meta-scriptGRAMMY Rewind: Bruno Mars Dedicates His Best Pop Vocal Album GRAMMY To His Late Mother In 2014 | GRAMMY.com
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Bruno Mars at the 2014 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Kevin Winter

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GRAMMY Rewind: Bruno Mars Dedicates His Best Pop Vocal Album GRAMMY To His Late Mother In 2014

Today, Bruno Mars has 15 GRAMMYs to his name. But his 2014 win for Best Pop Vocal Album marked only his second trophy — and it may be his most prized GRAMMY to date.

GRAMMYs/Jul 22, 2022 - 06:16 pm

Over the past several years, Bruno Mars has become a GRAMMY fixture, winning 15 GRAMMYs and receiving 31 nominations overall. Perhaps even more impressive, he has won 14 of those in a row — and his win streak began with a bittersweet victory in 2014.

When Mars earned the Best Pop Vocal Album trophy for his second LP, Unorthodox Jukebox, his GRAMMY win came seven months after his mother’s passing. But as he hinted in his short-but-sweet speech, he could feel her presence on stage.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit Mars' heartfelt acceptance speech. After doing a quick dance upon reaching the GRAMMY stage, the singer turned his attention to all the people who helped him win the award. He thanked his musical team, including his manager, but Mars reserved his most heartfelt thanks for his family.

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"My father's in the audience. Pops, I love you," he continued, also shouting out his girlfriend, Jessica Caban. "Jessica, I love you."

Before leaving the stage, Mars made sure to end his acceptance speech with a tribute to his mom. "I want to dedicate this award to my mother," Mars added, holding his trophy aloft. 

"Ma, I know you're watching,” he said with a smile. “I hope you're smiling. I love you."

Press play above to revisit the special moment in Mars' career, and check back to GRAMMY.com every Friday for more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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Lady Gaga Bruno Mars Press Photo
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars

Photo: John Esparza

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New Music Friday: Listen To Songs From Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, LISA & Rosalía, Benson Boone & More

Between Post Malone's first country album and an unexpected collab from two of pop's biggest names, today is chock-full of thrilling new music. Listen to new tracks from YG, Jean Dawson and Lil Yachty and more.

GRAMMYs/Aug 16, 2024 - 02:25 pm

Summer may be slowly edging toward fall, but the red-hot streak of this summer's musical output shows no signs of slowing down.

This New Music Friday (Aug. 16), Post Malone goes country with his sixth studio album F-1 Trillion, Meghan Trainor adds four songs (and rearranges the track list) to the deluxe edition of her latest LP Timeless, and global girl group KATSEYE unveil their debut mini-album SIS (SOFT IS STRONG). Plus, Muscadine Bloodline share their fourth full-length The Coastal Plain and Nikka Costa drops Dirty Disco, her first album in eight years.

When it comes to singles, there's just as many new songs to explore — from superstar collabs like ROSALÍA and LISA's empowered "NEW WOMAN" to the latest releases from Hozier and Peggy Gou. 

Below, dive into eight more new releases from pop and K-pop to rap, rock, country, dance, and more.

Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars — "Die With a Smile"

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars gave the world just 12 hours notice that they were dropping "Die With a Smile" this week, sending Little Monsters and Hooligans alike into a tizzy as they braced themselves for the surprise duet.

Mars' sensual vocals lead off the moony, apocalyptic love song, which marks Mars' first release since his GRAMMY-winning work with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic. Strumming an electric guitar, the 15-time GRAMMY winner vows, "I, I just woke from a dream/ Where you and I had to say goodbye/ And I don't know what it all means/ But since I survived, I realized/ Wherever you go, that's where I'll follow." 

As for Mother Monster's oeuvre, "Die With a Smile" lands somewhere between Joanne and "Shallow" as her fans wait impatiently for LG7. Not to be outdone, Gaga takes over on the second verse, supported by Mars' swooning harmonies as the duo crescendo the intensity of their devotion to meet the literal end of the world.

LISA & ROSALÍA — "NEW WOMAN"

On New Music Friday eve, BLACKPINK member LISA added to her blossoming collection of solo bangers with "NEW WOMAN," an empowering shapeshifter of a duet that sees her joining forces with ROSALÍA.

"Hit it when I serve/ B—, you better swerve/ Revving up my aura/ Focus on my mind/ Taking my time/ I'm a new woman, woman," the K-pop star proudly announces on the chorus of the song before Rosalía slams on the brakes to sing and rap her way through a sultry verse in her native Spanish that translates, in part, to "I was born pure, yes/ Not an era will be a flop in my future/ W—, I'm Rosalía, I only know how to serve."

The accompanying Dave Meyers-directed video is filled with high-fashion looks (thigh-high boots on fire, that massive, floor-sweeping pearl necklace…or is it made of ball bearings?), Y2K nostalgia (flip phones!) and a bevy of quirky, genuinely off-beat moments that will be sure to help drive the conversation as LISA continues to establish herself — and her nascent LLOUD partnership under RCA Records — as a global force in control of her musical destiny.

Benson Boone — "Pretty Slowly"

Fresh off "Death Wish Love" — his folksy contribution to the Twisters soundtrack — Benson Boone uses his newest single "Pretty Slowly" to celebrate his sudden rise as one of pop music's shiniest new stars.

The deceptively upbeat track's lyrics reflect on the dissolution of a relationship lost to all the recent, stratospheric changes in his life as he croons, "Oh, how come all the best things fall apart/ And it started pretty slowly/ When you asked about the old me/ Oh, is he gone? Oh, is he gone/ Oh, I don't know/ I think I left him somewhere I no longer go."

However, the song's accompanying music video acts as a both a victory lap in the wake of his debut album, Fireworks & Rollerblade, from earlier this summer and and energetic peek into the "Beautiful Things" breakout's high-octane live show — complete with thousands of ecstatic fans and his signature, onstage backflips.

YG — 'Just Re'd Up 3'

More than a decade after his 2013 mixtape Just Re'd Up 2, YG adds to the series with the long-awaited Just Re'd Up 3.

The Compton native has released six other albums and a litany of other mixtapes and collaborative projects in the interim, and his decade-plus in the spotlight allows him to recruit a wide array of contemporaries for the two-disc LP — from Saweetie ("SHE PRETTY") and Ty Dolla $ign ("IT'S GIVIN," "RESCUE ME") to Tee Grizzley and G Herbo ("MALIBU") and Lil Yachty and Babyface Ray ("STUPID").

Jean Dawson & Lil Yachty — "Die For Me"

"Die For Me," Jean Dawson's new collaboration with Lil Yachty, blends the experimental leanings of the L.A.-based polymath (and musical arranger on Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER) with the bubblegum trap rapper's one-of-a-kind flow — and the result is magnetic.

Sonically, the swirling track feels like a logical follow-up to Bad Cameo, the "Poland" rapper's recent collaborative album with James Blake. After Dawson warbles the hook ("Don't show up at my funeral/ If you won't die for me"), Lil Yachty grabs the mic for a blunt-force eulogy that demands repeated listening.

Morgan Wade — 'Obsessed'

Morgan Wade preceded her fourth album, Obsessed, with delicate, heart-on-her-sleeve singles like "2AM in London" and "Time to Love, Time to Kill." Arriving almost a year to the day since her previous full-length Psychopath, the country upstart — and occasional Real Housewives of Beverly Hills guest star — is just as vulnerable on the rest of the album.

Showing off her aptitude for laying bare emotional storytelling and heart-crushing nostalgia, Wade cleverly exposes her fragilities and regrets across the album's 14 tracks — whether she's gender-flipping Shakespeare and competing with Romeo on the forbidden "Juliet," finding somber inspiration in fairy tales on the wistful "Hansel and Gretel," or duetting with Kesha on the repentant "Walked on Water."

Falling In Reverse — 'Popular Monster'

Seven years since 2017's Coming Home, Falling In Reverse are back with their fifth studio album, Popular Monster. The LP's rollout has been spread across nearly half a decade, with the title track being released as the lead single way back in November 2019. Six additional singles have followed in the lead-up to the long-awaited project, including collaborations with Tech N9ne and Slaughter to Prevail vocalist Alex Terrible ("Ronald") and Jelly Roll ("All My Life"), as well as a reimagined cover of Papa Roach's "Last Resort."

And while Popular Monster's cover art is plastered with frontman Ronnie Radke's 2012 mugshot for alleged domestic assault, the release is hardly a solo project. In fact, it's the first Falling in Reverse album to feature Max Georgiev on guitar, Tyler Burgess on bass and Luke Holland on drums. (Derek Jones, the band's late rhythm guitarist, also contributed to the title track before his untimely death in 2020 from a subdural hematoma.)

DJ Snake & Fridayy — "Complicated"

Fridayy is practically begging to keep things simple on "Complicated," his yearning, pulsating new collaboration with DJ Snake. "Tell me what you want/ Girl, I want to know/ Please don't make it complicated/ We ain't gotta complicate it," he repeats over the DJ's hypnotic rhythms filled with Spanish guitar and distant jungle sounds.

Eventually, the three-time GRAMMY nominee's desperate pleas morph into an atmospheric echo as DJ Snake's handiwork takes center stage, plunging the track into a spellbinding synth breakdown that dances all the way to the finish.

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Dylan Chambers
Dylan Chambers

Photo: Courtesy of Dylan Chambers

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ReImagined: Watch Dylan Chambers Channel Bruno Mars In This Groovy Cover Of "Uptown Funk"

Pop-soul newcomer Dylan Chambers offers his rendition of "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' infectious 2014 hit.

GRAMMYs/Apr 16, 2024 - 05:03 pm
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In the latest episode of ReImagined, soul-pop newcomer Dylan Chambers delivers a fresh, heartfelt take on "Uptown Funk", using an electric guitar to drive the performance.

In the year of its inception, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" quickly made strides across the map, from a No. 1 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 to a Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance win at the 2014 GRAMMYs. Ten years after its release, it is the ninth most-viewed YouTube video of all-time and was named one of Billboard's "Songs That Defined The Decade."

Chambers named Mars as one of his most influential inspirations and praised Silk Sonic's Las Vegas residency as one of the "greatest concerts" he has attended in an interview with Muzic Notez.

"Don't believe me, just watch," Chambers calls in the chorus, recreating its notable doo-wop ad-libs with the strums of his instrument.

Chambers dropped his latest single, "I Can Never Get Enough" on April 10, following his March release "High (When I'm Low)." Both tracks will be a part of his upcoming EP, For Your Listening Pleasure!, out May 17.

Press play on the video above to watch Dylan Chambers' groovy rendition of Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk," and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of ReImagined.

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Megan Thee Stallion at the 2021 GRAMMYs
Megan Thee Stallion at the 2021 GRAMMYs.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

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GRAMMY Rewind: Megan Thee Stallion Went From "Savage" To Speechless After Winning Best New Artist In 2021

Relive the moment Megan Thee Stallion won the coveted Best New Artist honor at the 2021 GRAMMYs, where she took home three golden gramophones thanks in part to her chart-topping smash "Savage."

GRAMMYs/Apr 5, 2024 - 05:25 pm

In 2020, Megan Thee Stallion solidified herself as one of rap's most promising new stars, thanks to her hit single "Savage." Not only was it her first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, but the "sassy, moody, nasty" single also helped Megan win three GRAMMYs in 2021.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the sentimental moment the Houston "Hottie" accepted one of those golden gramophones, for Best New Artist.

"I don't want to cry," Megan Thee Stallion said after a speechless moment at the microphone. Before starting her praises, she gave a round of applause to her fellow nominees in the category, who she called "amazing."

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Along with thanking God, she also acknowledged her manager, T. Farris, for "always being with me, being by my side"; her record label, 300 Entertainment, for "always believing in me, sticking by through my craziness"; and her mother, who "always believed I could do it."

Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage" remix with Beyoncé also helped her win Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance that night — marking the first wins in the category by a female lead rapper.

Press play on the video above to watch Megan Thee Stallion's complete acceptance speech for Best New Artist at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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Beyonce on stage accepting the GRAMMY Award for "Halo" During Her Record-Setting Night In 2010
Beyonce on stage accepting the GRAMMY Award for "Halo" During Her Record-Setting Night In 2010

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Beyoncé Win A GRAMMY For "Halo" During Her Record-Setting Night In 2010

As you dive into Beyoncé's new album, 'COWBOY CARTER,' revisit the moment Queen Bey won a GRAMMY for "Halo," one of six golden gramophones she won in 2010.

GRAMMYs/Mar 29, 2024 - 05:05 pm

Amongst Beyoncé's expansive catalog, "Halo" is easily one of her most iconic songs. Today, the 2009 single is her most-streamed song on Spotify; it was her first video to reach one billion views on YouTube; and it helped her set one of her GRAMMY records in 2010.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch the superstar take the stage to accept Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Halo" in 2010 — the year she became the first female artist to win six GRAMMYs in one night.

"This has been such an amazing night for me, and I'd love to thank the GRAMMYs," she said, admitting she was nervous before taking a deep breath.

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Before leaving the stage, Beyoncé took a second to thank two more special groups: "I'd love to thank my family for all of their support, including my husband. I love you. And I'd like to thank all of my fans for their support over the years."

The five other awards Beyoncé took home that night were for the coveted Song Of The Year ("Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)") and four R&B Categories: Best Contemporary R&B Album (I Am... Sasha Fierce), Best R&B Song ("Single Ladies"), Best Female R&B Vocal Performance ("Single Ladies"), and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (for her cover of Etta James' "At Last"). 

As of 2024, Beyoncé has won the most GRAMMY Awards in history with 32 wins.

Press play on the video above to relive Queen Bey's "Halo" win for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

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