Call it Tumblr revival or post-quarantine activation, but this year saw plenty of established alternative and indie rock musicians make highly anticipated returns with fresh albums.

Of that set, plenty were recognized in the 2023 GRAMMY Awards’ inaugural award for Best Alternative Music Performance. Arctic Monkeys’ orchestral single “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball," Florence + The Machine’s triumphant "King," and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' first song in nearly a decade, "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World," featuring Perfume Genius, are all up for the trophy.

These long standing musicians are joined in the category by two acts who more recently got their breakthrough moment: Big Thief, who was recognized for their folksy track, “Certainty,” and Wet Leg, who is up for their viral hit, "Chaise Longue.”

The 2022 Best Alternative Music Performance, which aims to honor and uplift the alternative genre, is just one of the new categories that have been introduced for the 2023 GRAMMY Awards. It will exist in tandem with the Best Alternative Music Album category — which was established in 1958 and was referred to Best Alternative Music Performance in 1991, and from 1994 to 1999. 

Having both categories will provide more opportunities for the Recording Academy to recognize the diverse communities of musicians and creators who work in the alternative genre. 

Read on to learn more about the nominees ahead of the 2023 GRAMMY Awards ceremony, taking place Feb. 5 at Los Angeles’ Crypto Arena. 

Read the full list of nominees for the 2023 GRAMMY Awards here.

Arctic Monkeys — "There'd Better Be A Mirrorball"

To follow-up their loungey, high-concept 2018 record Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, Arctic Monkeys returned in 2022 with The Car. Their seventh studio album folds in elements of jazz, traditional pop, and flourishing film soundtracks.

The album’s opening track, "There’d Better Be A Mirrorball" begins with a passage of elegant strings and piano that sets the tone for the rest of the project. Frontman Alex Turner told Variety that the song was specifically influenced by Nat "King" Cole’s 1963 ballad "Where Did Everyone Go?"

Founded in 2002, the indie rock band from Sheffield, England has received six total career GRAMMY nominations. They were first recognized in 2006 when their debut record, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album.

Big Thief — "Certainty"

On "Certainty," Big Thief vocalist and songwriter Adrianne Lenker describes a devotion that fluctuates like a sine wave. "Maybe I love you is a river so high / Maybe I love you is a river so low," she sings.

The stripped-down song is one of 20 that appear on the indie rock band’s sprawling fifth studio album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe You. It follows the four piece's 2019 albums U.F.O.F. and Not, which have both previously received GRAMMY nods. 

While making Dragon, Lenker said she was becoming more fearless as a writer. "I definitely had a desire for things to be complex: Is this chord progression too simple? Is this lyric too simple? Is this cliche? Is this corny?," she told Pitchfork. "I feel less of that noise in my head, and more of just, 'This is what I want to sing.'" 

Florence + The Machine — "King"

"I’m no mother / I am no bride / I am king," Florence Welch repeats like a mantra on her determined pop-rock anthem "King." It marks Florence + the Machine’s seventh GRAMMY nomination since they broke out in 2009.

Written and produced by Welch and Jack Antonoff, the song captures the English artist's sudden "tearing of [her] identity and [her] desires," according to a statement. Though Welch never used to think much of her gender, being a woman in her 30s has brought upon a realization: "To be a performer, but also to want a family might not be as simple for me as it is for my male counterparts." 

"King" appears on the band’s fifth studio album, Dance Fever, which was partly inspired by the work of Iggy Pop and choreomania — a Medieval social phenomenon where groups of people danced erratically. 

Wet Leg — "Chaise Longue" 

"Chaise Longue," the debut breakout single from Wet Leg, marks the British indie rock act’s first GRAMMY nomination.

The energetic song went viral for its tongue-in-cheek lyrics that allude to academic life ("I went to college and I got the big D") and the 2004 film Mean Girls ("Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin"), bringing the duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers into new visibility.

In a Rolling Stone interview, Teasdale said Wet Leg weren't "making a conscious effort to write anything," and that "Chaise Lounge" came from "that 13-year-old girl sleepover head space."  The song leads their self-titled first album, which debuted at No. 1 on the UK charts only two years after Teasdale and Chambers decided to become a musical duo. 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs feat.  Perfume Genius — "Spitting Off the Edge of the World"

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs returned this year with their first song in nine years: "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World," an insurgent indie rock track that confronts the climate crisis.

Produced by longtime collaborator Dave Sistek of TV on the Radio, the song is a duet between frontwoman Karen O and Perfume Genius that is equal parts vulnerable and resolute. "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World" was the lead single from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ long-awaited fifth studio album Cool It Down.

First breaking out in 2000, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have received three previous nominations for Best Alternative Music Album: 2003’s Fever to Tell, 2006’s Show Your Bones, and 2009’s It’s Blitz!

Where & How To Watch The 2023 GRAMMY Nominations

"All’s fair in love and poetry," Taylor Swift declared when she announced her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, at the 66th GRAMMY Awards. 

Taken from the proverb "All’s fair in love and war," the pop phenom gave us a fair warning: there’s no limit to what she’ll go through to achieve her ends. 

On the freshly released The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift has a few things to get off her chest — so much that it required a surprise second record, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, adding an additional 15 songs. The sprawling album is a masterclass in songwriting and so personal that it's analogous to performing a post mortem autopsy; The musical shapeshifter is here to exhume the tortured poets of her past and make peace with them. 

In an Instagram post, Swift called the record an anthology that reflects "events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time - one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure." With the release of Tortured Poets, "there is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed…our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page." 

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Describing Swift’s work as a collection of tracks about boys and break-ups has always felt underbaked and disingenuous, but much of The Tortured Poets Department is just that. In true Swiftian fashion, she plays on preconceived theories, opting to toy with the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — after a break-up, bringing listeners along on a peregrination exploring the depths of her relationships and personal growth. 

Analyzing her feelings to craft songs is muscle memory at this point, but with every release Taylor Swift somehow does so with a refreshed and reimagined perspective. The stories she shares with her fans in TTPD might’ve made her feel like she died, but she’s a revenant no longer tortured by the whims and words of other poets.

With The Tortured Poets Department open for business, read on for five key points to consider when listening to Taylor Swift’s new album.

It's Much More Than A Break-Up Record

Although the record orbits around a break-up, The Tortured Poets Department demonstrates Swift's ability to shapeshift as a songwriter. A song about a break-up is layered, typically forcing Swift to unveil her own flaws while wearing her broken heart on her sleeve.

The fifth track on a Taylor Swift album is typically the most emotionally cutting, and "So Long London" is no exception. On the standout track, Swift views the loss of her lover and the breakdown of her relationship to Joe Alwyn through the lens of the city they once shared together. It’s a cathartic release for Swift who point-blank notes the pain they inflicted upon her and how, in turn, they ended up just as heartbroken as she is. 

The high-spirited "Down Bad" and subdued "The Smallest Man in The World" are two sides of the same coin. The former is hopeful that a love could be reignited, whereas the latter sees Swift at her grittiest, pointing the finger at her former lover. "Smallest" poses a series of questions, accusing her ex of being a spy who only wanted to get intel on her.

On piano ode "loml," Swift looks back at the "get-love-quick" schemes she first wrote about in "Why She Disappeared," a poem for reputation. The poem originally considered the death of her reputation and how its aftermath made her stronger while she was simultaneously nursing a new relationship. 

The track has a similar energy to fan favorite "All Too Well," but is even more accusatory — seemingly unlocking another level of her songwriting prowess as she teeters between seething rage and mourning with lines about picking through a "braid of lies" spewed by a partner who "claimed he was a lion" but is really a coward. While Swift is honest about never feeling a loss so deeply, she maturely accepts that the effort she put into keeping the relationship afloat was all she could do. It’s distinctly different from the battles she bravely fought in "The Great War," "Daylight" and "long story short."

She's Grappling With Fame & Owning Her Choices

That Taylor Swift struggles with her own celebrity and the public's perception is nothing new. On reputation’s album prologue, she stated, "We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us." 

On The Tortured Poets Department, Swift has never been more honest about her feelings towards those who claim to know better than she does. On "But Daddy I Love Him," she doubles down on these frustrations, taking aim at self-righteous "vipers" and "judgmental creeps" who condemn her choice of a lover. Swift holds nothing back, declaring "I'll tell you something about my good name/It's mine alone to disgrace."

Swift stated that her life sometimes feels like a public autopsy with people psychoanalyzing her every thought and feeling. Following the release of Midnights and her larger-than-life Eras Tour, Swift’s been in her "glittering prime" despite experiencing her long-term relationship ending and the media hysteria around it would make anyone feel the opposite. "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart" confirms fans' theories that the GRAMMY winner was indeed putting on a brave face.  

On "Clara Bow" — a song named for the silent film actress whose public life was so scrutinized that she admitted herself into a sanatorium — Swift sings "Beauty is a beast that roars/Down on all fours/Demanding, 'More.'" Again, Swift plays with the double-edged sword of fame, comparing herself to a performing circus animal — something she sings about in "Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?" 

Taylor Swift Gets By With A Little Help From Her Friends

Swift has always looked up to and honored the greats in her music and art, and Tortured Poets is no exception. She recruits rock icon and songwriter Stevie Nicks to help build TTPD’s world, and Nicks penned a poem featured in Swift’s physical album. Written in Texas, the poem is "For T and me..." and tells the tale of two ill-fated lovers. (Swift also namedrops Nicks in "Clara Bow," touching on the comparisons made between Clara, Nicks and herself.)

There are two additional guest appearances on TTPD: Post Malone appears on "Fortnight" and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine is featured on "Florida!!!" (a surprisingly toned-down lead single). Swift particularly shines when paired with Welch, and the soaring "Florida!!!" sees their intertwined vocals creating a sound as infectious as the "drug" they sing about.

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan inspired Swift on "cardigan" ("Tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy") but now the Lost Boy gets his own track on The Anthology’s "Peter." The ever-inquisitive Swift pleads, "You said you were gonna grow up/Then you were gonna come find me" and confronts this man who wouldn’t grow up. She even puts herself in the shoes of Wendy who waited for Peter Pan to return but has grown tired of waiting.

TTPS Is All Quill And Fountain Pen Songs

A few years ago, Taylor Swift categorized her songwriting according to three writing devices: glitter gel pens for fun tracks, fountain pens for songs using modern imagery and lyrics, and quill pens for tracks with flowery, figurative language. Although devoid of the glittery gel pen songs that comprise many of Swift's hits, TTPD and its accompanying anthology are steeped in fountain and quill writing. 

Most of The Tortured Poets Department are fountain pen tracks — thanks to 2024 Producer Of The Year Jack Antonoff’s sleek pop production and synth use. Tracks like "Fresh Out The Slammer" and "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" are sharp, snappy, tongue-in-cheek tales of love affairs about to begin and coming to an end with the same sonic exuberance of past Swift & Antonoff songs, like "Out of the Woods" and "Getaway Car."

Tracks on The Anthology, mostly produced by Aaron Dessner, are stripped-back, folk-tinged quill songs brimming with sorrow and harrowing thematics and dives even deeper into her chaotic psyche. "The Prophecy" sees Swift beg to change a prophecy that has been laid out ahead of her — likely stemming from the pressure of being a global superstar when all she wants is to be loved.

This Is The End Of An Era (Or A Chapter)

To her occasional disdain, Swift's highly personal songwriting has created a global obsession with her inner life.  Although she's tired of the "public autopsy," Tortured Poets offers her time to reflect on the "events, opinions, and sentiments" over a time that was equal parts transient and transformative. 

From her growth from the country-twanged teen singer on her self-titled debut to woman who is fearless in her pursuit of happiness, love, and peace, Swift has transformed time and time again. By viewing her work in eras — or, in this case, a chapter in a book of her life — it’s clear that Swift sees this current chapter of her life coming to a close, turning the last page and no longer longing to look back. 

One could argue that Swift is an unreliable narrator, only ever presenting her side of the story. But she says that while considering the pain described on TTPS, many now-healed wounds turned out to be self-inflicted. With these stories immortalized, Taylor Swift has spoken her saddest story and is now "free of it." The tortured poets and poems will no longer take up space in this next chapter of her life.

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift's Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

We’ll be wandering through this Department for the foreseeable future.

Not only has Taylor Swift unleashed an absolute maelstrom with her 16-song new album, The Tortured Poets Department; she’s dropped a whopping 15 additional tracks via its expanded version, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.

Clearly, there’s an absolute treasure trove here — for Swifties and the merely Swift-curious alike. A mostly downbeat and discursive affair, The Tortured Poets Department feels like the shadow cast by the gilded, giddy, exhilarating Eras Tour, which isn’t over yet. (Which makes all the sense in the world, as she was simultaneously chipping away at the album while crisscrossing the globe.)

If you’re reading this, you’re probably bracing yourself for this long, solemn, darkly funny journey. Don’t go alone: here’s a brief breakdown of what you should know going in. (And keep checking GRAMMY.com, as there’s plenty more Taylor and Tortured Poets coming your way.)

The Tracklisting

As previously reported, here’s the standard tracklist for The Tortured Poets Department:

Side A
"Fortnight" (feat. Post Malone)
"The Tortured Poets Department"
"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"
"Down Bad"

**Side B**
"So Long, London"
"But Daddy I Love Him"
"Fresh Out the Slammer"
"Florida!!!" (feat. Florence + the Machine)

**Side C**
"Guilty As Sin?"
"Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?"
"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)"
"Loml"

**Side D**
"I Can Do It With a Broken Heart"
"The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived"
"The Alchemy"
"Clara Bow"

The Expanded Tracklisting

Aside from The Black Dog Edition, The Albatross Edition, The Bolter Edition, and The Manuscript Edition — which consist of the standard edition of the album with its titular bonus track — here are the additional tracks that complete The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.

"The Black Dog"

"Imgonnagetyouback"

"The Albatross"

"Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus"

"How Did It End?"

"So High School"

"I Hate It Here"
"thanK you aIMee"

"I Look In People’s Windows"

"The Prophecy"
"Cassandra"
"Peter"
"The Bolter"
"Robin"

"The Manuscript"

The Guests

Physical copies of The Tortured Poets Department feature an original poem by the one and only Stevie Nicks.

Titled "For T and me…," the poem starts off with "He was in love with her / Or at least she thought so / She was brokenhearted / Maybe he was too." It goes on to trace a doomed relationship — one party being "way too hot to handle" and the other "way too high to try."

Elsewhere, Post Malone lends a haunting vocal to opener and lead single "Fortnight," and Florence + the Machine elevate "Florida!!!".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiqoZyauhdA

The lion’s share of the album was produced by Jack Antonoff; Aaron Dessner handled a handful of tunes on the standard edition and the majority of The Anthology.

The Easter Eggs

Where do we begin? For starters, most of the songs seem to be directed at ex Matty Healy of the 1975, but Joe Alwyn and Travis Kelce seem to pop up here and there as well.

In the title track, Swift describes embracing the "cyclone" of a relationship with a partner akin to a "tattooed golden retriever." And they’d be remiss to compare themselves to Patti Smith or Dylan Thomas or any other famously tortured poet of the 20th century: "We’re modern idiots… we’re two idiots."

Elsewhere, Lucy Dacus of boygenius — and Antonoff himself — pop up ("But you tell Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave / And I had said that to Jack about you / So I felt seen").

Far be it from us to speculate on exact subjects, but there are shades of depression ("You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days"), a betrothal that wasn’t to be ("You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? / I died on the altar waiting for the proof") and the racket of fame ("The circus life made me mean").

As usual, Swift has dumped puzzle pieces on the carpet — daring her ardent, global fanbase to start at the edges and work their way to the center. But never to this degree, across such an ocean of material.

Tortured poets — and those who fall in love with them — assemble!

Songbook: An Era-By-Era Breakdown Of Taylor Swift’s Journey From Country Starlet To Pop Phenomenon

Mannequin Pussy’s musical and lyrical charge is raucous, raw, angry and jangly, yet leavened with angelic choruses and delightfully impious asides — and that’s just I Got Heaven’s first song. 

From its opening track, the Philadelphia quartet's new album is redolent of riot grrrl fervor. The 10 tracks of I Got Heaven, out March 1, are laced with industrial intensity ("Of Her"), pretty and propulsive punky power pop ("Nothing Like'') and moshable speed metal duets ("OK? OK! OK? OK!").  

Founded by singer/guitarist Marisa Dabice in 2010, the quartet of Colins "Bear" Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums) and Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), Mannequin Pussy are proof that rock’s not dead. In fact, it’s being created by smart, conscious women (and one man) whose creativity is unfettered, living proof of goals that include inclusion, change and connection. And a hefty dose of raw power. 

I Got Heaven is the group's fourth album, and their second LP for Epitaph Records; it follows 2019’s Patience, and the 2021 EP Perfect. Years of DIY dues-paying have culminated in what may be a breakthrough that uplifts the quartet from scrappy indie darlings to a serious, multi-faceted rock band to be reckoned with. 

Dabice, who spoke to GRAMMY.com from her Philly home, might agree. "It's been beautiful to see the progression of this band and how much it means to people; how much it means for them to feel like they have a cathartic place to put their emotions and to feel things deeply and think critically about things and to challenge things," she says.

Post-meditation and drinking tea on a recent Thursday morning, Dabice is in the calm before the storm. A few years of sobriety, self-reflection and the catharsis of playing and songwriting finds her both self-possessed and excited as Mannequin Pussy launch their third tour April 4, with more than 20 sold out shows through May. 

As the conversation ranges from her fondness for Park Chan-wook movies to feeling part of an "iconic collective, an awakening" to working on lyrics in a 24 hour Korean spa, Dabice shares that she feels "like this is the best work we've ever done." 

The title track, "I Got Heaven," kicks off the record with such a massive punch of energy and power, it made me want to instantly join your band. Growing up, what artist or record did that for you?  

I think I've been fortunate to experience that quite a few times. As soon as you asked that question, I got the vision of watching the music video for "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on MTV, I must have been 13 or 14. It's such a beautiful piece of cinematic history, it bridges the gap between Yes, it's a music video, but it also makes you feel so intensely emotional because of the song and because of her performance.

Everything about that song is just like what is so phenomenal about being in a band. When you listen to a song, and you can hear it for the collaborations that went into it. There's that drumbeat you can isolate in your mind, that guitar arpeggiation that you can hear in your head, and then Karen O’s vocals on top. You can isolate, individually, how exciting each moment of that song is. That to me is what's so exciting about being in a band.

So you always knew you could sing and wanted to be a front person?

No, no, I definitely never thought I could sing. Never wanted to sing. I think even when Mannequin Pussy started, I was just screaming, but I was more like singing as a placeholder. I was [thinking], someone else will come along. 

Then, I could just play guitar and write songs, and then they can sing them. I wanted to write music; that was the thing that really propelled me and motivated me.

Did you audition any potential singers?

That never really happened. But our bass player, he also contributes vocals. So I do have someone whose voice I love for when a song doesn't feel right for my voice. We like to call it "hardcore duets," where we're both singing on a track.

**That works so well on "OK? OK! OK? OK!" which is one of my favorites on I Got Heaven. Was it initially written to be a duet?**  

It was a bit of happenstance, but I've always just loved the way that two voices on a song can really kind of elevate the emotionality, where it can feel as though you are just dropping in on a conversation that maybe you shouldn't be eavesdropping on. Or you have this kind of bystander effect of listening to the way these two voices interact with each other. 

How did that song begin?  

We started writing in Philadelphia, all at our practice space together. I was on the microphone, and I had had that, "okay, okay" in my brain for a few months, actually.  I'm very East Coast, but I liked this Valley Girl tough affectation. I had a voice memo for it. 

I did that "okay okay" and then [our drummer Kaylene] immediately started playing this epic drumbeat. Maxine and Bear were in the other corner watching her play drums and me do this vocal affectation as a top line thing and they filled in the spaces with guitar and bass. 

You don't usually start a song that way, right? We all had this thing that we were pouring into it. The more I looked at Bear, it was like what I'm doing is akin to an ad lib or hype man, or like this  character that should just kind of like step back and allow you to take the full breadth of the song.

It's called playing music for a reason. You're having fun, and you're playing around with different ideas and shapes and sonic textures. It was a very fun day for us doing something that felt silly, but we were all very excited by it.

That said, I’m sure there were times when creating this record wasn’t as fun?  

I mean, I cried for sure while we were making this record, during every record. Producers are really an incredible combination of roles. They're not only a tastemaker, and an engineer and someone who's there to capture and elevate, they also really take on a dynamic of kind of being a therapist and a friend to you in those dark days where you don't really know, when you get a little lost in the weeds.

Any creative person understands what it feels like to be that moment where you're too deeply in something; you need to step out into the macro in order to be able to hear the record fully and know where you're going.

I definitely had a day where I cried to [producer] John Congleton. It was like, "I don't know if this is like any f—king good. I feel insecure about it." It's also that I feel like everyone around me is so talented. And, sometimes you're like, Am I bringing enough to this? John was really wonderful. We were all in a moment of intense financial struggle. We hadn't been on tour in a long time, so money was tough. It was a combination of a lot of stresses, kind of overwhelming. So yes, sometimes it's so much fun. Other times you're crying, wondering if it's all shit.  

This is your first time working with John as a producer. Why him?

John approached us, which I love. I’m a big believer in being courted. I don't want to be out there sending flowers! John called Brett Guerwitz, the founder of Epitaph Records, I guess they were friends. Brett called me, probably mid-2021. I looked [John] up. I was like, "Oh, I definitely know this guy. He's worked on some records I f—ing love." 

Brett's never the type of person to tell us what we should be doing with our art, but he said, "I really want you to meet him and see if there's a creative vibe between you. I think this is the record that you guys should leave Philly for and do a destination record in L.A. and just really be in it."

We were fortunate enough at that point to have the support of Epitaph.

I loved the way that John spoke about music, I love his philosophy toward music. I felt like we would be in good hands, and that we would be finding the right collaborator for this. Because what a good producer does is kind of become a temporary member of the band. A band is a combination of collaborative creative energies, and as a producer, you're being invited into that world we built between us. It was really important to find someone who would mesh with our sensibilities, and our humor and our outlook and also be in a place to teach us new things and show us new things.

I read an article where you talked about I Got Heaven as having a "pervasive feeling of longing and horniness to it." Can you comment on that vibe?

As much as we joke around we are quite serious. But I think that [with] a band name like ours, for some people, that's never going to be something they can take seriously. I think that's also a reflection of the way that we see things as being inherently feminine, perhaps, or attached to the feminine or things that are not worth real time attention or recognition. But that's a totally separate conversation!

We’re very serious, yet we wanted to make a record that really felt a bit overly amorous, horny, and lustful, because that's kind of where a lot of us in the band were. We had all these jokes about lust and desire and everything because we were traveling so much on tour. Three of us in the band all experienced breakups around the same time. It led us all into a really deep solitude period of healing, where we all kind of took two years off from dating. Really separating ourselves completely and really putting ourselves into the work.

I think creative work requires the practice of solitude. That was something we also strongly felt in the making of this record; that our own solitude was also feeding our creativity. But even in moments of solitude, that doesn't mean that you can escape the fantasy of what it would feel like to be with someone again, or what it would feel like to have love and human connection in that more carnal way. This record is full of human connection but some of it is just fantasy.

The videos for "I Got Heaven" and "I Don’t Know You" were shot on a farm, as were some of your press photos, and there’s a pig on your album cover. Are you vegetarians?

We are not vegetarians. We believe in the pursuit of moderated pleasure. But more so in like, I believe very strongly in conscious carnivorism. I think that the way in which we interact with all living beings on the planet needs to be from a place of gratitude, curiosity, and respect. Respect for the animal that has not chosen to sacrifice its life to nourish you, right? I'm not someone who overindulges. I'm like a hedonist who doesn't indulge in anything.

Interesting. Seems like a long life plan!  

I quit smoking. I quit drinking over the last two years, not because I had a problem. I just felt like it was boring. It was not making me feel good anymore. Like, it's time to move on.

I don't believe in being too strict with ourselves. I think everything should allow for the moment to infer what you should do in it. I was a vegan for three years. I feel so much healthier now that I haven't put restrictions onto myself. At the end of the day, the most important thing is you getting the energy you need to perform.  

I read that your song "Spilt Me Open" was written a day after taking acid. Is that a group activity or did you try to utilize it as a creative tool?

The story behind it is actually quite wholesome. Maybe the most wholesome LSD story! Our band vacations together. Maxine's family has a small off the grid cabin that’s been in her family for generations. No electricity, no internet, in New Hampshire.  

I'm a believer in a yearly psychedelic trip. I think it kind of realigns the system and gets your brain functioning in a healthy and creative way. And maybe helps you purge some things that you need to purge. Again, hedonist but not excess. Experimental, but not dangerous. Maxine and I took acid and usually it’s a day of being naked in nature. I forced everyone to listen to Paul Simon for 24 hours. 

The next day, we were laying around next to the lake, just me and Maxine, coming down from our trip. She started playing the beginning chords of "Split Me Open" on acoustic guitar. I was laying down next to her, and kind of had a similar experience when she started playing it. I immediately started singing along; a lot of those lines would end up in the final version. The song just kind of spilled out of us.   

What is success to you?

On one hand, I feel like success on a more spiritual level feels as though you are being seen, understood and accepted for exactly who you are, and your creative output. People connecting with our music in a way that is immensely thoughtful. 

I think success on a material level, especially for artists, means that you're paying all of your bills through your own creativity; your own creative talents are actually what is sustaining your life. That, to me, feels like a really beautiful combination. Where if it was just the one — just the material without being seen and understood? I'm not sure it would feel as rewarding.

For Laura Jane Grace, Record Cycles Can Be A 'Hole In My Head' — And She's OK With That

Given that a remix is an edit of an existing, complete song, one could assume it's easier to craft than an original track. The 2024 GRAMMY nominees for Best Remixed Recording prove otherwise: When done right, the remix is a rather painstaking craft that can give entirely new life to a song, even ones you already thought were perfect.

The nominees for Best Remixed Recording demonstrate the breadth and magic of the remix. Alt-jazz group BADBADNOTGOOD amps up and expands on Turnstile and Blood Orange's "Alien Love Call," while DJ/producer Dom Dolla turns the Gorillaz collab with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown, "New Gold," into a trippy dance floor heater. Chicago house legend Terry Hunter gives an unreleased '90s Mariah Carey track, "Workin' Hard," a timeless house groove. Dance pop artist Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs speeds Lane 8's instrumental piano house ballad "Reviver" into a bright jungle gem, and Wet Leg's debut remix is a dark dreamy disco edit of Depeche Mode's "Wagging Tongue."

GRAMMY.com recently spoke to all six nominees about their nominated songs, what constitutes a great remix and their favorites remixes of all time.

Congrats on your nomination! What does it mean to you to be nominated for the GRAMMY for Best Remixed Recording and to be acknowledged by your peers in this way?

Dom Dolla: I mean, it's the highest honor in music. I never thought it would be something that I would be considered for. Funnily enough, my manager said his gut feeling was it would have been for a remix first because that's where I started. I started as a DJ and when I moved into music production, I started off by remixing things and became known within the scene for remixes. This was before I delved into learning to be a lyricist and a songwriter. It's kind of like finally getting the nod for all of those remixes I punched out over the years.

Terry Hunter: Man, it is really dope to go back-to-back with this [category] with two major, iconic artists. [Editor's note: Hunter earned a nod last year for his remix of Beyoncé's "Break My Soul."] Each time, I wasn't expecting it. 

Most of the Best Remixed Recording [2024 nominees] are dance records. I'm from Chicago, the city that birthed house music, so to have that represented on such a major level is really amazing. That's a great achievement in my opinion.

Wet Leg guitarist Josh Mobaraki: It's f—ing crazy, so cool. We had literally no idea that was gonna happen. We had so much fun making it. We'd never done a remix before; we're a band and were just wondering what people might expect. It's really encouraging and exciting. 

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: First of all, it is my second nomination in my career, so I can persuade myself that it's not a fluke…it makes me think that maybe I do have a seat at the table. Also, the track that got nominated is surprising to me. It's not something I thought a lot of people would understand and certainly not put forward for a GRAMMY nomination. It's not a commercial remix or a style that's often recognized by institutions. I'm really pleased about that, because I think the only way that this could have got through is that people really listened to it.

BADBADNOTGOOD producer and drummer Alexander Sowinski: It’s a huge honor! We honestly never thought we would achieve something like this and to be recognized by an institution like the GRAMMYs is amazing.

How did you approach remixing the nominated track?

Dom Dolla: This was actually one of the most fiddly remixes I've ever done. I'm a huge fan of Gorillaz, Booty Brown and Tame [Impala] and I just wanted to get it right. Knowing that it was the only remix that they were going to do for [2023's Cracker Island], I was like, I can't f— this up. So, I approached each section individually. I had one entire Ableton session built upon drums and toms, one for sound design, one for sampling the record and using interesting delays, one for chords, and then I put them all together. There were hundreds of channels as opposed to 40 or 50 like I would normally have.

It was the third attempt [that finally worked]. It took a bit longer than a remix normally would for me. At my first solo show at the Shrine in L.A., I opened with it and the crowd reaction made me feel, Yep. We're onto something.

Terry Hunter: I got the call that [Mariah Carey] was working on this 30th anniversary remix project of the Music Box, her first album. [They asked me to remix] "I've Been Thinking About You." I love that song. I mean, Mariah is the diva of all divas, and she shows it in every way with her amazing vocal performance. When Mariah came out [onto the music scene], I had a major crush on her, so that made it even more special.

I was even more humbled and shocked that once she had heard what I did, they called me to remix another record for an unreleased song that she recorded in 1993, produced by C&C Music Factory. In the '90s, C&C Music Factory ran it — they were the number one guys to go to for production and remixes — I had to do them justice on the unreleased track. The original has that classic '90s C&C feel to it and to go more house, more soulful, a more gospel feel with it was really amazing. It's a reproduction in my opinion.

Wet Leg (Josh Mobaraki): Hester [Chambers] was like, "Let's do a disco song," which is basically her response to quite a lot of "What are we gonna do?" I'd seen other remixes of Depeche Mode, which are a lot of quite long electronic tracks. We found another way to do something in a similar vein but a little bit closer to us. We just played and experimented and that first session was really great and fun. 

Then Ellis [Durand] came around to do the bassline and we spent the whole evening trying every single different bassline that we could come up with and ended up on a single note. Hester wrote and performed the new vocal on the remix. And she picked up a flute — really, a piece of bamboo with some holes in it — and it just happened to fit. We wrote around that and then plopped the lead vocal. Rather than affecting it loads and loads, we sped the whole thing up and that brought a new timbre to the vocal.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: I get asked to do a lot of remixes and there has to be a few things that are right for me to say yes. I have to like the project and want to be part of it — because you're then forever part of it — and I have to like the music. I have a lot of respect for Lane 8 and the world and career he's built. I liked the song because it was a very upfront EDM track, in the original form of EDM from 2010, 2011: big drums, big synth melody, what I would call kind of trance-y and very emotive. 

I took bars two to six of the eight-bar chord sequence and built my remix around those bits because that's where the lush stuff was for me. Once I found my mood with it, I went to 165 BPM or so — it was probably 120 to start. I tried doing a couple of house mixes which didn't feel exciting to me at all, probably because he'd already done a big four-four version of his idea. I basically did a (melodic) jungle remix, which is really fun for me because that's the first type of music I started making when I was a teenager and the thing that got me into music. I'm really grateful that he allowed me to take that risk because now there's a GRAMMY nomination. [Chuckles.]

BADBADNOTGOOD: The track came together in a pretty informal way. We were sent the stems for the Turnstile song and ended up jamming with a few friends in our studio in Toronto.

How do you generally approach remixes?

Dom Dolla: You're a lot more limited. When I'm listening to something someone asked me to do a remix of, I'll often listen to the vocal and the main hook elements, to see if there are things that stand out. As I'm listening, I try to delete the other elements in my mind.

If it's a melodic vocal like Damon Albarn's sung part in ["New Gold"], I'll imagine the mood I want to convey by changing the chord progression behind it. [The song has] these little ad-lib vocal rap parts and little grunts as well that I liked. I pick the elements that I really like and compound all my favorite sections and delete everything else that I don't think I'll use in the remix and limit myself to the sections that I love. Then I change the chords and get weird with production and stuff. And then drums are a whole other thing. I treat drums separately.

Terry Hunter: I still have the same formula. With a remix, for me, everything starts with the drums. They have to be in the pocket and then I start building from there. If I'm sitting down with any of my musicians, we may come up with a bassline or some chords. But before any of that, I gotta have the drums 75 percent done, because that's gonna tell the direction of where we're gonna go with the remix.

Wet Leg (Josh Mobaraki): Obviously, we [haven't made other remixes]. I've been making beats in my bedroom for 10 years and when I was younger, I was doing the band thing. [With this remix], I got to do my thing, in a way. Like every other bedroom producer, I spend a lot of time making four- or eight-bar loops. I love writing music with a computer. I've spent ages trying to work out how to make the sounds that I really love from other records, or even sounds that I don't really like so that I can sort of like them. 

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: I'm looking for what I love in the original and I try to focus on and build something around that. For me, it's a really fun opportunity to do a particular kind of creative work where you kind of kick a ball of string down a hill and see where it ends up. I don't go into them knowing exactly what I want to do. You're re-presenting somebody's musical idea through a new lens, and I think it should feel like you've really gone there creatively and intellectually and pushed it. I think even the remixes that appear very simple still do that, the good ones.

It's definitely a big creative endeavor for me, maybe more so than writing original music sometimes. With original music, you might not turn an idea upside down and shake it out as much. With remixing, I'll take every sound that the artist gives me and I'll try and make something new out of it. I imagine other people approach it very differently.

BADBADNOTGOOD: Generally, we like to isolate the vocal track and take it out of context as much as possible. For this one, we thought the tone and timbre of Brendan [Yate]’s voice really sounded interesting over our groove and gave it a different feel. We also had a lot of fun with the dancey section over Dev Hynes’ [a.k.a. Blood Orange] bridge.

Does remixing feel like a separate muscle from making your own productions or collabing with another artist?

Dom Dolla: Remixing is a similar creative muscle but with a bit of a different mindset. It’s often a balance of re-imagining the hooks within the original record by surrounding them with a different mood or energy. I’ve always been super selective about remixing tracks for that exact reason, I never try to force it or use elements from the original that I don’t love. Writing original music is much more of a blank slate, which can make it as daunting as it is exciting.

Terry Hunter: It definitely is a different muscle that you're using because with remixes you have no control over the song. You have to make your idea of what you're feeling with the song and you have to work around that. And sometimes you have the pleasure of working with artists where the vocals were a little different and you ask if they can recut them to the music. That sometimes gives it a better feel to make it sound more original or organic. In the case with Mariah and Beyoncé, the vocals were perfect so there was no need to recut.

When you're collaborating with people, it's always great. It's a different energy because someone might come up with a sample or a bassline and that might trigger some drums and a chord progression.

Wet Leg (Josh Mobaraki): I over-intellectualize it a bit and then the girls are both, "Let's just have fun." And then I'm like, "Oh, yeah, let's do that."

[The remix] felt a bit like when we started making "Chaise Longue" and Wet Dream. That was me, Hester and Rhian [Teasdale] in this flat that we're talking to you from now, and that's the same place that me and Hester started this remix. 

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: Yeah, it does. I think I have a remixing style that's separate from my original music production stuff. I think it's a part of my character as a musician that's slightly different from my other bits, if that makes sense. [Laughs.]

BADBADNOTGOOD: Absolutely, it’s a nice in-between because we can lean on the artist’s vocals and figure out a unique way to support it. It makes the initial writing process fun because you have such a strong starting point already. 

What do you think makes a great remix?

Dom Dolla: It depends on the intention, I suppose. If we're talking about house music, I think it's about great drums, great bassline, great hooks and it working on the dance floor. I think the intention of a great remix is giving it a new direction and introducing it to a whole different audience who wouldn't normally listen to it. For me, it's What are the parts of the song that I love and how do I introduce that to the house music world?

Terry Hunter: When you remix a record, the [original] artist or label is calling on that particular remixer to try to adapt what it is that you do sonically so you can stay true to yourself and your fans but also pay respect and complement the original. A remix is a hard thing to do. But technology allows people to make, in my opinion, lazy music. It can be quick and onto the next, but the feeling is not there, it's kind of cookie cutter-ish.

I think as long as you pay homage to the original and stay true — and even if you don't, sometimes you can just strip everything from it, and just come up with your own creative ideas. There's no right or wrong way. I feel there's no rules in music. It's just, when you hear that song, does it do anything for you?

Wet Leg (Josh Mobaraki): Sometimes a remix or a mashup almost feels like a magic trick. If you can make that feeling, that's really amazing. Usually that [happens by] recontextualizing a song that you really love. 

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: When something really has its own flavor. A [good remix] takes a step back from the original source material, and you can hear that. There is always an element of deconstruction and reconstruction, and I think people like hearing that. Even with the very first ideas of the remix with the 12-inch mix and singles in the '80s and '90s, people enjoyed hearing the extended intros and outros. We still enjoy that; hearing the ideas spread out and chopped up.

BADBADNOTGOOD: Really just hearing elements of artists’ work taken out of context and infused with the energy of whoever is doing the remix is so fascinating.

What are some of your favorite remixes of all time by other artists and what makes them special?

Dom Dolla: The trentemøller remix of "Moan" is one of my favorites. It has really interesting sound design that stands the test of time. It's always just been really quirky and interesting. I feel like if it came out now, it would be really relevant and cool. The Thin White Duke remix of "What Else Is There" by Röyksopp is a melodic, euphoric, favorite moment of mine, I love playing that in sets.

Terry Hunter: I'm gonna have to shout out Masters at Work. They're good friends of mine so I'm being biased but not really because I get inspired from their work. They've remixed Saint Etienne, BeBe Winans, Madonna, Roy Ayers; everybody under the sun. Also, big shout out to David Morales and the late, great Frankie Knuckles, all of who are both GRAMMY winners and an inspiration for me for remixes and DJing.

[Picking] a favorite remix is so tough. It's not a remix, but it's a cover of a song by Rotary Connection; "It's All Right, I Feel It" by Masters at Work [as Nuyorican Soul] featuring Jocelyn Brown is probably one of my favorites. And Frankie Knuckles' remix of "The Pressure" by Sounds Of Blackness. David Morales has done a lot of major things but his remix of Jamiroquai "Space Cowboy" was massive.

Wet Leg (guitarist and vocalist Hester Chambers): That's a tough question. The Soulwax remix of "Midnight Dipper" by Warmduscher is a great remix. Soulwax in general, obviously. Also, the Soulwax remix of ["A Hero's Death" by] Fontaines D.C. is one of my favorites. My favorite part about that one is the steely synth line — it's a new addition, a new melody from the original song, but it's so catchy and really rad. Maybe that's what's so special about remixes is you can love a song and then somebody remixes it and it's a new interpretation and a new interaction for your brain with the song that you already love. 

[I also love] the Confidence Man remix of CHAI ["END"]. Deftones put out a really fun remix album a couple years ago of White Pony. I have so much nostalgia for that album, so it's lovely to have a new experience of it.

Wet Leg (Josh Mobaraki): This is an answer to a different question, but my first favorite remix was that Linkin Park and Jay-Z [EP], Collision Course. I think my mom was listening to loads and Linkin Park at the time. and stuff like that. I was like, Whoa.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: For me, one of the kings of remixing is the producer Shep Pettibone. He's kind of the godfather of the original pop dance floor remix. That sometimes is about just making a slightly punchier 12-inch version of the track and sometimes it's about really turning it upside down. His remix of "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order is one of the best songs of all time, really, and his remix is better than the original. His remixes are about maximizing the pop song in a dance floor context. His Paula Abdul "Knocked Out" remix is a bit crazier and dubby and strange.

He's a big inspiration for me and one of the people I heard in my late-teens, early-20s that made me think I could get into four-four music, like house and disco, because I was very against that. I was all about breakbeats and hip-hop beats and jungle as a teenager. He was also a producer-producer and did a lot of Madonna's stuff. His remix of Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" is so good.

BADBADNOTGOOD: Some of our favorite remixes are the versions of songs that draw you further into it with fresh energy and feeling. A few of them: D’Angelo "Lady (feat. AZ) [Just Tha Beat Mix]", Björk "I Miss You (Dobie Rub Part One - Sunshine Mix)," Janet Jackson "If (Kaytranada Remix)," Sade "By Your Side (Neptunes Remix)," De La Soul "Stakes is High (J Dilla Remix)" and Nas "The World Is Yours (Q-Tip Remix)."

2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List