost made the Beatles prisoners in their hotels in New York City, Spector says she and the Ronettes helped the Beatles “escape” to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, where no one really knew who the Beatles were and didn’t bother them.
“Beatles ’64” does not ignore the obvious: In 1964, racial segregation was still a way of life in much of America, which is why almost all the people who attended Beatles performances in 1964 were white. “Beatles ’64” includes some archival footage of unidentified African Americans in New York City being asked what they thought of the Beatles. Most gave lukewarm to positive responses, with comments admiring the group’s songs and unique image. But one young man calls the Beatles “disgusting” and says he prefers jazz groups such as the Miles Davis Quintet and the John Coltrane Quartet.
“Beatles ’64” also has brief footage of a family only identified as the Gonzalez family watching the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” The unnamed teenage girl in the family watches intently and seems to enjoy the performance. Her father, who’s sitting in the background, seems bored and unimpressed with the Beatles. It’s another example of the generational divide about the Beatles at the time, but it’s also the documentary’s way of showing that the Beatles didn’t have only white fans in 1964.
The message is clear in the documentary: Although racial segregation was a big problem in America, the documentary points out that the Beatles themselves weren’t racists and didn’t hesitate to befriend and work with people who weren’t white. Robinson comments that music concerts, especially those attended by young people, helped bring different races together in America: “The saving grace was the music because those kids had a common love.”
The Beatles faced a different type of prejudice that had to do with social class—mainly from people who thought the band’s long hair and rock music made the Beatles low-class degenerates. McCartney says in the documentary that when the Beatles (who all came from working-class families) visited the British Embassy in New York City in 1964, there was blatant snobbery directed at the Beatles. McCartney says that any insults or snubs that the Beatles experienced ultimately didn’t matter: “We didn’t give a flying fuck. They were at the embassy. We were on the road rockin’!”
Starr’s interviews for the documentary are lighthearted and don’t provide anything profound or illuminating—unless you think it’s profound that Starr remarks that his drum kit in 1964 was smaller than usual because he wanted the drum kit to be able to fit on the stage so he could be as close as possible to his band mates. Starr is interviewed by “Beatles ’64” producer Martin Scorsese in a room full of stage costumes that were being sold by Julien’s Auctions. McCartney, Starr, Sean Ono Lennon (John Lennon’s son with second wife Yoko Ono) and Olivia Harrison (George Harrison’s widow) are among the producers of “Beatles ’64.”
As for the fans interviewed in the documentary, many of the them get very emotional when remembering how Beatlemania impacted their lives in 1964. For writer Joe Queenan, he says the Beatles helped him cope with having an abusive alcoholic father. Queenan weeps when he says the first time he heard “She Loves You” was in December 1963, when he heard the song playing on his sister’s radio. Queenan says life was pretty dark for him, but when he heard the Beatles’ music, “It’s like the light came on.”
Vickie Brenna-Costa, writer Jane Tompkins and writer Jamie Bernstein (eldest child of famed composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein) were teenagers in New York in 1964 and did a lot of the things that Beatlemaniac teen girls did back then. (There’s some archival footage of Brenna-Costa waiting outside the Plaza Hotel, where the Beatles were staying.) The documentary has archival footage of Leonard Bernstein defending the Beatles’ artistry at a time when much of the classical music community looked down on rock music.
Danny Bennett, a music producer, shows some of the Beatles merchandise that he collected when he was a teenager in the 1960s, including a Beatles dress, Beatles athletic shoes and Beatles nylon stockings. Bennett makes a point of repeating that he never wore the women’s attire. He also shows part of the seat that he had at Shea Stadium, where he saw the Beatles in concert. Bennett says that he got this memorabilia item when Shea Stadium was being torn down, and he convinced an engineer working on the demolition to let him have part of the seat as a memento.
Jack Douglas, a successful American music producer who worked with Lennon and rock band Aerosmith in the 1970s, has the documentary’s most interesting personal story about how Beatlemania affected his life. This review won’t reveal all the details, but the story is how in 1964, 15-year-old Douglas traveled by ship with another young musician friend to make a pilgrimage to Liverpool. The two pals ran into immigration problems and briefly became local celebrities in Liverpool because of these problems. Years later, when Douglas was working at a recording studio in the early 1970s, he met Lennon and had a “full circle” moment that Douglas describes in the documentary.
“Beatles ’64” is by no means perfect. The documentary sometimes has editing that’s clumsy or has abrupt transitions. There’s archival commentary from philosopher/media guru Marshall McLuhan talking about electricity’s impact on pop culture. This McLuhan footage doesn’t really fit with the rest of the documentary. Sananda Maitreya (the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby) is interviewed about being a Beatles fan, but his interview looks out of place in this documentary because he was born in 1962, so he was too young to remember Beatlemania in 1964.
And although there’s a plethora of footage of the Beatles joking around and looking happy in this documentary, there’s only the most superficial acknowledgements of the dark sides of fame. Harry Benson, a photographer who accompanied the Beatles on tour in 1964, briefly mentions that all of the Beatles, especially Lennon, were worried about violence in America, in the wake of Kennedy’s assassination. It’s somewhat haunting to hear this tidbit of information, considering the fact that Lennon—just like Kennedy—was also murdered by gun violence.
The celebrity realities of hangers-on and groupies are barely discussed in the documentary, even though it’s a well-documented fact that the Beatles indulged in sexual attention from many women during this 1964 tour. At the time, Lennon was married to his first wife Cynthia, while Starr was in a serious relationship with Maureen Cox, who would become Starr’s first wife in 1965. Both marriages ended in divorce. Both women (who are now deceased) are seen briefly in the documentary but are not seen speaking.
“Beatles ’64” shows that Murray the K, a famous New York radio DJ from WINS-AM, latched on to the Beatles in 1964, to increase his own popularity. He’s seen interviewing the Beatles and hovering in the background in a lot of the documentary’s archival footage. Murray the K notoriously called himself “the fifth Beatle,” even though that title was more accurately bestowed on Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who is seen quickly in the documentary’s footage. Epstein died of an overdose of barbituates and alcohol in 1967, when he was 32. Murray the K (whose real name was Murray Kaufman) died in 1982, at the age of 60.
The documentary also glosses over and ignores the use/abuse of drugs and alcohol, even though many books and reports about the Beatles say that the band members were using amphetamine pills and drinking heavily during this period of time. “Beatles ’64” has some archival video footage of the band members surrounded by unidentified people at a nightclub. Everyone looks kind of drunk, but there’s no comment from McCartney and Starr about this footage. Bob Dylan famously introduced the Beatles to marijuana when he met the band in 1964, but that information is completely left out of the documentary.
Another obvious omission: “Beatles ’64” is about Beatlemania in 1964, yet the documentary has no mention of the Beatles’ critically acclaimed 1964 hit movie “A Hard Day’s Night,” a fictional comedy in which the Beatles portrayed themselves dealing with Beatlemania. “A Hard Day’s Night” (directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen) was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay and Best Score (Adaptation). “A Hard Day’s Night” was also significant because it’s how Harrison met his first wife Pattie Boyd, a model who had a very small role in the movie as a schoolgirl.
Lennon and McCartney—the chief songwriters of the Beatles—wrote many early Beatles songs while in hotels during Beatles tours. However, “Beatles ’64” offers very little insight into the crafting of Beatles songs that were written in 1964. Instead, “Beatles ’64” has somewhat repetitive footage of Beatles fans (again, mostly teenage girls) trying to get a glimpse of the Beatles—whether the fans were gathered outside a building where the Beatles were, chasing after vehicles that were transporting the Beatles, or trying to enter places where the Beatles were and getting stopped by security personnel.
“Beatles ’64” also spends the vast majority of its screen time showing or discussing the Beatles in New York City, even though the band traveled to several other cities on the band’s 1964 North American tour. Oscar-nominated filmmaker David Lynch (who was 18 years old and living in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1964) is one of the few Beatles fans in the documentary who talks about seeing the band somewhere other than New York in 1964. He describes seeing the Beatles perform for the first time in Washington, D.C., at a venue that usually had boxing matches, and the band performed in a boxing ring. Lynch says he wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming experience of Beatlemania at that concert. For a more comprehensive look at the Beatles on tour, see director Ron Howard’s 2016 documentary “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years,” a film that was approved by Apple Corps, the Beatles’ estate company.
Despite shortcomings of omitted or incomplete information, “Beatles ’64” is undeniably an entertaining documentary to watch. It’s not a complete story of what Beatlemania was like in 1964, but the stories from several Beatles fans—as well as the comments from McCartney and Starr—give this documentary a lot of charm. Whether viewers have a casual or ardent interest in the Beatles, there’s plenty to enjoy when watching this retrospective film that puts an emphasis on the happiness that the Beatles brought to people’s lives.
Disney+ premiered “Beatles ’64” on November 29, 2024.
Culture Representation: The documentary film “Luther: Never Too Much” features a predominantly African American group of people (with a few Latin and white people) discussing the life and career of R&B singer/songwriter/producer Luther Vandross, who died from stroke complications in 2005, at the age of 54.
Culture Clash: Vandross had public and private battles over racism, his weight and his sexuality.
Culture Audience: “Luther: Never Too Much” will appeal primarily to his fans and people who are interested in documentaries about famous singers.
A 1980s archival photo of Luther Vandross in “Luther: Never Too Much” (Photo by Don Hunstein/Sony Music/Giant Pictures)
Conventionally made but still enjoyable, the documentary “Luther: Never Too Much” tells a very laudatory version of Luther Vandross’ life. More insight was needed for what he liked to do when he wasn’t working, but it’s an overall competent biography. The movie is an expected mix of archival footage with exclusive interviews filmed for the documentary. The interviewees are mostly Vandross’ friends and colleagues.
Directed by Dawn Porter, “Luther: Never Too Much” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including Hot Docs and the Tribeca Festival. The movie focuses almost entirely on Vandross’ career and has the bare minimum of information about who he was apart from being an entertainer. “Luther: Never Too Much” has an impressive group of interviewees, but die-hard Vandross fans will not learn anything new about him from this documentary, except maybe seeing some rare archival footage.
Vandross was born in New York City on April 20, 1951. He was the fourth and youngest child of Luther Vandross Sr. (who was an upholsterer and singer) and Mary Ida Vandross, who was a nurse. Luther Sr. died of diabetes when Luther Jr. was 8 years old. According to the documentary, Mary Vandross believed that Luther Jr. inherited his father’s musical talent.
And like his father, Luther Jr. had diabetes, which caused Luther Jr. to have health issues for his entire life. Luther Jr. was a child prodigy in music and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a singer. He learned to play the piano by ear at the age of 3. As he grew older, he became a prolific songwriter, but he wasn’t able to fully showcase his songwriting talent until he became a solo artist.
“Luther: Never Too Much” skips over most of Vandross’ childhood. Don’t expect the documentary to reveal what types of relationships he had with his siblings or what he was like in school. Instead, there is brief archival interview clips of Vandross saying that he had a happy childhood where he never felt deprived, and he felt safe and loved.
His singer idols when he was a child were Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. As a famous artist, he produced two albums for Franklin: 1982’s “Jump to It” and 1983’s “Get It Right.” Vandross produced Warwick’s 1983 album “How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye.” Vandross also did backup vocals for Ross and was a guest performer at two concerts (one in New York City, one in Philadelphia) that Ross did in 2000. Vandross said in many interviews that the music and culture of Motown Records had a huge influence on him as a child.
The documentary’s stories about Vandross before he became famous are mostly when he was a teenager. As an aspiring singer who lived in New York City, Vandross was able to regularly attend and learn from shows at the world-famous Apollo Theater in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Musicians/singers Fonzi Thornton, Robin Clark and Carlos Alomar (who are all interviewed in the documentary) were friends and collaborators with Vandross, beginning from their teenage years and through their adulthoods.
Vandross became known for his suave and soulful vocals and his romantic songs, but he didn’t start out as a solo artist. He got his earliest experiences as a professional singer by being a member of singing groups. As a teenager, Vandross was in a group with Thornton and Alomar called Shades of Jade, which performed once at the Apollo. Even in these early years, Vandross had a clear vision of the stylish image that he wanted as an entertainer.
Thornton tells a story about how Vandross insisted that the members of Shades of Jade wear a certain type of green shoes that cost $23 per pair at the time. Thornton says that Thornton’s mother initially refused to pay that amount of money for the shoes. But somehow, after Vandross had a conversation with Thornton’s mother, she changed her mind. Thornton says with admiration: “He was a boss from the beginning.”
Shades of Jade didn’t last. But as a young adult in the late 1960s, Vandross went on to get his first big break as part of a theater singing group of men and women called Listen My Brother, which had many songs about Black Pride and was managed by Apollo Theater leaders. Thornton, Clark and Alomar were also members of Listen My Brother, which had 10 to 16 members. One day, “Sesame Street” puppeteer Jim Henson saw Listen My Brother perform and was so impressed, he got the group booked on “Sesame Street” for several episodes during the show’s first season in 1969. It was the type of exposure that led to Listen My Brother getting bigger and better gigs.
Even though Vandross clearly had a unique voice and exceptional talent, Vandross was prevented from being a frontman in the confines of Listen My Brother. “He wasn’t the top dog,” according to Alomar, who blames it on the entertainment industry’s tendency to give preference to slender entertainers who fit conventional beauty standards. Alomar candidly says that Vandross had limitations put on his career aspirations because of bias against Vandross’ physical appearance: “He was too black and too heavy.”
After Vandross graduated from William Howard Taft High School in New York City in 1969, he attended Western Michigan University, but he dropped out after less than a year to pursue a career as a professional singer. According to Thornton, Vandross’ mother wasn’t too upset about him being a college dropout because she believed that her youngest child had a special talent as a singer and he was destined to become a star.
Unfortunately, “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t say much else about Vandross’ family during his formative years as a professional singer, particularly when it comes to his mother, who seemed to be his biggest supporter at this time. Vandross’ niece Seveda Williams is interviewed in the documentary, but she makes mostly generic comments about Vandross’ work ethic and talent.
During the 1970s, Vandross became an in-demand backup singer and a singer for commercial jingles. As an up-and-coming artist, he was influenced by 1970s Philadelphia soul music, as exemplified by hits written and produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff for artists such as the O’Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and Teddy Pendergrass. It was during this time that Vandross began to hone his skills as a musical arranger and producer.
Vandross’ first “crossover” hit as a backup singer was working on David Bowie’s 1975 “Young Americans” album, where Vandross can be heard prominently on the album’s title track. Vandross met Bowie through Alomar, who was Bowie’s longtime guitarist/backup singer. Clark and Alomar (who have been married since 1970) are among the backup singers on Bowie’s “Young Americans” album. The documentary includes some rare archival footage of Vandross and Bowie in these recording sessions.
Ava Cherry, who worked with Bowie as a backup singer on the “Young Americans” album and other collaborations, is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. Bowie encouraged Vandross’ songwriting talent and co-wrote the “Young Americans” album track “Fascination” with Vandross. “Fascination” was originally a Vandross song called “Funky Music (Is a Part of Me).”
Vandross also had success as a backup singer for numerous other artists, including Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Chic and Sister Sledge. But he made even more money as a singer/songwriter for commercial jingles for company brands such as Juicy Fruit, Miller Beer, Gino’s and Löwenbräu, just to name a few. As seen in archival interviews, Vandross said he used a lot of the lucrative income that he made as a jingle singer/songwriter to fund his own demo recordings, with the hope of getting a record deal where he could perform songs that he wrote, arranged and produced.
Vandross eventually got record deals as the frontman for a group named Luther and later for a group called Change, while still maintaining a career as a backup singer. Flack is the person who is credited the most with encouraging Vandross to make the leap to become a solo artist. It wasn’t easy because he got rejected by every major label. But after getting a second chance from a different person at Epic Records, Vandross signed with Epic as a solo artist. And that’s when his career took off and never looked back.
His first solo album—1981’s “Never Too Much”—was a hit and featured the title track as his breakout solo single. The cadence of the song was unusual for R&B hits at the time and was an example of Vandross’ determination to stand out from other R&B singers. Most of Vandross’ songs were about the joys and heartbreak of love. Don’t expect the documentary to reveal the inspirations for most of these songs, since Vandross was secretive about his love life.
Nat Adderley Jr., who was Vandross’ music director at the time, comments in the documentary about the first time he heard the “Never Too Much” song: “It sounded so different than anything on the radio, but I didn’t [think] it would be a hit.” The documentary has some commentary on how Vandross created and recorded his music. But considering all the great songs that he wrote and produced, “Luther: Never Too Much” does not have enough information about this aspect of his artistry as a songwriter and a producer.
Several people in the documentary also say that in addition to his recordings, Vandross was very particular and specific about every aspect of his live performances. He personally chose the elaborate costumes for his backup singers and the type of theatrical-inspired productions he wanted to bring to his concerts. His own personal fashion sense on stage can be described as being a Vegas performer and cabaret singer.
Vandross had a steady string of hits for the rest of his solo career. His best-known songs include 1986’s “Stop to Love”; 1989’s “Here and Now” (for which he won his first Grammy Award in 1991, after previously being nominated nine times); 1991’s “Power of Love/Love Power”; 1992’s “The Best Things in Life Are Free” (a duet with Janet Jackson); a 1994 cover version of “Endless Love” (a duet with Mariah Carey); and 2003’s “Dance With My Father.”
With all of this success, Vandross still had deep insecurities about his physical appearance. In several interviews, he said he was an “emotional eater” who used food to cope with anxieties and stresses in his life. His weight drastically fluctuated and was the topic of many jokes and interview questions. (The documentary includes a 1980s clip from an Eddie Murphy stand-up comedy show where Murphy pokes fun at Vandross’ weight.) Publicly, Vandross mostly took this type of scrutiny in stride. Privately, it all bothered him immensely.
There was also gossip abut Vandross’ sexuality. Although he never publicly stated his sexual identity, Vandross (a lifelong bachelor with no kids) was a mostly closeted gay man who was afraid to come out of the closet because he knew it would upset his mother and hurt his career. “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t mention anything about anyone whom Vandross dated, although some of that information is publicly available elsewhere. It was only after Vandross died that people who knew him felt comfortable to publicly admit that he was gay.
Vandross usually ignored or refused to confirm or deny media reports about his sexuality. People he dated when he was famous also kept quiet about his sexual identity by not talking to the media about their experiences with him. However, one rumor that he vehemently denied was that he had AIDS. The documentary mentions that Vandross sued a British magazine in 1985, because the magazine claimed that AIDS, not dieting, was the reason for his weight loss that year.
A huge reason for Vandross’ reluctance to publicly admit his homosexuality is because so much of his image was about being a singer whose songs were the soundtracks of many heterosexual people’s love lives. Jamie Foxx (one of the documentary’s producers) comments on the effect that Vandross’ music had on people’s romances: “Back in the day, if you wanted to fall in love, you let Luther do the work for you.”
The only thing that anyone in the documentary will say about Vandross’ personal life as a celebrity was that he was unlucky in finding lasting love with a romantic partner. Vandross’ former personal assistant Max Szadek says that Vandross’ 1988 song “Any Love” (a bittersweet ballad of wanting any love that is offered) was Vandross’ favorite song because it was autobiographical for Vandross. Vandross co-wrote “Any Love” (the title track from his 1988 album) with Marcus Miller, a frequent collaborator with Vandross as a songwriter and bass player in Vandross’ band. Miller is one of the people interviewed in the documentary.
Szadek says he saw firsthand how lonely Vandross’ life was behind the scenes, which is why Szadek says “Any Love” became difficult for Szadek to hear the more he got to know Vandross. As for Vandross being coy and vague with the public about his love life, Szadek will only say, “I think he couldn’t share all of himself.” Szadek gets tearful later in the documentary when he remembers finding Vandross unconscious from a stroke in Vandross’ New York City home in 2003. The documentary gives almost no information—aside from brief archival interview clips of Vandross—about Vandross’ recovery process after he had his stroke, such as how he lost and regained his ability to walk.
Racism was another struggle that Vandross had, according to singer/songwriter Richard Marx, who collaborated with Vandross on “Dance With My Father.” Marx says in the documentary that Vandross would privately confide in him about how record companies that had contracts with Vandross would give him lower budgets and less support than white artists who were at the same level of celebrity as Vandross. Vandross also had frustrations about being pigeonholed as being an artist for mostly black audiences, when Vandross believed that his music appealed to people of all races.
Music mogul Clive Davis signed Vandross to Davis’ now-defunct J Records in 2000, after Vandross left Epic Records and had a brief one-album stint with Virgin Records. Davis is interviewed in the documentary but only comments on the race issue by saying an obvious fact: Radio can be very racially segregated. It’s a missed opportunity that the documentary did not get Davis to comment on how record-company racism affects artists, especially since Davis was in charge of one of the record companies that signed Vandross.
Even though people in the documentary explicitly say that Vandross felt he got racial discrimination from record companies, you get the feeling that Davis didn’t comment on this issue in “Luther: Never Too Much” because the documentary filmmakers were too afraid to ask Davis. “Luther: Never Too Much” has a reluctance to dig deeper and reveal uncomfortable truths about Vandross’ life. It’s a celebrity documentary that stays in the comfort zone of having interview soundbites that do nothing but praise the celebrity.
Some of the soundbites are nice but utterly bland. Vandross’ “Endless Love” duet partner Carey says predictable things about Vandross such as, “I was really honored when he brought me out to sing with him.” Warwick says in the documentary about Vandross’ tribute to her at the 1986 NAACP Image Awards, where he performed “A House Is Not a Home” and she got tearful in the audience: “He really showed out that night.” These are perfectly pleasant soundbites but ultimately say nothing interesting or informative.
Other people interviewed in the documentary include Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers, singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson, music journalist Danyel Smith, music executive Jon Platt, commercial producer Deborah McDuffie and backup singer Kevin Owens. Rodgers gives credit to Vandross for helping shape Chic’s catchy disco sound. “Luther Vandross’ vocals played a big part,” Rodgers comments in the documentary.
Even when “Luther: Never Too Much” mentions a big tragedy in Vandross’ life, the documentary leaves out important details. On January 12, 1986, Vandross was driving a car in Los Angeles, with two passengers in the car: his then-protégé Jimmy Salvemini (a singer who was 15 years old at the time) in the back seat and Larry Salvemini (who was Jimmy’s older brother/manager) in the front seat. Vandross was speeding (driving 50 mph in a 35 mph zone) when he crossed over a double line and collided with another car going in the opposite direction.
Larry was killed in this accident, while Vandross and Jimmy were injured. Vandross’ most serious injuries were a broken hip and three broken ribs, while Jimmy had bruises and cuts. Vandross was facing a charge of vehicular manslaughter, but it was reduced to a charge of reckless driving, after no evidence was found that drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident. Vandross pleaded no contest to reckless driving. His driver’s license was suspended for a year.
The documentary’s brief mention of this car accident is mostly about how Vandross felt guilty about the accident and had to take a hiatus to recover from his injuries. The documentary does not mention how this tragedy affected the Salvemini family. That doesn’t mean anyone in the Salvemini family had to be interviewed for the documentary. However, the documentary definitely downplays or ignores how this accident affected anyone other than Vandross.
What “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t mention is that the Salvemini family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Vandross. The case was settled out of court with a reported $630,000 payment to the Salvemini family. There is no reason for a documentary to omit this big fact about the accident except to deliberately leave out unflattering information about the celebrity who’s the subject of the documentary. It’s really unnecessary to try to gloss over or pretend that this lawsuit didn’t exist when it’s public information and part of Vandross’ life.
In interviews, Vandross admitted that food was his biggest addiction. Some of the people who knew Vandross say in this documentary that he was also addicted to work. Lisa Fischer, who was a backup singer for Vandross from the mid-1980s until his 2005 death, remembers him as a “taskmaster” who was inspiring to work with as an artist but who demanded that his subordinates have grueling work schedules with very little free time.
Vandross’ workaholic tendencies no doubt affected his personal life. But because this documentary refuses to give or discuss any information on how Vandross liked to spend his free time, it leaves noticeable voids of unanswered questions. “Luther: Never Too Much” works best as a documentary for people who want an overview of Vandross’ public persona and his extraordinary talent as an entertainer. But for people who want a complete story of who Vandross was as a person, “Luther: Never Too Much” is not that documentary, even though it offers a few glimpses into some of his private pain.
Giant Pictures released “Luther: Never Too Much” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024. CNN will premiere the movie on January 1, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in New York City, Belize, and Israel, the documentary film “The Honorable Shyne” features a predominantly black group of people (with some white people and Latin people) discussing the life and career of Moses “Shyne” Barrow, a rapper-turned-politician.
Culture Clash: Barrow (who was changed his first name from Jamal to Moses, after he became an Orthodox Jew) spent more than eight years in prison in New York, for a controversial shooting that involved entertainer/business mogul Sean Combs, and ex-convict Barrow has reinvented himself as a politician in Belize.
Culture Audience: “The Honorable Shyne” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in documentaries about hip-hop stars from the late 1990s/early 2000s and stories about people who reinvent themselves after experiencing scandalous downfalls.
Moses “Shyne” Barrow (front row center) in “The Honorable Shyne” (Photo courtesy of Andscape/Hulu)
“The Honorable Shyne” doesn’t reveal anything groundbreaking about former rapper Moses “Shyne” Barrow and the 1999 shooting scandal that sent him to prison. But this carefully curated documentary has some interesting interviews, which don’t include his ex-mentor Sean Combs. Barrow is currently a politician in his native country of Belize, which is south of Mexico. “The Honorable Shyne” does a fairly capable job of balancing the “before prison” and “after prison” aspects of Barrow’s story. The movie gives a bare minimum of information about what Barrow experienced while in prison, and some details of his post-prison life have inexplicably been left out of the documentary. “The Honorable Shyne” had its world premiere at the 2024 Urbanworld Film Festival.
Directed by Marcus A. Clarke, “The Honorable Shyne” greatly benefits from having Barrow participate in the documentary, because most people watching will want to get his perspective of the many controversies in his life. Barrow’s biggest scandal happened in New York City on December 27, 1999, when Barrow (who was 21 years old at the time), Combs and actress/singer Jennifer Lopez (who was dating Combs at the time) were involved in a gun shooting at a nightspot called Club New York. At the time, Barrow was an up-and-coming rapper who was signed to Combs’ Bad Boy Records.
Witness statements and testimonies vary, but the general consensus is that a convicted felon named Matthew “Scar” Allen got into an argument with Combs. Guns were drawn. Shots were fired. Three people who weren’t involved in the argument ended up getting gunshot injuries. The worst injury happened to Natania Reuben, who was shot in the face.
Reuben has not changed her eyewitness account that Combs was the person who shot her. Combs and Barrow denied that they shot anyone during this incident. Barrow, Combs and Lopez fled the scene and were all arrested by police. Barrow did not change his story: He said he pulled out his gun but didn’t shoot anyone. Lopez was ultimately not charged with any crime. “The Honorable Shyne” does not mention if the filmmakers attempted to interview Combs or Lopez for this documentary.
Combs and Barrow went on trial in 2001, for attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of an illegal weapon. Combs was acquitted of all the charges, while Barrow was found guilty of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of an illegal weapon. Barrow was sentenced to 10 years in prison, served eight-and-a-half years, and was deported to Belize (where he was born) when he was released from prison in 2009.
“The Honorable Shyne” tells Barrow’s story in chronological order, so this shooting scandal isn’t covered in detail until about halfway through the documentary. Most of his biographical information in the documentary is already public knowledge. Barrow was born on November 8, 1978, in Belize City, the largest city in Belize. His first name at birth was Jamal, but he later changed his first name to Moses after he converted to Judaism in the early 2010s.
His family history is emotionally complicated because he grew up with the stigma of having a father who didn’t really want to acknowledge him and wasn’t in his life as a parent for all of Jamal’s childhood. His biological father Dean Barrow, a politician in Belize, cut off contact with Jamal when Jamal was a child, due to pressure from the woman who would become his wife and the mother of Dean’s other children. Jamal’s mother Frances Myvette was never married to Dean Barrow.
Myvette and Dean Barrow are each interviewed separately in the documentary. Dean admits that he was mostly an absentee father during Jamal’s childhood because politics was his life’s main priority. He also expresses regret over hurtful things he said and did at the time about Jamal being an illegitimate child. For example, he refused to sign Jamal’s birth certificate and often acted like the children he had with his wife were the only children of his who mattered. Myvette describes how the pain of this rejection affected Jamal, who was a rebellious child who got into trouble but had a creative and sensitive side.
When Jamal was 3 years old, his mother moved to the United States, while he stayed in Belize and was raised by his mother’s brother Michael Finnegan (who is interviewed in the documentary) and Dean Barrow’s sister Denise. In 1986, Jamal moved to the U.S. to live with his mother. They lived in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. He came along at a time when hip-hop was exploding in the mainstream, and New York was at the epicenter of hip-hop.
Derrick Castillo Jr., a friend of Jamal/Shyne during their childhoods in Brooklyn, describes him in the documentary as “that guy you didn’t want to get into an altercation with. He was a hoodlum.” On the other hand, was he a hoodlum with a heart? People in the documentary also describe him has having a generous side to his personality.
A turning point in Jamal’s life happened when he beat up a man who robbed a neighbor. Jamal was shot out of revenge for this beating. And it was enough for Myvette to move herself and Jamal out of the Brooklyn’s rough Flatbush neighborhood. By the time Jamal was a teenager, he was regularly writing rhymes and beats, with dreams of becoming a rapper. His rapper name became Shyne.
One of his idols was Jay-Z, who was signed to Def Jam Records at the time. A story told in the documentary is how Shyne boldly approached Jay-Z to give him a demo of Shyne’s recordings. Shyne asked Jay-Z if Jay-Z had a gun in his possession and told him that if Shyne’s demo wasn’t the best demo Jay-Z ever heard, then Jay-Z could shoot Shyne right then and there. This bizarre statement got Jay-Z’s attention, but he ultimately threw away the demo, according to what people say in the documentary.
One person who made a tremendous impact early on in Shyne’s rap career was DJ Clark Kent, who is interviewed in the documentary. (Kent died of colon cancer on October 24, 2024, at the age of 58.) “He was extremely confident, extremely eager,” Kent says about Shyne in the documentary.
In 1998, Kent was working on the Notorious B.I.G.’s posthumous album “Born Again” for Bad Boy Records when he introduced Shyne to Combs. Like many entertainers in hip-hop, Combs has had multiple stage names and nicknames. Combs’ nicknames have included Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, Diddy and Love.
Shyne made enough of a name for himself in the New York rap scene that there was a bidding war to sign him. Def Jam offered Shyne the most money—reportedly $2 million, which was unheard of at the time for an unknown rapper who never recorded an album. Shyne ultimately decided to sign with Bad Boy because he felt more of a personal connection to Combs. This alliance would bring both highs and lows to Shyne that still have repercussions to this day.
“The Honorable Shyne” dutifully chronicles how Shyne became a hit artist before and after his imprisonment, during a time when record companies wanted rappers to have a “criminal” image to exploit so they could market the artists as having “street cred.” Ironically, Shyne could not fully enjoy the success of these hits because he was locked up in prison at the time. Although his deep voice and swaggering style got some comparisons to the Notorious B.I.G. (also known as Biggie Smalls), Shyne was much more of a sex symbol than the Notorious B.I.G., who died in an unsolved shooting murder in 1996.
Shyne has only two studio albums: His 2000 debut album “Shyne” (released on Bad Boy Records) and 2004’s “Godfather Buried Alive,” an album released on Def Jam. Both albums debuted in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 album chart and were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Shyne’s singles from his first album are “Bad Boyz,” “That’s Gangsta” and “Bonnie & Shyne.” His second album yielded the singles “More or Less” and “Jimmy Choo.”
But loyalty in the music business can be fickle, which Shyne found out the hard way during his trial. In the documentary, he claims that he took the fall for crimes he didn’t commit because he didn’t want to be a snitch. Although he refuses to name who’s guilty of the crimes that sent him to prison, he will only say that Combs distanced himself from Shyne and essentially abandoned Shyne. Before the trial, it wasn’t Combs who bailed out Shyne but it was Shyne’s friend Manny Halley, who put up his own house for collateral for the bail. Halley is one of the people interviewed in the documentary.
“The Honorable Shyne” has interviews with Ian Niles and Murray Richman, who were Shyne’s attorneys who represented him in the trial. Richman says that Shyne’s biggest mistake was not getting rid of the gun after the shooting incident. Shyne doesn’t disagree with that opinion, but he also says that at the time, all he was thinking about was taking out the gun to protect Combs during that nightclub argument. In retrospect, Shyne believes that his attorneys gave up on him because they were up against Combs’ celebrity and legal “dream team” (which included Johnnie Cochran), who were determined to put all of the blame on Shyne.
By the time Shyne was released from prison and deported to Belize in 2009, he had no record deal, and he was considered a “has-been” in the music industry. His uncle Michael describes Shyne as being a shell of his former self (physically and emotionally) right after being released from prison. Shyne seemed lost and unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. By this time, Shyne’s father Dean had became Belize’s first black prime minister in 2008, and he continued as Belize’s prime minister until 2020.
Shyne says that his journey toward self-discovery led him to live in Israel from 2010 to 2013, which was the period of time that he converted to Orthodox Judaism and changed his first name to Moses. He says that Orthodox Judaism helped him keep his sanity and turned his life around. As an Orthodox Jewish rapper, Shyne released a few songs in hopes of making a comeback in the music industry, but those songs were poorly received. The documentary includes a montage of other rappers making fun of and insulting Shyne’s post-prison songs in various radio interviews.
Shyne says that during his time out of the spotlight, it was hard to see many other rappers—such as Combs, Jay-Z and 50 Cent—go on to even greater fame and fortune than he was able to accomplish. There’s no doubt that Shyne’s rap career was cut short because of his incarceration, but it’s debatable if he would have gone on to become a superstar if he hadn’t been in prison. Plenty of artists have been signed to major record companies, only to get dropped by these record companies and then fade into obscurity.
After deciding to retire as a rapper and moving back to Belize in 2013, Moses reinvented himself as an activist for the working-class people of Belize, and he became a politician in the Belize United Democratic Party. He reconnected with his father Dean. In 2020, Moses was elected as a member of the Belize House of Representatives for Mesopotamia, a position that was held by his uncle Michael Finnegan from 1993 to 2020. In 2022, Moses became the leader for the Opposition, who is the leader of the largest political party in the Belize’s House of Representatives that is not in government.
Moses says of mending his relationship with his father: “He’s not the perfect father, but he’s the father I needed.” Belize politician Juliet Thimbriel comments in the documentary on Shyne’s success as a politician: “Shyne worked for where he is.” However, Belize journalist Jules Vasquez has a different opinion, by saying that Shyne “benefited from nepotism.” Regardless of how Shyne came into power in politics, his friends such as rabbi Jeff Seidel say in the documentary that Shyne has a natural charisma that attracts people.
After Shyne got out of prison, Shyne’s on-again/off-again relationship with Combs included sometimes cordial reunions (such as performing together on stage at the 2022 BET Awards), but their friendship was never the same again after the shooting scandal. Most of the documentary interviews of Shyne were done in 2021 and 2022. However, toward the end of the documentary, there’s a newer interview where Shyne comments on Combs’ 2024 federal indictment and arrest on various criminal charges (including sex trafficking) and the various civil lawsuits filed against Combs by numerous people claiming he committed rape and other forms of assault and sex crimes.
In an interview done after these criminal charges and lawsuits were filed, Shyne is now the one publicly distancing himself from Combs. In May 2024, CNN made public a 2016 hotel security video of Combs viciously assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura (one of the people who filed a quickly settled lawsuit in 2023) in a hotel hallway. Combs made a public apology for the assault (after he had denied months earlier that he ever assaulted Ventura), but the damage was done. In September 2024, Combs was arrested on various sex crimes and was held in jail without bail.
In the documentary, Shyne says that seeing the video of Combs beating and kicking Ventura made him decide to never associate himself with Combs again. Shyne also says he’s put the music business behind him and has other priorities. “I’m completely focused on my charity to transform Belize,” he comments. Shyne expresses a certain amount of pride when he says that even though he went to prison for crimes he didn’t commit, he never ratted out anyone. It’s debatable whether or not this type of “loyalty” was worth all the years he spent locked up in prison.
Still, “The Honorable Shyne” doesn’t really answer lingering questions. Combs’ history of violence and intimidation have been well-documented since he became a celebrity in the 1990s. How much did Shyne really know about this corruption behind the scenes when he was signed to Bad Boy Records? Even if Shyne won’t answer those types of questions, viewers are left with the impression that the documentary filmmakers didn’t really want to probe or investigate.
The documentary also has very little information about Shyne’s love life before and after prison. Shyne briefly mentions that he had a rivalry with Bad Boy Records rapper Mase because they were both dating singer/actress Brandy at the same time. Shyne is now a married father (he’s shown frolicking on the beach with his wife and daughter in the documentary’s last scenes), but “The Honorable Shyne” provides no details and doesn’t have commentary from Shyne about his life as a husband or father. His wife is not interviewed, most likely to maintain her privacy.
The documentary’s most insightful (but somewhat lightweight) stories about Combs are told by Combs’ former bodyguard Gene Deal, who was at Club New York on the night of the shooting. Deal obviously knows more than he is saying, but doesn’t give any further information about what happened during the shooting incident that isn’t already in court testimony and news reports. His comments are mostly quips and anecdotes that don’t reveal anything that would change any legal cases.
In the documentary, Deal says that Combs used religion to rehabilitate Combs’ public image while Combs was waiting to go on trial for the nightclub shooting. Deal says half-jokingly that he and Combs spent more time in churches than at Bad Boy headquarters during this period of time. Other people in the documentary also mention that Combs’ celebrity status made it easier for people to believe that he was not guilty of the charges.
Deal also tells a bizarre but amusing story about going with Combs to Central Park on the day that the trial began. Before going to the courthouse, Combs was in the park and met with an unidentified man who appeared to bless Combs with sage smoke. Combs then climbed into an animal cage and then took out a dove and released it into the air. But the dove died and plopped on the ground. Deal said this dead bird was an omen, and he somewhat hints that this looked like some kind of pagan ritual.
Other people interviewed in the documentary are Shyne’s former manager Don Pooh, former Def Jam executive Kevin Liles, Shyne’s aunt Diane Finnegan, barber Mark Topper, former Bad Boy executive Cheryl Fox, Shyne’s friend Jackie Rowe, radio personality Charlamagne Tha God, rapper N.O.R.E., music executive Steven Victor, singer Faith Evans, minister/activist Conrad Tillard, artist/producer DJ Khaled, business executive Shawn “Pecas” Costner, reggae artist Barrington Levy, Shyne’s billionaire friend Jeffrey Schottenstein, Belize politician Tony Herrera, professor Lewis Gordon of the University of Connecticut, and former St. Lucia prime minister Allen Chastenet.
“The Honorable Shyne” is a very watchable documentary, but it doesn’t take enough risks to go beyond the surface to give revealing insights into the relationship between Shyne and Combs that altered the course of Shyne’s life. Evans—who was married to the Notorious B.I.G. and who was a longtime associate of Combs because she was signed to Bad Boy—is only quoted in the documentary with this generic comment: “Bad Boy was very much like a family for a very long time.”
The documentary works on a nostalgia level for fans of early 2000s hip-hop. It also works as a “where are they now” biography. But don’t expect the documentary to have Shyne talking about what really went on behind the scenes when he was close to Combs. “The Honorable Shyne” tells an inspiring redemption story but ultimately looks like a promotion for Shyne’s next career ambition to become prime minister of Belize.
Hulu will premiere “The Honorable Shyne” on November 18, 2024.
Beyoncé is the top nominee at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023 (Photo by Francis Specker/CBS)
The following is a press release from the Recording Academy:
Topping the list of nominees for the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards® are Beyoncé (11), Charli XCX (7), Billie Eilish (7), Kendrick Lamar (7), Post Malone (7), Sabrina Carpenter (6), Chappell Roan (6), and Taylor Swift (6). As the only peer-voted music award, the GRAMMY Awards® are selected by the Recording Academy®’s voting membership body of music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, composers, producers, mixers, and engineers. The nominees were announced via a livestream event on live.GRAMMY.com and YouTube.
“Today we celebrate the amazing creative achievements of our music community,” said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “It was an incredible year in music and these nominations reflect the work of a voting body that is more representative of the music community than ever before. The GRAMMY® became music’s most coveted award precisely because the recognition comes from one’s peers, and I’m so grateful for the Academy’s 13,000 voting members who take the time to evaluate all the amazing music, cast their votes, and honor their peers. Congratulations to all the nominees.”
This year’s eligibility period includes recordings released between Sept. 16, 2023 – Aug. 30, 2024. The final round of GRAMMY voting, which will determine GRAMMY recipients, will take place Dec. 12, 2024 – Jan. 3, 2025. The 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards will return to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sun, Feb. 2, 2025, and will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT. Prior to the Telecast, the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® will be held at the Peacock Theater at 12:30 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on live.GRAMMY.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel. The 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards will again be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
Award to the Artist(s), Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s), and/or Mixer(s), and Mastering Engineer(s) if other than the artist.
NOMINEES:
“Now and Then”– The Beatles
Giles Martin & Paul McCartney, producers; Geoff Emerick, Steve Genewick, Jon Jacobs, Greg McAllister, Steve Orchard, Keith Smith, Mark ‘Spike’ Stent & Bruce Sugar, engineers/mixers; Miles Showell, mastering engineer
“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” – Beyoncé
Beyoncé, Nate Ferraro, Killah B & Raphael Saadiq, producers; Hotae Alexander Jang, Alex Nibley & Stuart White, engineers/mixers; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer
Sean Momberger, Mustard & Sounwave, producers; Ray Charles Brown Jr. & Johnathan Turner, engineers/mixers; Nicolas de Porcel, mastering engineer
“Good Luck, Babe!” – Chappell Roan
Dan Nigro, producer; Mitch McCarthy & Dan Nigro, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer
“Fortnight” – Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone
Jack Antonoff, Louis Bell & Taylor Swift, producers; Louis Bell, Bryce Bordone, Serban Ghenea, Sean Hutchinson, Oli Jacobs, Michael Riddleberger & Laura Sisk, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer
CATEGORY 2
Album Of The Year
Award to Artist(s) and to Featured Artist(s), Songwriter(s) of new material, Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s), Mixer(s) and Mastering Engineer(s) credited with 20% or more playing time of the album.)
New Blue Sun – André 3000
André 3000 & Carlos Niño, producers; André 3000, Carlos Niño & Ken Oriole, engineers/mixers; André 3000, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau & Carlos Niño, songwriters; Andy Kravitz, mastering engineer
COWBOY CARTER – Beyoncé
Beyoncé, Terius “The-Dream” Gesteelde-Diamant & Dave Hamelin, producers; Matheus Braz, Brandon Harding, Hotae Alexander Jang, Dani Pampuri & Stuart White, engineers/mixers; Ryan Beatty, Beyoncé, Camaron Ochs, Terius “The-Dream” Gesteelde-Diamant, Dave Hamelin, S. Carter & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer
Short n’ Sweet – Sabrina Carpenter
Jack Antonoff, Julian Bunetta, Ian Kirkpatrick & John Ryan, producers; Bryce Bordone, Julian Bunetta, Serban Ghenea, Jeff Gunnell, Oli Jacobs, Manny Marroquin, John Ryan & Laura Sisk, engineers/mixers; Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff, Julian Bunetta, Sabrina Carpenter, Ian Kirkpatrick, Julia Michaels & John Ryan, songwriters; Nathan Dantzler & Ruairi O’Flaherty, mastering engineers
BRAT – Charli xcx
Charli xcx, Cirkut & A. G. Cook, producers; A. G. Cook, Tom Norris & Geoff Swan, engineers/mixers; Charlotte Aitchison, Henry Walter, Alexander Guy Cook, Finn Keane & Jonathan Christopher Shave, songwriters; Idania Valencia, mastering engineer
Djesse Vol. 4 – Jacob Collier
Jacob Collier, producer; Ben Bloomberg, Jacob Collier & Paul Pouwer, engineers/mixers; Jacob Collier, songwriter; Chris Allgood & Emily Lazar, mastering engineers
Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess – Chappell Roan
Daniel Nigro, producer; Mitch McCarthy & Daniel Nigro, engineers/mixers; Daniel Nigro & Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT – Taylor Swift
Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift, producers; Zem Audu, Bella Blasko, Bryce Bordone, Serban Ghenea, David Hart, Mikey Freedom Hart, Sean Hutchinson, Oli Jacobs, Jonathan Low, Michael Riddleberger, Christopher Rowe, Laura Sisk & Evan Smith, engineers/mixers; Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner & Taylor Swift, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer
CATEGORY 3
Song Of The Year
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey)
“BIRDS OF A FEATHER” — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“Die With A Smile” — Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars)
“Fortnight” — Jack Antonoff, Austin Post & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone)
“Good Luck, Babe!” — Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro & Justin Tranter, songwriters (Chappell Roan)
“Not Like Us” — Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar)
“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” — Brian Bates, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyoncé)
CATEGORY 4
Best New Artist
This category recognizes an artist whose eligibility-year release(s) achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and notably impacted the musical landscape.
For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative rock recordings.
“Now and Then” — The Beatles
“Beautiful People (Stay High)” — The Black Keys
“The American Dream Is Killing Me” — Green Day
“Gift Horse” — IDLES
“Dark Matter” — Pearl Jam
“Broken Man” — St. Vincent
Field 2: Rock, Metal & Alternative Music
CATEGORY 15
Best Metal Performance
For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative metal recordings.
“Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)” — Gojira, Marina Viotti & Victor Le Masne
“Crown of Horns” — Judas Priest
“Suffocate” — Knocked Loose Featuring Poppy
“Screaming Suicide” — Metallica
“Cellar Door” — Spiritbox
CATEGORY 16
Best Rock Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal songs. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“Beautiful People (Stay High)” — Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney, Beck Hansen & Daniel Nakamura, songwriters (The Black Keys)
“Dark Matter” — Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Eddie Vedder & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Pearl Jam)
“Dilemma” — Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool & Mike Dirnt, songwriters (Green Day)
“Gift Horse” — Jon Beavis, Mark Bowen, Adam Devonshire, Lee Kiernan & Joe Talbot, songwriters (IDLES)
CATEGORY 17
Best Rock Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings.
Happiness Bastards — The Black Crowes
Romance — Fontaines D.C.
Saviors — Green Day
TANGK — IDLES
Dark Matter — Pearl Jam
Hackney Diamonds — The Rolling Stones
No Name — Jack White
CATEGORY 18
Best Alternative Music Performance
For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative Alternative music recordings.
“Neon Pill” — Cage The Elephant
“Song Of The Lake” — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
“Starburster” — Fontaines D.C.
“BYE BYE” — Kim Gordon
“Flea” — St. Vincent
CATEGORY 19
Best Alternative Music Album
Vocal or Instrumental.
Wild God — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Charm — Clairo
The Collective — Kim Gordon
What Now — Brittany Howard
All Born Screaming — St. Vincent
Field 3: R&B, Rap & Spoken Word Poetry
CATEGORY 20
Best R&B Performance
For new vocal or instrumental R&B recordings.
“Guidance” — Jhené Aiko
“Residuals” — Chris Brown
“Here We Go (Uh Oh)” — Coco Jones
“Made For Me (Live On BET)” — Muni Long
“Saturn” — SZA
CATEGORY 21
Best Traditional R&B Performance
For new vocal or instrumental traditional R&B recordings.
“Wet” — Marsha Ambrosius
“Can I Have This Groove” — Kenyon Dixon
“No Lie” — Lalah Hathaway Featuring Michael McDonald
“Make Me Forget” — Muni Long
“That’s You” — Lucky Daye
CATEGORY 22
Best R&B Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“After Hours” — Diovanna Frazier, Alex Goldblatt, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes & Daniel Upchurch, songwriters (Kehlani)
“Burning” — Ronald Banful & Temilade Openiyi, songwriters (Tems)
“Here We Go (Uh Oh)” — Sara Diamond, Sydney Floyd, Marisela Jackson, Courtney Jones, Carl McCormick & Kelvin Wooten, songwriters (Coco Jones)
“Ruined Me” — Jeff Gitelman, Priscilla Renea & Kevin Theodore, songwriters (Muni Long)
“Saturn” — Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Solána Rowe, Jared Solomon & Scott Zhang, songwriters (SZA)
CATEGORY 23
Best Progressive R&B Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded progressive vocal tracks derivative of R&B.
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new R&B recordings.
11:11 (Deluxe) — Chris Brown
VANTABLACK — Lalah Hathaway
Revenge — Muni Long
Algorithm — Lucky Daye
COMING HOME — Usher
CATEGORY 25
Best Rap Performance
For a Rap performance. Singles or Tracks only.
“Enough (Miami)” — Cardi B
“When The Sun Shines Again” — Common & Pete Rock Featuring Posdnuos
“NISSAN ALTIMA” — Doechii
“Houdini” — Eminem
“Like That” — Future & Metro Boomin Featuring Kendrick Lamar
“Yeah Glo!” — GloRilla
“Not Like Us” — Kendrick Lamar
CATEGORY 26
Best Melodic Rap Performance
For a solo or collaborative performance containing both elements of R&B melodies and Rap.
“KEHLANI” — Jordan Adetunji Featuring Kehlani
“SPAGHETTII” — Beyoncé Featuring Linda Martell & Shaboozey
“We Still Don’t Trust You” — Future & Metro Boomin Featuring The Weeknd
“Big Mama” — Latto
“3” — Rapsody Featuring Erykah Badu
CATEGORY 27
Best Rap Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“Carnival” — Jordan Carter, Raul Cubina, Grant Dickinson, Samuel Lindley, Nasir Pemberton, Dimitri Roger, Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West & Mark Carl Stolinski Williams, songwriters (¥$ (Kanye West & Ty Dolla $Ign) Featuring Rich The Kid & Playboi Carti)
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new instrumental jazz recordings.
Owl Song — Ambrose Akinmusire Featuring Bill Frisell & Herlin Riley
Beyond This Place — Kenny Barron Featuring Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Johnathan Blake, Immanuel Wilkins & Steve Nelson
Phoenix Reimagined (Live) — Lakecia Benjamin
Remembrance — Chick Corea & Béla Fleck
Solo Game — Sullivan Fortner
CATEGORY 33
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new large ensemble jazz recordings.
Returning To Forever — John Beasley & Frankfurt Radio Big Band
And So It Goes — The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
Walk A Mile In My Shoe — Orrin Evans & The Captain Black Big Band
Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence — Dan Pugach Big Band
Golden City — Miguel Zenón
CATEGORY 34
Best Latin Jazz Album
For vocal or instrumental albums containing greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded material. The intent of this category is to recognize recordings that represent the blending of jazz with Latin, Iberian-American, Brazilian, and Argentinian tango music.
Spain Forever Again — Michel Camilo & Tomatito
Cubop Lives! — Zaccai Curtis
COLLAB — Hamilton de Holanda & Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Time And Again — Eliane Elias
El Trio: Live in Italy — Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernández, John Beasley & José Gola
Cuba And Beyond — Chucho Valdés & Royal Quartet
As I Travel — Donald Vega Featuring Lewis Nash, John Patitucci & Luisito Quintero
CATEGORY 35
Best Alternative Jazz Album
For vocal or instrumental albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new Alternative jazz recordings.
Night Reign — Arooj Aftab
New Blue Sun — André 3000
Code Derivation — Robert Glasper
Foreverland — Keyon Harrold
No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin — Meshell Ndegeocello
CATEGORY 36
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new traditional pop recordings.
À Fleur De Peau — Cyrille Aimée
Visions — Norah Jones
Good Together — Lake Street Dive
Impossible Dream — Aaron Lazar
Christmas Wish — Gregory Porter
CATEGORY 37
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new contemporary instrumental recordings.
Plot Armor — Taylor Eigsti
Rhapsody In Blue — Béla Fleck
Orchestras (Live) — Bill Frisell Featuring Alexander Hanson, Brussels Philharmonic, Rudy Royston & Thomas Morgan
Mark — Mark Guiliana
Speak To Me — Julian Lage
CATEGORY 38
Best Musical Theater Album
For albums containing greater than 51% playing time of new recordings. Award to the principal vocalist(s), and the album producer(s) of 50% or more playing time of the album. The lyricist(s) and composer(s) of 50% or more of a score of a new recording are eligible for an Award if any previous recording of said score has not been nominated in this category.
Hell’s Kitchen — Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kecia Lewis & Meleah Joi Moon, principal vocalists; Adam Blackstone, Alicia Keys & Tom Kitt, producers (Alicia Keys, composer & lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)
Merrily We Roll Along — Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez & Daniel Radcliffe, principal vocalists; David Caddick, Joel Fram, Maria Friedman & David Lai, producers (Stephen Sondheim, composer & lyricist) (New Broadway Cast)
The Notebook — John Clancy, Carmel Dean, Kurt Deutsch, Derik Lee, Kevin McCollum & Ingrid Michaelson, producers; Ingrid Michaelson, composer & lyricist (Original Broadway Cast)
The Outsiders — Joshua Boone, Brent Comer, Brody Grant & Sky Lakota-Lynch, principal vocalists; Zach Chance, Jonathan Clay, Matt Hinkley, Justin Levine & Lawrence Manchester, producers; Zach Chance, Jonathan Clay & Justin Levine, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast)
Suffs — Andrea Grody, Dean Sharenow & Shaina Taub, producers; Shaina Taub, composer & lyricist (Original Broadway Cast)
The Wiz — Wayne Brady, Deborah Cox, Nichelle Lewis & Avery Wilson, principal vocalists; Joseph Joubert, Allen René Louis & Lawrence Manchester, producers (Charlie Smalls, composer & lyricist) (2024 Broadway Cast Recording)
Field 5: Country & American Roots Music
CATEGORY 39
Best Country Solo Performance
For new vocal or instrumental solo country recordings.
“16 CARRIAGES” — Beyoncé
“I Am Not Okay” — Jelly Roll
“The Architect” — Kacey Musgraves
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — Shaboozey
“It Takes A Woman” — Chris Stapleton
CATEGORY 40
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
For new vocal or instrumental duo/group or collaborative country recordings.
“Cowboys Cry Too” — Kelsea Ballerini With Noah Kahan
“II MOST WANTED” — Beyoncé Featuring Miley Cyrus
“Break Mine” — Brothers Osborne
“Bigger Houses” — Dan + Shay
“I Had Some Help” — Post Malone Featuring Morgan Wallen
CATEGORY 41
Best Country Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey)
“I Am Not Okay” — Casey Brown, Jason DeFord, Ashley Gorley & Taylor Phillips, songwriters (Jelly Roll)
“I Had Some Help” — Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Smith, Ryan Vojtesak, Morgan Wallen & Chandler Paul Walters, songwriters (Post Malone Featuring Morgan Wallen)
“TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” — Brian Bates, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyoncé)
CATEGORY 42
Best Country Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new country recordings.
COWBOY CARTER — Beyoncé
F-1 Trillion — Post Malone
Deeper Well — Kacey Musgraves
Higher — Chris Stapleton
Whirlwind — Lainey Wilson
CATEGORY 43
Best American Roots Performance
For new vocal or instrumental American Roots recordings. This is for performances in the style of any of the subgenres encompassed in the American Roots Music field including bluegrass, blues, folk or regional roots. Award to the artist(s).
“Blame It On Eve” — Shemekia Copeland
“Nothing In Rambling” — The Fabulous Thunderbirds Featuring Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal & Mick Fleetwood
“Lighthouse” — Sierra Ferrell
“The Ballad Of Sally Anne” — Rhiannon Giddens
CATEGORY 44
Best Americana Performance
For new vocal or instrumental Americana performance. Award to the artist(s).
“YA YA” — Beyoncé
“Subtitles” — Madison Cunningham
“Don’t Do Me Good” — Madi Diaz Featuring Kacey Musgraves
“American Dreaming” — Sierra Ferrell
“Runaway Train” — Sarah Jarosz
“Empty Trainload Of Sky” — Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
CATEGORY 45
Best American Roots Song
A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Americana, bluegrass, traditional blues, contemporary blues, folk or regional roots songs. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“Ahead Of The Game” — Mark Knopfler, songwriter (Mark Knopfler)
“All In Good Time” — Sam Beam, songwriter (Iron & Wine Featuring Fiona Apple)
“All My Friends” — Aoife O’Donovan, songwriter (Aoife O’Donovan)
“Blame It On Eve” — John Hahn & Will Kimbrough, songwriters (Shemekia Copeland)
CATEGORY 46
Best Americana Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Americana recordings.
The Other Side — T Bone Burnett
$10 Cowboy — Charley Crockett
Trail Of Flowers — Sierra Ferrell
Polaroid Lovers — Sarah Jarosz
No One Gets Out Alive — Maggie Rose
Tigers Blood — Waxahatchee
CATEGORY 47
Best Bluegrass Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental bluegrass recordings.
I Built A World — Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Songs of Love and Life — The Del McCoury Band
No Fear — Sister Sadie
Live Vol. 1 — Billy Strings
Earl Jam — Tony Trischka
Dan Tyminski: Live From The Ryman — Dan Tyminski
CATEGORY 48
Best Traditional Blues Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental traditional blues recordings.
Hill Country Love — Cedric Burnside
Struck Down — The Fabulous Thunderbirds
One Guitar Woman — Sue Foley
Sam’s Place — Little Feat
Swingin’ Live at The Church in Tulsa — The Taj Mahal Sextet
CATEGORY 49
Best Contemporary Blues Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental contemporary blues recordings.
Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 — Joe Bonamassa
Blame It On Eve — Shemekia Copeland
Friendlytown — Steve Cropper & The Midnight Hour
Mileage — Ruthie Foster
The Fury — Antonio Vergara
CATEGORY 50
Best Folk Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental folk recordings.
American Patchwork Quartet — American Patchwork Quartet
Weird Faith — Madi Diaz
Bright Future — Adrianne Lenker
All My Friends — Aoife O’Donovan
Woodland — Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
CATEGORY 51
Best Regional Roots Music Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new vocal or instrumental regional roots music recordings.
25 Back To My Roots — Sean Ardoin And Kreole Rock And Soul
Live At The 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & The Golden Eagles Featuring J’Wan Boudreaux
Live At The 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — New Breed Brass Band Featuring Trombone Shorty
Kuini — Kalani Pe’a
Stories From The Battlefield — The Rumble Featuring Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.
Field 6: Gospel & Contemporary Christian Music
CATEGORY 52
Best Gospel Performance/Song
This award is given to the artist(s) and songwriter(s) (for new compositions) for the best traditional Christian, roots gospel, or contemporary gospel single or track.
“Church Doors” — Yolanda Adams; Sir William James Baptist & Donald Lawrence, songwriters
“Yesterday” — Melvin Crispell III
“Hold On (Live)” — Ricky Dillard
“Holy Hands” — DOE; Jesse Paul Barrera, Jeffrey Castro Bernat, Dominique Jones, Timothy Ferguson, Kelby Shavon Johnson, Jr., Jonathan McReynolds, Rickey Slikk Muzik Offord & Juan Winans, songwriters
“One Hallelujah” — Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Erica Campbell & Israel Houghton Featuring Jonathan McReynolds & Jekalyn Carr; G. Morris Coleman, Israel Houghton, Kenneth Leonard, Jr., Tasha Cobbs Leonard & Naomi Raine, songwriters
CATEGORY 53
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
This award is given to the artist(s) and songwriter(s) (for new compositions) for the best contemporary Christian music single or track (including pop, rap/hip-hop, Latin, or rock).
“Praise” — Elevation Worship Featuring Brandon Lake, Chris Brown & Chandler Moore; Pat Barrett, Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Steven Furtick, Brandon Lake & Chandler Moore, songwriters
“Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” — Honor & Glory Featuring Disciple
“In The Name Of Jesus” — JWLKRS Worship & Maverick City Music Featuring Chandler Moore; Austin Armstrong, Ran Jackson, Chandler Moore, Sajan Nauriyal, Ella Schnacky, Noah Schnacky & Ilya Toshinskiy, songwriters
“In The Room” — Maverick City Music, Naomi Raine & Chandler Moore Featuring Tasha Cobbs Leonard; G. Morris Coleman, Tasha Cobbs Leonard & Naomi Raine, songwriters
“That’s My King” — CeCe Winans; Taylor Agan, Kellie Gamble, Llyod Nicks & Jess Russ, songwriters
CATEGORY 54
Best Gospel Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, traditional or contemporary/R&B gospel music recordings.
Covered Vol. 1 — Melvin Crispell III
Choirmaster II (Live) — Ricky Dillard
Father’s Day — Kirk Franklin
Still Karen — Karen Clark Sheard
More Than This — CeCe Winans
CATEGORY 55
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, contemporary Christian music, including pop, rap/hip-hop, Latin, or rock recordings.
Heart Of A Human — DOE
When Wind Meets Fire — Elevation Worship
Child Of God — Forrest Frank
Coat Of Many Colors — Brandon Lake
The Maverick Way Complete — Maverick City Music, Naomi Raine & Chandler Moore
CATEGORY 56
Best Roots Gospel Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, traditional/roots gospel music, including country, Southern gospel, bluegrass, and Americana recordings.
The Gospel Sessions, Vol 2 — Authentic Unlimited
The Gospel According To Mark — Mark D. Conklin
Rhapsody — The Harlem Gospel Travelers
Church — Cory Henry
Loving You — The Nelons
Field 7: Latin, Global, Reggae & New Age, Ambient, or Chant
CATEGORY 57
Best Latin Pop Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new Latin pop recordings.
Funk Generation — Anitta
El Viaje — Luis Fonsi
GARCÍA — Kany García
Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran — Shakira
ORQUÍDEAS — Kali Uchis
CATEGORY 58
Best Música Urbana Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new Música Urbana recordings.
nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana — Bad Bunny
Rayo — J Balvin
FERXXOCALIPSIS — Feid
LAS LETRAS YA NO IMPORTAN — Residente
att. — Young Miko
CATEGORY 59
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new Latin rock or alternative recordings.
Compita del Destino — El David Aguilar
Pa’ Tu Cuerpa — Cimafunk
Autopoiética — Mon Laferte
GRASA — NATHY PELUSO
¿Quién trae las cornetas? — Rawayana
CATEGORY 60
Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano)
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new regional Mexican (banda, norteño, corridos, gruperos, mariachi, ranchera and Tejano) recordings.
Diamantes — Chiquis
Boca Chueca, Vol. 1 — Carín León
ÉXODO — Peso Pluma
De Lejitos — Jessi Uribe
CATEGORY 61
Best Tropical Latin Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new tropical Latin recordings.
MUEVENSE — Marc Anthony
Bailar — Sheila E.
Radio Güira — Juan Luis Guerra 4.40
Alma, Corazón y Salsa (Live at Gran Teatro Nacional) — Tony Succar, Mimy Succar
Vacilón Santiaguero — Kiki Valera
CATEGORY 62
Best Global Music Performance
For new vocal or instrumental Global music recordings.
“Raat Ki Rani” — Arooj Aftab
“A Rock Somewhere” — Jacob Collier Featuring Anoushka Shankar & Varijashree Venugopal
Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn — Anoushka Shankar
Warriors Of Light — Radhika Vekaria
Field 8: Children’s, Comedy, Audio Books, Visual Media & Music Video/Film
CATEGORY 67
Best Children’s Music Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new musical or spoken word recordings that are created and intended specifically for children.
Brillo, Brillo! — Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band
Creciendo — Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats
My Favorite Dream — John Legend
Solid Rock Revival — Rock For Children
World Wide Playdate — Divinity Roxx and Divi Roxx Kids
CATEGORY 68
Best Comedy Album
For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new recordings.
Armageddon — Ricky Gervais
The Dreamer — Dave Chappelle
The Prisoner — Jim Gaffigan
Someday You’ll Die — Nikki Glaser
Where Was I — Trevor Noah
CATEGORY 69
Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording
For an album that is spoken word in format.
All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words (Various Artists) — Guy Oldfield, producer
…And Your Ass Will Follow — George Clinton
Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones — Dolly Parton
Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration — Jimmy Carter
My Name Is Barbra — Barbra Streisand
CATEGORY 70
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
Award to the principal artist(s) and/or ‘in studio’ producer(s) of a majority of the tracks on the album. Award also goes to appropriately credited music supervisor(s).
The Color Purple — (Various Artists)
Deadpool & Wolverine — (Various Artists)
Maestro: Music By Leonard Bernstein — London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bradley Cooper
Saltburn — (Various Artists)
Twisters: The Album — (Various Artists)
CATEGORY 71
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television)
Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for a current motion picture, television show, or series.
Shōgun — Nick Chuba, Atticus Ross & Leopold Ross, composers
CATEGORY 72
Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media
Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for, or as a companion to, video games and other interactive media.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — Pinar Toprak, composer
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla — Bear McCreary, composer
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 — John Paesano, composer
Star Wars Outlaws — Wilbert Roget, II, composer
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord — Winifred Phillips, composer
CATEGORY 73
Best Song Written For Visual Media
A Songwriter(s) award. For a song (melody & lyrics) written specifically for a motion picture, television, video game or other visual media. Singles or Tracks only.
Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma [From “Twisters: The Album”] — Jessi Alexander, Luke Combs & Jonathan Singleton, songwriters (Luke Combs)
Better Place [From “TROLLS Band Together”] — Amy Allen, Shellback & Justin Timberlake, songwriters (*NSYNC & Justin Timberlake)
Can’t Catch Me Now [From “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”] — Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)
It Never Went Away [From “American Symphony”] — Jon Batiste & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Jon Batiste)
Love Will Survive [From “The Tattooist of Auschwitz”] — Walter Afanasieff, Charlie Midnight, Kara Talve & Hans Zimmer, songwriters (Barbra Streisand)
CATEGORY 74
Best Music Video
Award to the artist, video director, and video producer.
“Tailor Swif” — A$AP Rocky
Vania Heymann & Gal Muggia, video directors
“360” — Charli xcx
Aidan Zamiri, video director; Jami Arceo & Evan Thicke, video producers
“Houdini” — Eminem
Rich Lee, video director; Kathy Angstadt, Lisa Arianna & Justin Diener, video producers
“Not Like Us” — Kendrick Lamar
Dave Free & Kendrick Lamar, video directors; Jack Begert, Sam Canter & Jamie Rabineau, video producers
“Fortnight” — Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone
Taylor Swift, video director; Jil Hardin, video producer
CATEGORY 75
Best Music Film
For concert/performance films or music documentaries. Award to the artist, video director, and video producer.
“American Symphony” — Jon Batiste
Matthew Heineman, video director; Lauren Domino, Matthew Heineman & Joedan Okun, video producers
“June” — (June Carter Cash)
Kristen Vaurio, video director; Josh Matas, Sarah Olson, Jason Owen, Mary Robertson & Kristen Vaurio, video producers
“Kings From Queens” — Run DMC
Kirk Fraser, video director; William H. Masterson III, video producer
“Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple” — Steven Van Zandt
Bill Teck, video director; Robert Cotto, David Fisher & Bill Teck, video producers
“The Greatest Night in Pop” — (Various Artists)
Bao Nguyen, video director; Bruce Eskowitz, George Hencken, Larry Klein, Julia Nottingham, Lionel Richie & Harriet Sternberg, video producers
Field 9: Package, Notes & Historical
CATEGORY 76
Best Recording Package
For the best artistic package of an album.
The Avett Brothers — Jonny Black & Giorgia Sage, art directors (The Avett Brothers)
Baker Hotel — Sarah Dodds & Shauna Dodds, art directors (William Clark Green)
BRAT — Brent David Freaney & Imogene Strauss, art directors (Charli xcx)
F-1 Trillion — Archie Lee Coates IV, Jeffrey Franklin, Blossom Liu, Kylie McMahon & Ana Cecilia Thompson Motta, art directors (Post Malone)
Hounds Of Love The Baskerville Edition — Kate Bush & Albert McIntosh, art directors (Kate Bush)
Jug Band Millionaire — Andrew Wong & Julie Yeh, art directors (The Muddy Basin Ramblers)
Pregnancy, Breakdown, And Disease — Lee Pei-Tzu, art director (iWhoiWhoo)
CATEGORY 77
Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package
For the best package of a special edition album.
Half Living Things — Patrick Galvin, art director (Alpha Wolf)
Hounds Of Love The Boxes Of Lost At Sea — Kate Bush & Albert McIntosh, art directors (Kate Bush)
In Utero — Doug Cunningham & Jason Noto, art directors (Nirvana)
Mind Games — Simon Hilton & Sean Ono Lennon, art directors (John Lennon)
Unsuk Chin — Takahiro Kurashima & Marek Polewski, art directors (Unsuk Chin & Berliner Philharmoniker)
We Blame Chicago — Rebeka Arce & Farbod Kokabi, art directors (90 Day Men)
CATEGORY 78
Best Album Notes
Award to the album notes writer.
After Midnight — Tim Brooks, album notes writer (Ford Dabney’s Syncopated Orchestras)
The Carnegie Hall Concert — Lauren Du Graf, album notes writer (Alice Coltrane)
Centennial — Ricky Riccardi, album notes writer (King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band & Various Artists)
John Culshaw — The Art Of The Producer – The Early Years 1948-55 — Dominic Fyfe, album notes writer (John Culshaw)
SONtrack Original De La Película “Al Son De Beno” — Josh Kun, album notes writer (Various Artists)
CATEGORY 79
Best Historical Album
For historical albums containing reissues or compilations. Award to compilation producers and mastering engineers.
Centennial — Meagan Hennessey & Richard Martin, compilation producers; Richard Martin, mastering engineer (King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band And Various Artists)
Diamonds And Pearls: Super Deluxe Edition — Charles F. Spicer, Jr. & Duane Tudahl, compilation producers; Brad Blackwood & Bernie Grundman, mastering engineers (Prince & The New Power Generation)
Paul Robeson – Voice of Freedom: His Complete Columbia, RCA, HMV, and Victor Recordings — Tom Laskey & Robert Russ, compilation producers; Nancy Conforti & Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Paul Robeson)
Pepito y Paquito — Pepe De Lucía & Javier Doria, compilation producers; Jesús Bola, mastering engineer (Pepe De Lucía And Paco De Lucía)
The Sound Of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording – Super Deluxe Edition) — Mike Matessino & Mark Piro, compilation producers; Steve Genewick & Mike Matessino, mastering engineers (Rodgers & Hammerstein & Julie Andrews)
CATEGORY 80
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
An Engineer’s Award. (Artists’ names appear in parentheses.)
Algorithm — Dernst Emile II, Michael B. Hunter, Stephan Johnson, Rachel Keen, John Kercy, Charles Moniz & Todd Robinson, engineers; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer (Lucky Daye)
Cyan Blue — Jack Emblem, Jack Rochon & Charlotte Day Wilson, engineers; Chris Gehringer, mastering engineer (Charlotte Day Wilson)
Deeper Well — Craig Alvin, Shawn Everett, Mai Leisz, Todd Lombardo, John Rooney, Konrad Snyder & Daniel Tashian, engineers; Greg Calbi, mastering engineer (Kacey Musgraves)
empathogen — Beatriz Artola, Zach Brown, Oscar Cornejo, Chris Greatti & Mitch McCarthy, engineers; Joe La Porta, mastering engineer (WILLOW)
i/o — Tchad Blake, Oli Jacobs, Katie May & Dom Shaw, engineers; Matt Colton, mastering engineer (Peter Gabriel)
Short n’ Sweet — Bryce Bordone, Julian Bunetta, Serban Ghenea, Jeff Gunnell, Oli Jacobs, Ian Kirkpatrick, Jack Manning, Manny Marroquin, John Ryan & Laura Sisk, engineers; Nathan Dantzler & Ruairi O’Flaherty, mastering engineers (Sabrina Carpenter)
CATEGORY 81
Best Engineered Album, Classical
An Engineer’s Award. (Artists’ names appear in parentheses.)
Adams: Girls Of The Golden West — Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, engineers; Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, mastering engineers (John Adams, Daniela Mack, Ryan McKinny, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Los Angeles Master Chorale)
Andres: The Blind Banister — Silas Brown, Doron Schachter & Michael Schwartz, engineers; Matt Colton, mastering engineer (Andrew Cyr, Inbal Segev & Metropolis Ensemble)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7; Bates: Resurrexit — Mark Donahue & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
Clear Voices In The Dark — Daniel Shores, engineer; Daniel Shores, mastering engineer (Matthew Guard & Skylark Vocal Ensemble)
Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina — Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, engineers; Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, mastering engineers (Gustavo Dudamel, María Dueñas, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Los Angeles Master Chorale)
CATEGORY 82
Producer Of The Year, Classical
A Producer’s Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) (S) stands for Single, (T) stands for Track, and (A) stands for Album.
Adams: Girls Of The Golden West (John Adams, Daniela Mack, Ryan McKinny, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, Los Angeles
Philharmonic & Los Angeles Master Chorale) (A)
Messiaen: Des Canyons Aux Étoiles… (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony) (A)
Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina (Gustavo Dudamel, Gabriela Ortiz, María Dueñas, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale) (A)
Elaine Martone
Bartók: String Quartet No.3; Suite From ‘The Miraculous Mandarin‘ (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra) (A)
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, ‘From The New World’; American Suite (Nathalie Stutzmann & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) (A)
Radiance Untethered – The Choral Music Of John Wykoff (Cameron F. Labarr & Missouri State University Chorale) (A)
Field 10: Production, Engineering, Composition & Arrangement
CATEGORY 83
Best Immersive Audio Album
For albums in any genre that provide a new immersive audio experience. Award to the immersive mix engineer, immersive mastering engineer, and immersive producer (if applicable).
Genius Loves Company — Michael Romanowski, Eric Schilling & Herbert Waltl, immersive mix engineers; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; John Burk, immersive producer (Ray Charles With Various Artists)
A Composer’s Award for an original composition (not an adaptation) first released during the Eligibility Year. Singles or Tracks only.
“At Last” — Shelton G. Berg, composer (Shelly Berg)
“Communion” — Christopher Zuar, composer (Christopher Zuar Orchestra)
“I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time” — André 3000, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau & Carlos Niño, composers (André 3000)
“Remembrance” — Chick Corea, composer (Chick Corea & Béla Fleck)
“Strands” — Pascal Le Boeuf, composer (Akropolis Reed Quintet, Pascal Le Boeuf & Christian Euman)CATEGORY 85
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
An Arranger’s Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.
“Baby Elephant Walk – Encore” — Michael League, arranger (Snarky Puppy)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” — Jacob Collier, Tori Kelly & John Legend, arrangers (Jacob Collier Featuring John Legend & Tori Kelly)
“Rhapsody In Blue(Grass)” — Béla Fleck & Ferde Grofé, arrangers (Béla Fleck Featuring Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz & Bryan Sutton)
“Rose Without The Thorns” — Erin Bentlage, Alexander Lloyd Blake, Scott Hoying, A.J. Sealy & Amanda Taylor, arrangers (Scott Hoying Featuring säje & Tonality)
“Stravinsky: The Firebird” — Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)
CATEGORY 88
Best Opera Recording
Award to the conductor, album producer(s), and principal soloists, and to the composer and librettist (if applicable) of a world premiere Opera recording only.
“Adams: Girls Of The Golden West” — John Adams, conductor; Paul Appleby, Julia Bullock, Hye Jung Lee, Daniela Mack, Elliot Madore, Ryan McKinny & Davóne Tines; Dmitriy Lipay, producer (Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Master Chorale)
“Catán: Florencia En El Amazonas” — Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Mario Chang, Michael Chioldi, Greer Grimsley, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Mattia Olivieri, Ailyn Pérez & Gabriella Reyes; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
“Moravec: The Shining” — Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Tristan Hallett, Kelly Kaduce & Edward Parks; Blanton Alspaugh, producer (Kansas City Symphony; Lyric Opera Of Kansas City Chorus)
“Puts: The Hours” — Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming & Kelli O’Hara; David Frost, producer (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
“Saariaho: Adriana Mater” — Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Fleur Barron, Axelle Fanyo, Nicholas Phan & Christopher Purves; Jason O’Connell, producer (San Francisco Symphony; San Francisco Symphony Chorus; Timo Kurkikangas)
CATEGORY 89
Best Choral Performance
Award to the conductor, and to the choral director and/or chorus master where applicable and to the choral organization/ensemble.
“Clear Voices In The Dark” — Matthew Guard, conductor (Carrie Cheron, Nathan Hodgson, Helen Karloski & Clare McNamara; Skylark Vocal Ensemble)
“A Dream So Bright: Choral Music Of Jake Runestad” — Eric Holtan, conductor (Jeffrey Biegel; True Concord Orchestra; True Concord Voices)
“Handel: Israel in Egypt” — Jeannette Sorrell, conductor (Margaret Carpenter Haigh, Daniel Moody, Molly Netter, Jacob Perry & Edward Vogel; Apollo’s Fire; Apollo’s Singers)
“Ochre” — Donald Nally, conductor (The Crossing)
“Sheehan: Akathist” — Elaine Kelly, conductor; Melissa Attebury, Stephen Sands & Benedict Sheehan, chorus masters (Elizabeth Bates, Paul D’Arcy, Tynan Davis, Aine Hakamatsuka, Steven Hrycelak, Helen Karloski, Enrico Lagasca, Edmund Milly, Fotina Naumenko, Neil Netherly, Timothy Parsons, Stephen Sands, Miriam Sheehan & Pamela Terry; Novus NY; Artefact Ensemble, The Choir Of Trinity Wall Street, Downtown Voices & Trinity Youth Chorus)
CATEGORY 90
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Award to the ensemble and conductor if applicable.
“Adams, J.L.: Waves & Particles” — JACK Quartet
“Beethoven For Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97, ‘Archduke'” — Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos & Emanuel Ax
“Rectangles and Circumstance” — Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion
CATEGORY 91
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Award to the instrumental soloist(s) and to the conductor when applicable.
“Akiho: Longing” — Andy Akiho
“Bach: Goldberg Variations” — Víkingur Ólafsson
“Eastman: The Holy Presence Of Joan D’Arc” — Seth Parker Woods; Christopher Rountree, conductor (Wild Up)
“Entourer” — Mak Grgić (Ensemble Dissonance)
“Perry: Concerto For Violin & Orchestra” — Curtis Stewart; James Blachly, conductor (Experiential Orchestra)
CATEGORY 92
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
Award to vocalist(s), collaborative artist(s) (e.g., pianists, conductors), producer(s), and recording engineers/mixers with greater than 50% playing time of new material.
Beyond The Years – Unpublished Songs Of Florence Price — Karen Slack, soloist; Michelle Cann, pianist
A Change Is Gonna Come — Nicholas Phan, soloist; Palaver Strings, ensembles
Award to the artist(s) and to the album producer(s) and engineer(s) of over 50% playing time of the album, and to the composer and librettist (if applicable) with over 50% playing time of a world premiere recording only.
Akiho: BeLonging — Andy Akiho & Imani Winds; Andy Akiho, Sean Dixon & Mark Dover, producers
American Counterpoints — Curtis Stewart; James Blachly, conductor; Blanton Alspaugh, producer
Foss: Symphony No. 1; Renaissance Concerto; Three American Pieces; Ode — JoAnn Falletta, conductor; Bernd Gottinger, producer
Mythologies II — Sangeeta Kaur, Omar Najmi, Hilá Plitmann, Robert Thies & Danaë Xanthe Vlasse; Michael Shapiro, conductor; Jeff Atmajian, Emilio D. Miler, Hai Nguyen, Robert Thies, Danaë Xanthe Vlasse & Kitt Wakeley, producers
A Composer’s Award. (For a contemporary classical composition composed within the last 25 years, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year.) Award to the librettist, if applicable.
Casarrubios: Seven For Solo Cello — Andrea Casarrubios, composer (Andrea Casarrubios)
Lang: Composition As Explanation — David Lang, composer (Eighth Blackbird)
Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina — Gabriela Ortiz, composer (Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Los Angeles Master Chorale)
Saariaho: Adriana Mater — Kaija Saariaho, composer (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Fleur Barron, Nicholas Phan, Christopher Purves, Axelle Fanyo, San Francisco Symphony Chorus & Orchestra)
