Recognizing the impact of video game music, the Recording Academy has created a new GRAMMY Award category: Best Score Music for Video Games and Other Interactive Media. Industry experts discuss what’s next for the billion-dollar video game music market.
|GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2022 – 03:05 p.m
Since the introduction of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, video games have spanned global markets – from massive, online interactive worlds to free smartphone apps. Like music, video games have become an integral part of everyday life, while sound and music are an increasingly important aspect of gaming.
According to a Deloitte survey, 83 percent of Millennials and 87 percent of Gen Zers play some format of video games at least once a week. Fifty-eight percent of adult gamers and 70 percent of teen gamers stated that video games help them stay connected with their friends, make connections, and express themselves. As such, the music within video games is an essential part of a game’s experience and identity.
“Music and games have always been intertwined in my mind,” says Tayler Backman, Sound Designer and Composer at Hyper Hippo. “When I hear the ‘Super Mario 64’ theme, I immediately go back to my childhood and some of my favorite memories playing the game with friends.”
Music helps weave the tapestry that enhances gameplay with “emotion, immersion and story,” adds sound designer and composer David Fairfield. Games can also inspire; longtime gamer Jon Batiste told the Washington Post that he has been influenced by video game music since childhood.
Video games have given a wider platform to established artists and working musicians as well. Consider the relationship between “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” and punk and ska music — the 1999 game introduced those genres to hundreds of thousands of new, young listeners — or the way the “Crazy Taxi” soundtrack introduced Bad Religion and the Offspring. Serj Tankian of System Of A Down contributed to the music for “Metal Hellsinger” while jazz was used in a variety of games.
The connection between video games and music has developed into a massive market that is projected to exceed $200 billion worldwide this year. Recognizing its significant cultural impact, the Recording Academy even created a new category: Best Score Music for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.
Music will continue to evolve, but its fundamentals and relevance will not. “In the beginning, video games reflected global culture. Over the next generation, video games began to influence culture,” says Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive & President of Music at video game company Electronic Arts. “Today, video games have become culture. And their main cultural driver will always be music.”
The Past: Getting Into The Groove
From its inception, video games have maintained a complementary relationship with music. On the same subject : Nerdvana: Nostalgia fills National Video Game Day. However, the way music is used in video games has evolved a lot over the last 40 years (and its genesis can be traced back to the 50s before the first video game even existed).
Early 80s gaming platforms such as the 8-bit Commadore 64 home computer could only produce three notes; while the NES was a vast improvement, its musical output was still very limited. Back then, a developer couldn’t play music and sound effects at the same time. This climate demanded that composer-programmers exercise the full scope of their creativity.
“When video games first started, the composer was often a programmer on the same project. It was a solo effort,” Fairfield says. Working alone has its limits. It is understandable, therefore, that the sound of a game back to its function.
However, the music and sounds of these older games are classic, and have had an undeniable influence on modern music, from EDM to synthwave. Today, game studios have entire departments dedicated to music and sound effects.
“We are now entering a time when technology enables greater collaboration and community. We inspire, push, challenge and encourage each other to greater levels,” Fairfield continues. “Game studios that recognize the value in creative collaboration will find better ways to enable it, and reap the rewards.”
The Present: Getting Into The Game
Video game music has multiple formats and pushes music forward in various ways. “It can be defined as the music composed natively for specific games or artists that activate/integrate themselves into existing games,” notes Mark Rasoul, founder of MARK THE FUTURE and former VP of Marketing for 100 Thieves, a brand and gaming organization. This may interest you : Stevan Sets ‘Crash’ With Purple Phase, Warner Music Deal: Premiere. “Ultimately, it’s important to understand the benefits of three different groups – the game publisher/studio, the musician/artist, and the actual players themselves, each of whom have different POVs, needs, and opportunities.”
The way composers and artists find their way into video game music is somewhat similar to the traditional music industry. Both require working to develop your talent, find your voice, and do your job. But the video game industry also requires a level of technical know-how, as well as knowledge of how sounds work on a digital or virtual platform. These details left the music industry trying to navigate a new landscape.
“Video games have been making waves with new revenue streams for some time,” says Uziel Colón, the former Senior Project Manager, Latin & Music For Visual Media at the Recording Academy, which played a role in the development of the new GRAMMY category. “There are many platforms through which people monetize video games, and the Metaverse brings even more new revenue streams. In the future, video games and music will merge – it’s already happening.”
As the music world catches up to gaming, be prepared to see fascinating innovations – not just in how music is distributed and marketed, but how it’s created and how it interacts with fans.
That said, some aspects of the musical composition will remain the same. It is important for artists to follow what drives them, not to be driven by what to follow. “I think the best way to start is to just spend as much time as you can making music that means something to you and that you’re proud of. How things sound sonically really matters in such a competitive field,” advises composer Jonas. Friedman, who created music for video games such as “Splinterlands” and “Halo: The Fall Of Reach”, as well as many films.
The best way into the industry is preparation; Fairfield suggests that 10,000 hours of learning is a good goal. “That’s about 5 years of full-time employment, or 10 years of part-time evenings and weekends. I started earning my hours in high school with my first [Digital Audio Workstation],” he notes. “Create, fail, learn, fix, and repeat. PUT IN YOUR STUFF. From there, it was evenings and weekends, side projects and tours.”
Any developing and competitive market requires time and knowledge. It’s also important to know the gaming landscape, as well as its various fan bases, because this is also your fan base.
The Present: Global Access
Gaming has a monumental global platform, offering in-game music international recognition that can otherwise take years or decades to cultivate. Read also : Microsoft refutes Sony’s claims that its acquisition of Activision is anti-competitive. According to Deloitte, 34 percent of Gen Z gamers search for the music they hear in games to buy or stream; nearly a quarter share music recommendations with fellow gamers.
“Video games are bigger than the movie and music industries combined,” says Schnur. “And I believe that one of the main reasons is that gaming has never been afraid of technology. We have embraced technology from the very beginning, and often evolved it. Video games are an entertainment medium that is always changing to the consumer. Therefore, the future of that industry is driven solely by the imagination of players.”
With constant improvements in technology, access to music and the ability to create it will also increase. Fairfield believes the ten-plus trend of pervasive music-making technology will only continue.
“This will bring a new pool of talented creators into our industry… The downside of this accessibility is that it will flood the industry with mid-to-low quality content, and potentially drive down prices due to supply and demand (we’ve seen this with Spotify),” he says. “It means that game studios will have a lot of unique talent available to them – once they learn how to analyze the noise – which will lead to some really amazing innovation.”
The Future: AI And Evolution
Gaming is ingrained in Gen Z culture and its earnings are projected to be more than $260 billion by 2025, Rasoul notes. There are more than 2.7 billion current casual gamers worldwide — more than a third of the world’s total population. Consider that number for a second: video games are an almost unparalleled musical platform; it’s like hitting a Konami code to access.
As video game music continues to evolve, there will be many new opportunities. These opportunities have yet to be fully capitalized on in the music industry, but the turnaround has already begun.
“I think it will be a continuation of what we’re seeing now, with more opportunities for game music and composers to be recognized and reach new audiences,” echoes Friedman, adding his enthusiasm for the new GRAMMY category. “That kind of recognition for the artists behind the music, and respect for the industry as a whole, I think is going to become more common.”
Some even believe that musicians will soon prefer to put songs in a video game than movies and television.
“Movies are much more fleeting and momentary. Video games, behaviorally, bring people back, again and again to play,” Rasoul says, claiming that the nature of video games makes them a more dynamic and evergreen platform. “Games update over time, which gives the artist more opportunities to re-engage their music and audience.” With the metaverse peeking its head into the conversation, this interaction has the potential to become even more vibrant, organic and customizable.
In the future, Rasoul strongly believes that musicians will inform gaming. “Artists will simply produce their own game experiences to communicate their music stories, versus needing to partner with an existing title. Development resources are more abundant than ever, and creating their own franchises can produce long-term fan engagement.”
Backman, the composer, agrees, suggesting that mainstream artists can release an album within a video game, or curate a radio station within the game’s universe (as Flying Lotus and others did in “Grand Theft Auto”). “We just saw Dr. Dre in their latest [downloadable content]; your mission involves helping him get his stolen phone back, but you also see him and Anderson .Paak record a song together. I think we’re just going to see more. and more of that kind of fusion of video game music and mainstream artists.”
“I also hope that this means that the more ‘mainstream’ composers – Hans Zimmer, Phillip Glass, Trent Reznor, etc. – will start creating themes for games as well,” Backman continues. “The work that goes into game themes and music is already incredible, but I think our part of the craft of game creation might get a little more notice and prestige if we have an Oscar winner composing the theme for the next ‘Uncharted’ game.”
Video games create new worlds – some familiar, some fantastical – but they all have music. The future of video game music is full of endless possibilities, with the opportunity to tell new stories in different ways, have music interact with fans on a whole new level, and with unprecedented levels of global access.
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With her eighth studio set, Demi Lovato is putting her pop persona to rest in favor of a rock star resurrection.
|GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2022 – 06:41 pm
In January, Demi Lovato held an impromptu funeral for her pop music. After cleaning up her Instagram feed, the singer posted a single photo: a solemn Lovato giving two middle fingers, surrounded by her team all dressed in black, the wall behind them decorated with relics from her past musical eras.
What fans didn’t know at the time was that the impromptu memorial marked the beginning of a new chapter for the two-time GRAMMY nominee, slyly laying the groundwork for her eighth studio album HOLY FVCK. The singer — who recently re-adopted the use of female pronouns in addition to the non-binary “they/them” — would officially announce the full-length in June, after months of teasing lyrics along with sultry Instagram photos showing off her newly cropped tan. buzzcut.
If the album’s cleverly misspelled title and profane cover art are any indication, Lovato seems primed to embrace a new level of sexuality and subversion heretofore unexplored. “I wanted to flip the phrase ‘holy f–k’ on its head. And instead of just saying ‘holy f–k,’ I wanted to write a song that says, ‘I’m a holy f–k,'” she revealed in a July interview with SiriusXM Hits 1 , calling the NSFW title track “definitely a sexually charged song, but it’s really fun.”
Arriving August 19 via Island Records, HOLY FVCK promises to decisively – and fittingly – ignite the pop star Lovato has so painstakingly crafted over the past 11 years. This time, Lovato dives headfirst into the emo-influenced rock that inspired her 2008 debut Don’t Forget and its 2009 follow-up Here We Go Again.
“I went into this album with the intention of separating myself from the music I was making and starting a new journey that was based on the roots of where my music started,” she told Billboard in June. “If you go back into my older catalog — listen to my first album, my second album — [there’s] definitely the pop-rock influence.”
More than just influential, the combination of electric guitars and bright, pop-oriented melodies was actually the basis of Lovato’s brand when she first catapulted to stardom in Camp Rock, the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie in which she starred opposite the Jonas Brothers. Thanks to the star-making power of the Disney machine, her debut album arrived three months later – putting her pop-rock princess identity on full display with effervescent tracks like lead single ‘Get Back’, sassy Hollywood takedown ‘La La Land’ and adoring emo anthem “Don’t Forget.”
Roles in Sonny with a Chance – her own Disney show – and 2009’s Princess Protective Program with then-bestie Selena Gomez soon followed. But it was always Lovato’s magnetic voice and image as the network’s resident rock girl that helped her stand out among a crowded Disney Channel class that included Miley Cyrus, Gomez, the JoBros, Cole and Dylan Sprouse, Emily Osment, Debby Ryan and more.
“I’m the new kid, and that’s how I felt when I got into the whole Selena-Miley-Jonas Brothers thing,” the then-rising star admitted in a 2009 profile for The New York Times when she was just 16 years old. . “Like, OK, where do I fit in? How am I different?”
Of course, Lovato’s musical journey from fresh-faced Disney Channel star to re-christened rocker is inextricably linked to the life-or-death demons she’s faced in the glare of the spotlight. Over the years, she has battled drug and alcohol addiction, very publicly struggled with an eating disorder and mental health struggles, and revealed her painful history of both sexual and family trauma.
The first time the star entered hospital treatment was in 2010 after making headlines for punching a backup dancer in the face on the Camp Rock 2 tour. Although she admitted years later that she started using cocaine at age 17, any mention of drugs and alcohol was kept decidedly vague when Lovato made the requisite press rounds after rehab.
In September 2011—eight months after leaving treatment—Lovato kicked off another album cycle for her third studio set, Unbroken , which found her abandoning the pop-rock of her first two records for a sparse sonic palette rooted in early 2010s R&B. , with shades of electro-pop and soul ballads.
She channeled the fear and trauma of the previous year into the album’s soaring lead single “Skyscraper,” which became her first solo Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. But even as she projected a story of sobriety to her army of Lovatics, the 18th -year-old quickly relapsed and fell back into dangerous old patterns. “I didn’t run my program,” she recounted in her 2017 documentary Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated. “I wasn’t ready to get sober…I either craved drugs or drugs.”
The rest of the singer’s beleaguered history with addiction is well documented at this point – even if, at times, the truth about her drug and alcohol addiction revealed itself much later. In the same documentary, she revealed the fact that she filmed her 2012 MTV documentary Demi Lovato: Stay Strong under the influence of cocaine, all extolling the virtues of her newly sober lifestyle. Soon, an intervention from her management team prompted a drastic course correction, and at 19, Lovato began her first real year of sobriety.
The following year, she leaned even harder toward the pop-centric sound she began exploring with Unbroken on her fourth album, Demi. As its eponymous title indicates, the 2013 effort was meant to be more personal than its predecessor, which meant cutting back on the number of guest features and collaborators to deliver electro-inclined power pop (lead single “Heart Attack”), middle-of-the-road country-pop (“Made in the USA”) and club-ready dance tracks (“Neon Lights”).
By 2015, Lovato had fully established herself as an undisputed pop star with the release of her fifth studio album, Confident. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200—her highest chart entry since Here We Go Again dominated the chart in July 2009—and earned the singer her first-ever GRAMMY nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Album.
In retrospect, however, Lovato admitted that the bold, seductive persona she projected at the time on singles like “Cool for the Summer” and the Max Martin-produced title track — as well as the album’s title itself — was nothing more than a facade.
“I wasn’t confident at all. I had a false confidence because I conformed to everyone else’s ideals,” she admitted to Glamor for the outlet’s April 2021 cover story. “I tried on different identities that felt authentic to me but weren’t me. The super-feminine pop star was an identity that sounded like it fit and looked like it fit, so I put it on as it fit.”
According to her 2021 docu-series Dancing with the Devil, no one in Lovato’s inner circle knew when she secretly relapsed in early 2018 while promoting her sixth album Tell Me You Love Me. Six months later, she was fighting for her life in the intensive care unit of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. overdosed on a deadly combination of opioids laced with fentanyl.
Lovato’s near-fatal ordeal and subsequent recovery hung heavily over the proceedings of her seventh studio set, Dancing with the Devil… the Art of Starting Over (2021). Stand-alone single “Sober” — a heartbreaking confessional ballad she released just a month before the overdose — served as a haunting cry for help ahead of the LP’s arrival, and album tracks like “ICU (Madison’s Lullabye)” and “Dancing with the.” Diablo” reopened the proverbial wound and forced fans not to look away.
However, cut to a year later and, for the moment, Lovato seems to have grown beyond the urge to sit in that same trauma. “Demi leaves rehab again/ When will this end?” she growls in the opening line of HOLY FVCK’s lead single, “SKIN OF MY TEETH.” But rather than setting off a shameful spiral, the world-weary declaration morphs into a hard-charging anthem of survival that’s equal parts rebellious and resolute — indicating she’s celebrating a new lease on life.
Second single “SUBSTANCE” similarly functions as a winking double entendre, flipping the script on what listeners may assume for a more high-minded quest: Lovato gleefully coos, “So I ask myself/’Am I the only one looking for substance?’ / Got high, it just left me lonely and loveless/ Don’t wanna end up in a casket, head full of maggots/ Body full of jack s–t, I get plenty/ Am I just looking for substance?”
That doesn’t mean that SANKTA FVCK deals only in themes of survival and addiction. Before the album’s full unveiling, the singer premiered a few tracks live with a hard-hitting performance at the Illinois State Fair.
Whether tearing through a sexy tour of Los Angeles (“CITY OF ANGELS”), inviting fans into her rock ‘n’ roll circus (“FREAK”) or demanding that they put her status as a role model firmly on the funeral pyre (“EAT ). ME”), Lovato howled like a banshee unleashed — finally letting go of the rocker girl she’s seemingly kept locked away for the past 13 years. It seems the last f-word she had to give was the one she put in her album title.
Take, for example, “29,” a scorched-earth indictment of her six-year relationship with actor Wilmer Valderrama, who she now examines—as the title suggests—from the same age her ex was when their romance began.
“Finally 29/ Funny, just like you were then/ Thought it was a teenage dream, just a fantasy/ But was it yours or mine?” she asks on the chorus. The stark turn is certainly a shock, considering the singer called Valderrama “my everything” in the 2017 documentary. But the song’s damning lyrics explicitly reveal that she’s gained a new, clear perspective — a theme that rings true across many of HOLY FVCK’s 16 songs.
While the album proves to be a major sonic shift, HOLY FVCK ultimately seems to serve two main purposes for Lovato: to represent the truest version of herself as an artist, and to honor how far she’s come on her journey.
“I’ve definitely been through a ton,” she told Jimmy Fallon during a June visit to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “It’s no secret to the world… I came out of treatment [last year], and I realized that I really want to do this for myself and I want to make the best album possible – something that really represents who I am.
“I think the best way to do that — the easiest way to do something, the most authentic — is to do it clean and sober,” she continued. “So I made this album clean and sober. I can’t say that about my last album. But this one I’m really, really proud of.”
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Avalanche Kaito – whose music combines West African grio storytelling with scuzzy noise punk – offers a live performance as imaginative and unexpected as the trio’s musical foundation in this rendition of “Toulele”.
|GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2022 – 05:01 pm
Two very different musical styles and cultural worlds collide in Avalanche Kaito, a trio led by West African griot and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse.
Hailing from Lankoué – a village in the northern region of the West African country of Burkina – Winse is a modern-day griot, carrying forward his country’s tradition of oral storytelling through music. Winse is now based in Brussels, Belgium, and Avalanche Kaito was formed after he met two Brussels-based musicians: guitarist Nico Gritto and drummer/electronic musician Benjamin Chavel.
In this episode of Global Spin, the three artists present a colorful performance of their song “Toulele”, embodying their cross-cultural and wide-ranging musical styles. At the heart of the music is the juxtaposition between an ancient musical narrative style and futuristic sound instrumentation.
The group gathers inside a large, warehouse-style building for their performance, using an elaborately constructed wooden playground as their stage. Each of the three performers gets a turn in the spotlight, with Winse’s vocals giving way to fuzzy, electronic instrumental solos.
In other moments of the trio’s 12-minute performance, Gritto and Chavel take a break from their instruments, allowing Winse a brief a cappella moment. Here, it is easy to imagine the traditions that inspired his musical style, and to contemplate the griot sounds that stretch back through generations and continue to occupy a prominent place in West African culture today.
“Toulele” is one of eight songs on Avalanche Kaito’s self-titled album, which arrives in June 2022. Listen to the album here, watch the band’s full performance above, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Global Spin.
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Anaïs Mitchell has released her first self-titled album two decades into her career – which speaks not only to the vulnerability in it, but her solidifying attempt to make songs with staying power.
|GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2022 – 02:16 pm
Songwriters have compared their craft to every medium under the sun; for Anaïs Mitchell’s purposes, photography will do.
When trying to capture a feeling, she tries to find a shot that’s neither too wide nor too narrow—that “gauzy, beautiful, poetic space where there’s imagery that speaks.” That last word – “speaks” – reminds her of a slightly shaky story.
As the GRAMMY winner recalls backstage at Newport Folk 2022, she once met Canadian songwriter Ferro. “She said, ‘You have to understand that if you say a picture, if you say a word, you call upon a spirit. If you say the word ‘door,’ you invoke the spirit of a door,” Mitchell recalls.
As Ferron elaborated, this meant that Mitchell had to choose her words carefully – so as not to upset the spiritual plane.
“I loved that because I think that’s true,” Mitchell continues. “There’s something about images – it speaks to us that isn’t always through the conscious mind. It speaks to your body and your memory and your senses.” And while Mitchell has been making records for 20 years, this partly explains why she chose to make her first self-titled album – it said it would.
In this interview backstage at Newport Folk 2022, learn about Mitchell’s latest creative moves, her inescapable bond with her bandmates in Bonny Light Horseman, and what musicals and parenting teach her about the elusive art of songwriting.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
What has been your relationship with Newport Folk over the years?
I definitely heard about Newport when I was coming up, even as a historical event – the Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger stuff. It’s this legendary kind of place. I started coming to Newport several years ago; I think the very first time, I went in, played my set and then walked out.
I’ve been back a few times — for my own music, and also with my band, Bonny Light Horseman. I really appreciated how it can be if you spend the whole weekend. How many people you meet, and also the level of collaboration that takes place. It feels less like a festival and more like an artist residency.
Tell the readers about your connection with everyone in Bonny Light Horseman. I’m sure it’s very family oriented.
So, the Bonny Light Horseman trio [includes] Josh Kaufman and Eric D. Johnson. I met Josh when I lived in Brooklyn, and he lived there too. We started messing around with these old types of folk songs from the British Isles.
He said, “Hey, you know who would be great for this music is my friend Eric!” And I just discovered Eric’s band, Fruit Bats, and I really went for it. So, I was like, “Sounds great!” We got together and it felt very intuitive to make music with those guys.
Since then, I did a solo record this past year with Josh and a couple of guys who used to play with Bonny Light Horseman – JT Bates on drums and Mike Lewis on sax and bass. It does feel like the world of Bonny Light has spilled over into my own music and recording world, and I’m so grateful for that.
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I’m sure it feels like you don’t work a day in your life with those guys.
[Laughs.] They’re funny. They are funny. We have a good time. It feels easy, and that’s fun for me. Most of the time I think things are supposed to be hard. I worked on this musical, and it took a decade of my life. I was like, “I’m going to work on this thing every day for however long…”
It’s like the harder you work at something, the better the end result will be.
Isn’t it? It’s not always like that! Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn’t. And then, I think, meeting those guys and falling in love with playing music with them reminded me how it can feel easy and also be good.
You’ve talked about how you “want your songs to walk on their own legs.” What are your techniques for writing a song that can exist apart from you and broadly apply to others?
You know, I did this Pete Seeger tribute the very first night of this festival, and I sang a song that I learned as a kid growing up. Someone taught it to me and sang it to me. I never knew Pete Seeger wrote it; I’ve never heard a recording of him doing it. I love this kind of folk song; it makes its own way around the world.
For me, it’s about finding this sweet spot between what feels intensely personal and true — that you can stand in your shoes and sing — and then also what feels archetypal. Like you’re tapping into something older and younger, you know? Something that could have been sung a hundred years ago, and could be sung a hundred years from now.
That’s what excites me the most when I write — that I can be in the center of that Venn diagram.
I’ve noticed that songs tend to start out a little more general, and then you fill in the details as it rolls along. Is that a conscious form of architecture for you?
I could talk about songwriting for, like, hours [Laughs]. But it’s like a camera lens, right? You get the broad scope, and then the specifics – and then, sometimes, you turn the lens a little too far and it’s a little too specific, and you have to back off.
It is somewhere in the middle, where it is a kind of newspaper, beautiful, poetic space, where there are images that speak – because images speak to us. Something you say you know?
Do you ever write a song and then stop yourself? Like, “This spirit I’m summoning isn’t right now! It’s too raw and spiky!”
I mean, I like raw! This record I made recently is interesting because it’s a self-titled record. It’s the first record I’ve made where all the songs are actually me — the speaker in the songs is me, and the songs are actually from my own life. I don’t take on another character’s voice or story.
Have you had a penchant for this in the past?
I have, yes! Obviously, working on that musical for years and years – that was a grand experiment in that kind of stuff. And I love those things too, but there was something about this record that felt like: How honest can I be? That was the job; that was the task.
Yes. To wear my heart completely on my sleeve and be okay with it. There are some songs that took a really long time to figure out how to write, and I think I had to figure out what was true.
Who are your go-to’s as far as denominational singer/songwriters go? Joni Mitchell is often the first artist people catch, but obviously there are so many.
Well, Joni was definitely a huge influence early on. And then when I came of age musically, when I was in high school, it was the time of Lilith Fair in the 90s. Ani DiFranco was huge [for me], and I was on her record label for years. Tori Amos, you know.
All those women — it’s almost embarrassing how emotional that stuff is, but I really responded to it like a kid. I wanted to emote and express in this way. People come to music for different things. Some people will come to it…
[Laughs] They want to get drunk! They want to dance! And music can help you do that. And some music helps you cry, you know? That’s a thing that music can do, and sometimes, I think that’s part of my job as a songwriter.
Were you particularly in touch with your emotions as a child?
During the times I was growing up, my parents were very good with emotions. I have two children of my own – a 9 year old and a 2 year old. The popular understanding these days is: “See the emotion and validate it!” When I was a child, it was less so. It was like, “Get your s— together, come back to the table and we can talk.”
I think it’s a popular therapeutic tool to just acknowledge and observe the emotion rather than immediately assign meaning to it.
That’s a lifetime’s work right there, to be able to be okay with that.
I love that you did a self-titled record, by the way. That’s a classic choice.
You know, I’ve always wanted to do it! Usually, you do it with your debut record, and I’m now 41. I thought it was fun to do it at this point in my career, but it really felt like, first of all, coming back to songwriting after a long time in my career. the theater world. And secondly, it was so personal and heart-on-sleeve, as I said.
What grades did you give Josh as a producer? I’m sure you wanted the record to pop out a certain way. A certain physical effect, regardless of the content.
You know, I haven’t made a new record in a long time – especially new songs – because I’ve been working on Hadestown, my musical. When the songs started flowing for me again, I didn’t want to look too hard at them. I didn’t want to overthink them.
I remember feeling this way about the record: I have to do this thing now. I didn’t want to get into my head about what record it was; I just wanted to put it down.
So, for Josh, maybe a guiding light wanted to keep the focus on the lyrics and the singing, because they’re very wordy. That’s just my DNA, I guess. Lots of telling stuff. I think he was trying to create a space where that story could shine.
Atmosphere favorable to the feeling.
Yes. A buoyant kind of warmth around the voice that doesn’t necessarily compete with the voice. What I hear on the record is that it sounds very live to me, which was how it was recorded – just us in a room.
That beautiful, organic bleeding between the musicians.
Absolutely! I love mic bleed! You want it to be cooked together.
As a parent, is it a journey to hear music through your children’s ears?
It’s refreshing to hear what my 9 year old is up to. She likes some pop music that catches on with kids, like Imagine Dragons and stuff like that, that I wouldn’t necessarily have been exposed to otherwise. It’s like: These guys know how to write a song.
You can appreciate the craftsmanship. It’s not like it’s poured into CVS, brainwashing you.
Absolutely. And it’s fun trying to turn her on to cool stuff. She likes music that I love because I have been listening to my favorite music non-stop. I just have an insane amount of admiration for that craft.
I only got into them for jazz. Like, “That Rodgers and Hammerstein tune is beautiful. What’s that from?”
What a match made in heaven, Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Speaking of trying to create a song that can travel the world on its own two feet: Before, the way a song went out into the world was through a musical. That’s what the musical theater was for – debuting these classic songs.
So, they were definitely songs that could work in the musical, but they were reusable. You could sing them at a wedding or a funeral and they would work.
What are your favorite pieces of music?
My all time favorite is “Les Miz”. I will never get over that musical, and I’ve seen it many times. It’s so emotional for me, and epic, and political…
What is the best melody? I will check it later.
“On My Own” is a classic. I love many of them — “Lovely Ladies,” “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” I love Sweeney Todd by [Stephen] Sondheim.
I know, right? I got tickets for my 9 year old and I to see “Into the Woods” which is in revival on Broadway right now. I am very excited. But I tend to like sung musicals where there is no book scene. and then a song — where it’s all sung. I love the trance you can get into with that kind of show.
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In her debut EP, Bella Poarch transforms from viral TikTok star to dark-pop queen — and most importantly, she finally tells her truth.
|GRAMMYs/Aug 15, 2022 – 8:30 p.m
When the world was first introduced to Bella Poarch in 2020, she was a viral TikToker without anyone hearing her voice. Poarch’s lip-synching videos (and undeniable charisma) quickly gained a following that exceeds 90 million, making her the third most followed star on TikTok and the top Asian American influencer in the world.
Now Poarch is ready to take her success beyond TikTok — and let her voice be heard.
The young Filipino star introduces a new persona as a dark-pop singer with her first EP, Dolls. The six-song project — which features her empowering debut single “Build a B—” — explores a spectrum of raw emotions as Bella continues to reveal her true self to fans.
As Poarch explained to GRAMMY.com, Dolls is a look into the ups and downs of her life. In songs like “Living Hell”, she reveals the difficulties she endured growing up; in others like the furious title track, she shows off her creativity while also flexing her strength. It’s clear that Poarch has a unique vision that resonates with many, and a goal to create an outlet for young women who can see themselves in her story.
In a candid conversation on Zoom, Poarch got real about her journey to stardom, the inspiration behind her first project, and why she wants to provide much-needed representation for fellow Filipinos.
Before you were a TikTok star, you served in the military, and you’ve been open about having a difficult childhood. So you’ve kind of lived a lot of lives, haven’t you? Do you think you’ve reinvented yourself at all? And how has your past influenced the music you make now?
Growing up in the Philippines and switching to a completely different country taught me a lot. And also pushing me to join the military taught me a lot. I did live different lives. But I was still the same when it came to being hopeful and just like, manifesting good things in my life.
It also taught me to be less anxious, because I was very anxious as a child. I really didn’t speak. My parents did not allow me to speak whenever I wanted to. Now that I am able to create music and talk about my feelings, I am happy to be able to share my thoughts and express myself – and to be able to help other people – through my music.
This is your first EP, and a lot of your singles are mostly about confidence. Is this a topic important to you?
Yes, because I struggle with confidence myself. I am a very shy person sometimes. And I guess it all depends on what I wear and how I look on a given day. Like, you know, if I had my pigtails, I’m 100 percent more confident than if I just had my hair down.
How did you get into that hairstyle?
Hatsune Miku. She is a Vocaloid. She is an anime. I got a lot of inspiration from anime.
That’s cool. So is it like an alter ego?
“Build A B—” had a pretty huge debut. Did you feel any pressure after that, and how did its success affect you?
I was really shocked that people liked it. And I was like, “Wow, I’m very proud of myself.” Because it was really hard to figure out what the first song I wanted to release. And it was very important to me. I was like, “Uh, do I really want to [release a song called] ‘Build A B—?'” Like…yeah. [Laughs.]
There was a lot of going back and forth. I was really happy that my fans love it.
What is the story behind “Living Hell” and its music video?
The music video takes a lot of inspiration from my childhood room and how I struggle to escape it. And now I struggle to escape my childhood trauma.
I was very open about it with social media and it helped me a lot. It’s hard for me to express my feelings. But it has also helped other people who struggle to express themselves.
The room in the music video is yellow — everything is yellow. It’s because I grew up in a yellow bedroom with yellow curtains and yellow tile floors. And I was basically forced into that color. My parents were like, “You’re going to love this color. This is your room color.” And I feel like they’re showing me that they have the power.
Over time, growing up in that room, I learned to love it because it’s a happy color. Sorry, I’m getting emotional.
There is a lot of symbolism in the music video. I think I’ll explain what it means later. But when people see it at first, they’re probably confused because they don’t really know the inspiration for it — I’m escaping from my childhood trauma. When you see that music video without that context, you’re just like, “Wow, this is art!” But when you really see the full meaning of it, it leads you to a different perspective.
What was your inspiration for making this whole EP? Obviously there are songs that are a bit emotional, but there are also songs that are more cheerful. How does it all come together?
I think what inspired me the most and doing that is talking. Even [in] my journey with TikTok, I didn’t speak for a whole year — no one knew what I sounded like. And so they were all like, “Oh,” when I started talking. They were like, “Wait, she’s talking?”
Me releasing music and releasing this EP is me coming out and saying, “I have a voice, and the messages of my songs are very important to me because it’s my story and it’s me expressing myself.”
What does being a Filipino American talent mean to you now? I know that traditionally there hasn’t been much representation, at least in the US.
I am so proud that I can represent the Philippines myself. And, you know, like, Olivia Rodrigo – I love her.
I’m so happy whenever I hear that someone is Filipino because I’m like, “Wow, family!” [Laughs.] Because when I was in the Philippines, living there for 14 years of my life, I really didn’t have anyone to look up to on the music side of things — when it comes to things like being a singer and being an artist. There was not much Filipino representation there. Except Lea Salonga. She sang “Reflection” in the movie Mulan, the very first one. And so she was really the only one I looked at.
I know you are invested in uplifting the AAPI community, and you were named to the 2022 Gold House A100 list. Are there any actions you take to support the community? Or is it simply you being yourself and being a Filipino that makes a difference?
Yeah, I think just embracing the community — being me, and just doing my best in everything I do.
Do you have new goals or something you haven’t accomplished yet that you’re working on now?
Performing live. I haven’t performed live yet.
Is there a tour in the works, or is it just something you want to do eventually?
I think we’re thinking of doing a tour.
I will return to the Philippines soon.
Yes – it’s been 10 years [since I] saw my country.
Are you planning anything fun, or are you just going to go with the flow?
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Is Mark Zuckerberg stuck in metaverse?
Held in the Meta CEO’s lab, sources who witnessed the test claim that Mark Zuckerberg captured the seven test subjects within his Metaverse. By taping Oculus Quest 2 headsets to the test subjects’ faces, all seven employees were kept in virtual reality for six days and six nights.
Is Mark Zuckerberg working on a metaverse? Zuckerberg is focused on creating a more realistic Metaverse, from hand movements, to being able to make eye contact digitally. One of the greatest achievements of VR is how accessible it has become. While you once needed to be plugged into a computer, now a VR set can be powered by a microchip.
What did Mark Zuckerberg said about metaverse?
It all started in June 2021, when Zuckerberg announced that the future of his company would go far beyond the current setup. He claimed that Facebook would strive to build a set of interconnected experiences straight out of the science fiction world – which has been dubbed as a metaverse.
How close are we to the metaverse?
With 5G technology advancements, we’ll continue to see more untethered headphones that you can use when you’re on the move, without the limitations of Wi-Fi connections. Apple is currently working on an AR/VR headset that could be released in 2022 or 2023.
Does anyone want the metaverse?
Of 17,650 people who answered my survey, 64.5% said no, they would not regularly use a Ready Player One-style metaverse. Less than 20% said they would. It wasn’t the most scientific poll, but it matches what I’ve seen and heard anecdotally.
Does anyone actually use Meta? Meta sold 8.7 million Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headsets in 2021 according to the International Data Corporation, so clearly people are more interested in the technology than ever before.
What is the point of the metaverse?
In the broadest terms, the metaverse is understood as a graphically rich virtual space, with some verisimilitude, where people can work, play, shop, socialize – in short, do what people like to do together in real life (or, perhaps more to the point, on the internet).
Is everyone going to live in the metaverse?
The technologies are not yet advanced enough to make a full version of the metaverse, but Meta Platforms predicts that they will be within 5 to 15 years from now. A kind of complete metaverse could therefore arrive between 2025 and 2035.
Can you do anything you want in the metaverse?
The Metaverse allows users to interact with products in a way that is not possible through e-commerce or online stores. Someone’s avatar can enter a virtual store, walk the aisles, try on products like clothes or shoes, and pay directly in cryptocurrency.
How will the metaverse change the music industry?
Artists Open Direct Connections to Fans One of the biggest trends when it comes to music and the metaverse that was highlighted by all the panelists is that artists are leading the way to this new frontier for the industry and creating new revenue streams. directly from their fans.
How will the metaverse change our lives? Seven ways the metaverse will affect our lives include business, communication, education, entertainment, gaming, travel, and real estate. Every sector will be virtualized, creating new opportunities, accelerated results and a new virtual economy.
What changes will the metaverse bring?
The 2D Internet we all use today will be replaced by a 3D, fully immersive digital world Internet. The metaverse will change how we learn, how we earn our livings, and how we connect to each other, just as the advent of the 2D Internet did in 1995. The metaverse evolves from the gaming world.
Is there music in the metaverse?
The technological possibilities for bringing music into the virtual world seem endless; all that’s missing is an artist-driven breakout moment.
Who is creating the metaverse?
NVIDIA. No surprise for one of the most well-known names in the gaming industry, NVIDIA is one of the most important companies handling the Metaverse market. It runs a tool called Omniverse, designed to create interoperable Metaverse-ready materials.
Who created the Crypto metaverse? Neal Stephenson, the author who coined the term âMetaverseâ 30 years ago, is launching a metaverse-focused blockchain project called LAMINA1.
Did Mark Zuckerberg create metaverse?
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, has revealed his vision for the future of the Metaverse. The company formerly known as Facebook was founded in 2004. Last year, it changed its name to Meta and announced its vision for the digital world.
Who owns metaverse?
Roblox Corporation is focused on building a Metaverse creator economy while offering an open gaming platform to let players create their own digital and interactive worlds.
Who is the CEO of the metaverse?
“There are big risks, but potentially big rewards,†Janine Yorio, CEO of metaverse investor and advisory firm Republic Realm, told CNBC in February.
