The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has added a side of raw Argentinian beef to its menu of exhibits. The infamous meat dress worn by Lady Gaga at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards has been put on display as part of the Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power exhibit. Much care was given to the dress to ensure its arrival in a suitable state — the dress was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals and dried out by taxidermists before being ushered off to the hall. A spokesperson for the hall said the dress looked a bit like "beef jerky," so it was freshened with a coat of paint. "That meat dress represents part of — a very small, small part — of the movement towards equality, and for it to be honored in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the sh**," said Gaga. The beef, along with the other artifacts on display in the exhibit, will marinate at the hall until February 2012.

Have you ever wondered what it would take to tick off Justin Bieber? One apparent way is to show up late to a recording session. That's what Chris Brown did and it was reportedly enough to make Bieber say, "Man, I'm leaving, bro." According to a report, Brown was to meet with the teen heartthrob to record their duet "Next 2 You," but "stood him up on accident" because he was "all the way on the other side of town handling some business — girl business." While there may have been one less lonely girl on the other side of town and one more lonely Bieber, it seems the boy wonder wasn't too devastated. The Bieb visited the set of "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Wednesday to deliver the top 10 list of little-known facts about himself. While taking some good-natured ribbing in stride, Bieber put his stand-up routine on display in sharing secret information about his new women's fragrance, Someday, his affinity for four-slice toasters and siphoning gas, and shocking information about his luscious locks.

Journey's Jonathan Cain has delaCain Vineyards. Whitesnake's David Coverdale has bottled Whitesnake Zinfandel. Tool's Maynard James Keenan co-operates Caduceus Cellars. Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate developed his Insania wine brand in partnership with Three Rivers Winery. Now, alternative rockers Train are joining the brotherhood of vintners by offering their own bottle of fruity goodness. Beginning next week, fans will be able to purchase Drops Of Jupiter, a petite sirah, from the band's official online wine club. "We're not really trying to get into the wine business or anything," said guitarist Jimmy Stafford. "We're trying to create just this little vibe, where people come to our shows, bring a picnic basket and a bottle of wine." Named after the group's GRAMMY-winning Best Rock Song, one-third of the profits will go to San Francisco-based charity Family House, which provides temporary housing to families of sick children. But the band doesn't guarantee that drinking a bottle will help you sail across the sun or make it to the Milky Way.

Forbes published its latest listicle and fortunately, we love lists at TWIM. This time the venerable money magazine looked at the 25 highest-paid musicians in the world. Most of the names are obvious (Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, U2), so we looked for the surprises. Well, there weren't any. Not true surprises anyway, unless you count an Eagles reunion now running into its second decade (No. 8, $60 million in earnings), road warriors Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (No. 16, $38 million), and rock band Muse ($35 million). The list and its dollar figures look pretty glamorous, but what's even less surprising is that Forbes didn't attempt a 25 lowest-paid musicians list, which would likely be a 500,000-way tie with $0 in earnings.

Ever wonder what it was like to be a president before becoming...president? Well, here's your chance to find out. The life of former President Bill Clinton (before he was the leader of the country) has been made into a folk opera. Titled Billy Blythe, the opera centers around a day in the life of Clinton's formative years growing up in Hot Springs, Ark. "Growing up in Arkansas, I heard a lot of stories about Clinton," said the show's co-creator Bonnie Montgomery. "But the real inspiration came when I was reading his autobiography." If you haven't had the chance to read Clinton's My Life, the book is sure to give you an insider's view into the former life of the GRAMMY-winning former president, from Clinton's mother, the late Virginia Clinton Kelley who was known for her love of gambling and makeup, to Clinton's abusive stepfather, Roger Clinton Sr. The opera was premiered last weekend by the Metropolis Opera Project at the Medicine Show Theatre in New York.

Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" remains No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" featuring Christina Aguilera is tops on iTunes singles chart.

Any news we've missed? Comment below.

For the latest GRAMMY news, visit us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Last Week In Music

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 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.

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.

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").

"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."

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.)

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.

The 2024 Paris Olympics came to life today as the Parade of Nations glided along the Seine River for the opening ceremony. The opening spectacular featured musical performances from Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and more. Earlier in the week, some of music’s biggest names were also spotted in the city for the Olympics, including Olympics special correspondent Snoop Dogg, BTS' Jin, Pharrell Williams, Tyla, Rosalía, and Ariana Grande.

Read More: When The GRAMMYs & Olympics Align: 7 Times Music's Biggest Night Met Global Sports Glory

Below, see a full breakdown of some of the special musical moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Lady Gaga

In a grand entrance, Lady Gaga emerged behind a heart-shaped plume of feathers on the golden steps of Square Barye, captivating the audience with her cover of the French classic "Mon truc en plumes." Accompanied by cabaret-style background dancers, she flawlessly belted out the song, executed impressive choreography, and even played the piano.

Lady Gaga’s connection to the song is notable, as Zizi Jeanmarie, the original artist, starred in Cole Porter’s musical "Anything Goes," which was Lady Gaga’s debut jazz release.

"Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music — I wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth — Paris," Lady Gaga shared on Instagram.

Closing out the ceremony with her first performance in four years since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, Celine Dion delivered a stunning rendition of Edith Piaf’s everlasting classic, "L’Hymne à l’amour" from the Eiffel Tower. Her impressive vocals made it seem as though she had never left.

This performance marked Dion’s return to the Olympic stage; she previously performed "The Power of the Dream" with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and composer David Foster for the 1996 Olympics.

Axelle Saint-Cirel 

Performing the National Anthem is no small feat, yet French mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel knocked it out of the park.

Dressed in a French-flag-inspired Dior gown, she delivered a stunning rendition of "La Marseillaise" from the roof of the Grand Palais, infusing the patriotic anthem with her own contemporary twist.

With the stirring lyrics, "To arms, citizens! Form your battalions. Let’s march, let’s march," Saint-Cirel brought the spirit of patriotism resonated powerfully throughout the city. 

Gojira 

Making history as the first metal band to perform at the Olympics Opening Ceremony is just one way Gojira made their mark at the event.

The French band took the stage at the Conciergerie, a historic site that once housed French kings during medieval times and later became a prison during the French Revolution, famously detaining Marie Antoinette – Creating a monumental moment as the first metal band to perform at the ceremony, but also stirring the pot as they used the chance to nod toward politics. 

Performing a revamped version of "Ah! Ça Ira," an anthem that grew popular during the French Revolution, the artists aren’t new to using their songs as a vehicle for political messages. The GRAMMY-nominated group are outspoken about issues concerning the environment, particularly with their song, "Amazonia," which called out the climate crisis in the Amazon Rainforest. Using music to spread awareness about political issues is about as metal as it gets. 

Aya Nakamura

Currently France’s most-streamed musician, Aya Nakamura went for gold in a striking metallic outfit as she took the stage alongside members of the French Republican Guard. As there were showstopping, blazing fireworks going off behind her, she performed two of her own hit songs, "Pookie" and "Djadja," then followed with renditions of Charles Aznavour’s "For Me Formidable" and "La Bohème." 

Although there was backlash regarding Nakamura’s suitability for performing at the ceremony, French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the criticism. "She speaks to a good number of our fellow citizens and I think she is absolutely in her rightful place in an opening or closing ceremony," Macron told the Guardian.

Three months after OneRepublic began promoting their sixth album, Artificial Paradise, in February 2022, the band unexpectedly had their biggest release in nearly a decade. The pop-rock band's carefree jam, "I Ain't Worried," soundtracked Top Gun: Maverick's most memeable scene and quickly became a global smash — ultimately delaying album plans in favor of promoting their latest hit.

Two years later, "I Ain't Worried" is one of 16 tracks on Artificial Paradise, which arrived July 12. It's a seamless blend of songs that will resonate with longtime and newer fans alike. From the layered production of "Hurt," to the feel-good vibes of "Serotonin," to the evocative lyrics of "Last Holiday," Artificial Paradise shows that OneRepublic's sound is as dialed-in as it is ever-evolving.

The album also marks the end of an era for OneRepublic, as it's the last in their contract with Interscope Records. But for the group's singer, Ryan Tedder, that means the future is even more exciting than it's been in their entire 15-year career.

"I've never been more motivated to write the best material of my life than this very moment," he asserts. "I'm taking it as a challenge. We've had a lot of fun, and a lot of uplifting records for the last seven or eight years, but I also want to tap back into some deeper material with the band."

As he's been prepping Artificial Paradise with his OneRepublic cohorts, Tedder has also been as busy as he's ever been working with other artists. His career as a songwriter/producer took off almost simultaneously with OneRepublic's 2007 breakthrough, "Apologize" (his first major behind-the-board hit was Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love"); to this day he's one of the go-to guys for pop's biggest names, from BLACKPINK to Tate McRae.

Tedder sat down with GRAMMY.com to share some of his most prominent memories of OneRepublic's biggest songs, as well as some of the hits he's written with Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and more.

I was producing and writing other songs for different artists on Epic and Atlantic — I was just cutting my teeth as a songwriter in L.A. This is like 2004. I was at my lowest mentally and financially. I was completely broke. Creditors chasing me, literally dodging the taxman and getting my car repoed, everything.

I had that song in my back pocket for four years. A buddy of mine just reminded me last month, a songwriter from Nashville — Ashley Gorley, actually. We had a session last month, me, him and Amy Allen, and he brought it up. He was like, "Is it true, the story about 'Apologize'? You were completely broke living in L.A. and Epic Records offered you like 100 grand or something just for the right to record the song on one of their artists?"

And that is true. It was, like, 20 [grand], then 50, then 100. And I was salivating. I was, like, I need this money so bad. And I give so many songs to other people, but with that song, I drew a line in the sand and said, "No one will sing this song but me. I will die with this song." 

It was my story, and I just didn't want anyone else to sing it. It was really that simple. It was a song about my past relationships, it was deeply personal. And it was also the song that — I spent two years trying to figure out what my sound was gonna be. I was a solo artist… and I wasn't landing on anything compelling. Then I landed on "Apologize" and a couple of other songs, and I was like, These songs make me think of a band, not solo artist material. So it was the song that led me to the sound of OneRepublic, and it also led me to the idea that I should start a band and not be a solo artist.

We do it every night. I'll never not do it. I've never gotten sick of it once. Every night that we do it, whether I'm in Houston or Hong Kong, I look out at the crowd and look at the band, and I'm like, Wow. This is the song that got us here.

We were halfway through promoting Dreaming Out Loud, our first album. I played basketball every day on tour, and I snapped my Achilles. The tour got canceled. The doctor told me not to even write. And I had this one sliver of an afternoon where my wife had to run an errand. And because I'm sadistic and crazy, I texted [songwriter] Evan Bogart, "I got a three-hour window, race over here. Beyoncé called me and asked me to write her a song. I want to do it with you." He had just come off his huge Rihanna No. 1, and we had an Ashley Tisdale single together.

When you write enough songs, not every day do the clouds part and God looks down on you and goes, "Here." But that's what happened on that day. I turn on the keyboard, the first sound that I play is the opening sound of the song. Sounds like angels singing. And we wrote the song pretty quick, as I recall. 

I didn't get a response [from Beyoncé after sending "Halo" over], which I've now learned is very, very typical of her. I did Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé "II MOST WANTED" [from COWBOY CARTER] — I didn't know that was coming out 'til five days before it came out. And when I did "XO" [from 2013's Beyoncé], I found out that "XO" was coming out 12 hours before it came out. That's how she operates.

["Good Life"] was kind of a Hail Mary. We already knew that "All the Right Moves" would be the first single [from Waking Up]. We knew that "Secrets" was the second single. And in the 11th hour, our engineer at the time — who I ended up signing as a songwriter, Noel Zancanella — had this drum loop that he had made, and he played it for Brent [Kutzle] in our band. Brent said, "You gotta hear this drum loop that Noel made. It's incredible."

He played it for me the next morning, and I was like, "Yo throw some chords to this. I'm writing to this today." They threw some chords down, and the first thing out of my mouth was, [sings] "Oh, this has gotta be the good life." 

It's the perfect example of, oftentimes, the chord I've tried to strike with this band with some of our bigger records, [which] is happy sad. Where you feel nostalgic and kind of melancholic, but at the same time, euphoric. That's what those chords and that melody did for me.

I was like, "Hey guys, would it be weird if I made the hook a whistle?" And everyone was like, "No! Do not whistle!" They're like, "Name the last hit song that had a whistle." And the only one I could think of was, like, Scorpion from like, 1988. [Laughs.] So I thought, To hell with it, man, it's been long enough, who cares? Let's try it. And the whistle kind of made the record. It became such a signature thing.

Adele — "Rumour Has It," '21' (2011)

"Rumour Has It" was the first song I did in probably a four year period, with any artist, that wasn't a ballad. All any artist ever wanted me to write with them or for them, was ballads, because of "Halo," and "Apologize" and "Bleeding Love."

I begged [Adele] to do a [song with] tempo, because we did "Turning Tables," another ballad. She was in a feisty mood [that day], so I was like, "Okay, we're doing a tempo today!"

Rick Rubin was originally producing the whole album. I was determined to produce Adele, not just write — because I wanted a shot to show her that I could, and to show myself. I stayed later after she left, and I remember thinking, What can I do in this record in this song that could be so difficult to reproduce that it might land me the gig?

So I intentionally muted the click track, changed the tempo, and [created that] whole piano bridge. I was making it up as I went. When she got in that morning. I said, "I have a crazy idea for a bridge. It's a movie." She listens and she says, "This is really different, I like this! How do we write to this?" 

I mean, it was very difficult. [But] we finished the song. She recorded the entire song that day. She recorded the whole song in one take. I've never seen anyone do that in my life — before or since.

Then I didn't hear from her for six months. Because I handed over the files, and Rick Rubin's doing it, so I don't need to check on it. I randomly check on the status of the song — and at this point, if you're a songwriter or producer, you're assuming that they're not keeping the songs. Her manager emails my manager, "Hey, good news — she's keeping both songs they did, and she wants Ryan to finish 'Rumour Has It' production and mix it." 

When I finally asked her, months later — probably at the GRAMMYs — I said, "Why didn't [Rick] do it?" She said, "Oh he did. It's that damn bridge! Nobody could figure out what the hell you were doing…It was so problematic that we just gave up on it."

I was in a Beyoncé camp in the Hamptons writing for the self-titled album. [There were] a bunch of people in the house — me, Greg Kurstin, Sia — it was a fun group of people. I had four days there, and every morning I'd get up an hour and a half before I had to leave, make a coffee, and start prepping for the day. On the third day, I got up, I'm in the basement of this house at like 7 in the morning, and I'm coming up with ideas. I stumble across that chord progression, the guitar and the melody. It was instant shivers up my spine. 

"Lately I've been losing sleep, dreaming about the things that we could be" is the only line that I had. [My] first thought was, I should play this for Beyoncé, and then I'm listening to it and going, This is not Beyoncé, not even remotely. It'd be a waste. So I tabled it, and I texted the guys in my band, "Hey, I think I have a potentially really big record. I'm going to finish it when I get back to Denver."

I got back the next week, started recording it, did four or five versions of the chorus, bouncing all the versions off my wife, and then eventually landed it. And when I played it for the band, they were like, "This is our favorite song."

It was my second session with Taylor. The first one was [1989's] "I Know Places," and she sent me a voice memo. I was looking for a house in Venice [California], because we were spending so much time in L.A. So that whole memory is attached to me migrating back to Los Angeles. 

But I knew what she was talking about, because I lived in New York, and I remember the feeling — endless possibilities, all the different people and races and sexes and loves. That was her New York chapter. She was so excited to be there. If you never lived there, and especially if you get there and you've got a little money in the pocket, it is so exhilarating.

It was me just kind of witnessing her brilliant, fast-paced, lyrical wizardry. [Co-producer] Max [Martin] and I had a conversation nine months later at the GRAMMYs, when we had literally just won for 1989. He kind of laughed, he pointed to all the other producers on the album, and he's like, "If she had, like, three more hours in the day, she would just figure out what we do and she would do it. And she wouldn't need any of us." 

And I still think that's true. Some people are just forces of nature in and among themselves, and she's one of them. She just blew me away. She's the most talented top liner I've ever been in a room with, bar none. If you're talking lyric and melody, I've never been in a room with anyone faster, more adept, knows more what they want to say, focused, efficient, and just talented.

I had gone through a pretty dry spell mentally, emotionally. I had just burned it at both ends and tapped out, call it end of 2016. So, really, all of 2017 for me was a blur and a wash. I did a bunch of sessions in the first three months of the year, and then I just couldn't get a song out. I kept having, song after song, artists telling me it's the first single, [then] the song was not even on the album. I had never experienced that in my career.

I went six to nine months without finishing a song, which for me is unheard of. Andrew Watt kind of roped me back into working with him. We did "Easier" for 5 Seconds of Summer, and we did some Sam Smith and some Miley Cyrus, and right in that same window, I did this song "Sucker." Two [or] three months later, Wendy Goldstein from Republic [Records] heard the record, I had sent it to her. She'd said, very quietly, "We're relaunching the Jonas Brothers. They want you to be involved in a major way. Do you have anything?" 

She calls me, she goes, "Ryan, do not play this for anybody else. This is their comeback single. It's a No. 1 record. Watch what we're gonna do." And she delivered.

My memory is, being in lockdown in COVID, and just being like, Who knows when this is going to end, working out of my Airstream at my house. I had done a lot of songs for movies over the years, and [for] that particular [song] Randy Spendlove, who runs [music at] Paramount, called me.

I end up Zooming with Tom Cruise [and Top Gun: Maverick director] Jerry Bruckheimer — everybody's in lockdown during post-production. The overarching memory was, Holy cow, I'm doing the scene, I'm doing the song for Top Gun. I can't believe this is happening. But the only way I knew how to approach it, rather than to, like, overreact and s— the bed, was, It's just another day.

I do prescription songs for movies, TV, film all the time. I love a brief. It's so antithetical to most writers. I'm either uncontrollably lazy or the most productive person you've ever met. And the dividing line between the two is, if I'm chasing some directive, some motivation, some endpoint, then I can be wildly productive.

I just thought, I'm going to do the absolute best thing I can do for this scene and serve the film. OneRepublic being the performing artist was not on the menu in my mind. I just told them, "I think you need a cool indie band sounding, like, breakbeat." I used adjectives to describe what I heard when I saw the scene, and Tom got really ramped and excited. 

You could argue [it's the biggest song] since the band started. The thing about it is, it's kind of become one of those every summer [hits]. And when it blew up, that's what Tom said. He said, "Mark my words, dude. You're gonna have a hit with this every summer for, like, the next 20 years or more." 

And that's what happened. The moment Memorial Day happened, "I Ain't Worried" got defrosted and marched itself back into the top 100.

Tate McRae — "Greedy," 'THINK LATER' (2023)

We had "10:35" [with Tiësto] the previous year that had been, like, a No. 1 in the UK and across Europe and Australia. So we were coming off the back of that, and the one thing she was clear about was, "That is not the direction of what I want to do."

If my memory serves me correct, "greedy" was the next to last session we had. Everything we had done up to that point was kind of dark, midtempo, emotional. So "greedy" was the weirdo outlier. I kept pushing her to do a dance record. I was like, "Tate, there's a lot of people that have great voices, and there's a lot of people who can write, but none of those people are professional dancers like you are. Your secret weapon is the thing you're not using. In this game and this career, you've got to use every asset that you have and exploit it."

There was a lot of cajoling. On that day, we did it, and I thought it was badass, and loved it. And she was like, "Ugh, what do we just do? What is this?"

So then it was just, like, months, months and months of me constantly bringing that song back up, and playing it for her, and annoying the s— out of her. And she came around on it. 

She has very specific taste. So much of the music with Tate, it really is her steering. I'll do what I think is like a finished version of a song, and then she will push everyone for weeks, if not months, to extract every ounce of everything out of them, to push the song harder, further, edgier — 19 versions of a song, until finally she goes, "Okay, this is the one." She's a perfectionist.

I love [our latest single] "Hurt," but my favorite song on the album is called "Last Holiday." I probably started the beginning of that lyric, I'm not joking, seven, eight years ago. But I didn't finish it 'til this past year.

The verses are little maxims and words of advice that I've been given throughout the years. It's almost cynical in a way, the song. When I wrote the chorus, I was definitely in kind of a down place. So the opening line is, "So I don't believe in the stars anymore/ They never gave me what I wished for." And it's, obviously, a very not-so-slight reference to "Counting Stars." But it's also hopeful — "We've got some problems, okay, but this isn't our last holiday." 

It's very simple sentiments. Press pause. Take some moments. Find God before it all ends. All these things with this big, soaring chorus. Musically and emotionally and sonically, that song — and "Hurt," for sure — but "Last Holiday" is extremely us-sounding. 

The biggest enemy that we've had over the course of 18 years, I'll be the first to volunteer, is, this ever-evolving, undulating sound. No one's gonna accuse me of making these super complex concept albums, because that's just not how my brain's wired. I grew up listening to the radio. I didn't grow up hanging out in the Bowery in CBGBs listening to Nick Cave. So for us, the downside to that, and for me doing all these songs for all these other people, is the constant push and pull of "What is their sound? What genre is it?" 

I couldn't put a pin in exactly what the sound is, but what I would say is, if you look at the last 18 years, a song like "Last Holiday" really encompasses, sonically, what this band is about. It's very moving, and emotional, and dynamic. It takes me to a place — that's the best way for me to put it. And hopefully the listener finds the same.

Maroon 5 keyboardist PJ Morton's guest-stuffed new album, Cape Town to Cairo, is built on an attention-grabbing conceit. He wrote and recorded it within a 30-day span, while journeying the African continent, visiting Johannesburg, Lagos, Accra, up to Cairo, back down to South Africa.

But a good story is just that, and the entire project — which features Fireboy DML, Mádé Kuti, the Soweto Spiritual Singers, and others — would collapse without quality songs. "The songs were the main thing," the five-time GRAMMY winner says. "It doesn't matter who I have on these songs if I don't have any good songs, so that was the priority."

It's a chicken-or-egg situation; the raw materials of Cape Town to Cairo are solid, but the guests helped them truly pop. Of Nigerian native Fireboy DML, who Morton worked with in his home country: "I had a bit of my song 'Count on Me' already, and he sat there and wrote that in 20 minutes," he says, with awe still palpable in his voice.

Elsewhere, Morton hails South African trumpeter and composer Ndabo Zulu's sense of instrumental space on "All the Dreamers" (which also features singer/songwriter Aṣa), and on the highlife "Who You Are," Mádé Kuti's channeling of his grandfather Fela Kuti's essence.

What was Morton's primary takeaway from the experience? Most of us abstractly understand how much Africa influenced American music; it's another ballgame altogether to witness it firsthand — as this native New Orleanian did.

"When I'm in Lagos, Nigeria, and I'm seeing the horn players play, I'm like, Man, this feels like home," Morton enthuses. "I'm in Ghana, and I hear highlife, I'm like, This feels like a second line or something. And then, I eat jollof rice, and I'm like, Man, this is jambalaya. This is their version."

Read on for the full interview about Cape Town to Cairo, and what Maroon 5's working on in 2024.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

When our CEO, Harvey Mason jr., traveled Africa, he called the experience "mind-bending," "game-changing" and "eye-opening." What was your reaction?

Oh, man. That was constantly happening for me over and over. When someone says, "Welcome home," or I look at money and see a Black man on the money, I'm like, Man. This is a different place, and so much love.

But for me, it was all the connections I was making to my home. I mean, being from New Orleans, a lot of the food, the music, the way they dance in the streets, and the way they celebrate, it just was really a bunch of connections happening for me. I'd say it was a life-changing trip for me.

I totally hear that syncopation and swing in Maroon 5.

Yeah. This is a big statement, but ultimately all our music is African music. It's hard to unsee once you see that. Now, all I see and hear is Africa a lot of times. We've used those three chords and the truth forever. These banjos, these things were created in Africa.

I've been in Maroon 14 years, and I think a reason I connected with the guys is because we're influenced by the same things — even in different worlds that we didn't realize were the same things.

Can you talk about the process of making Cape Town to Cairo while on the road?

That's what was so crazy about this — I created the album in 30 days while in Africa from scratch.

So, there was no time to process and then put it together, which was also just fascinating — something I never do. I take my time. I'm intricate. I cross every T and dot every I, so this was an experiment in trusting my instincts and just trusting what I know that has gotten me this far in music.

That was a really interesting part — because I had to quickly process what I was feeling, or not even fully process, but allow my soul and my body to process it and just write whatever was coming out, and create whatever music that was happening in South Africa.

Sounds like a heavy readjustment of your usual thinking.

As soon as I stepped on the ground and the first day we were in the studio, everybody was kind of on edge because they didn't know what I was going to write. I didn't know what I was going to write, but three songs came immediately.

Three ideas came that very first day I was in the studio, and that kind of relaxed me a bit, but that was the process. It was feel where you are, go in the studio, write some melodies, create some music, come back a few days later, put lyrics to that, and then redo.

And so, we did from South Africa, we started in Cape Town, obviously to Cairo, but with Cape Town. Then we went to Johannesburg, and all in between this, I was doing shows. We were doing concerts. I was doing radio interviews, TV interviews. I really wanted to just engulf myself as fast as I could.

When we got to Lagos, we landed on Fela Kuti's birthday, who's the father of Afrobeat. And man, it was so inspiring for me. I went in the studio the next day in Lagos, and the same thing happened — three songs just like that, three ideas.

One thing that was also different from my process is, sequencing is so important to me, but I couldn't leave Africa without knowing that these songs worked together. So I had to kind of work through that process in a truncated period of time, but I'm so proud of what happened. It's just really listening to my instincts, and it is raw emotion, this album is.

Some of the songs, I didn't realize what I was talking about until after I listened to them, and it was like, oh, I thought I was talking about this, but I'm talking about this.

Such as?

"Please Be Good to Me," specifically, it was like, I thought it was like a sexy love song, vibe song, but I feel like I'm talking to Africa.

Like, Take me to another place. I don't need to be in control. I've promised all these people I'm going to write an album in 30 days. Continent, please be good to me. Just give it to me. I have bad writer's block sometimes, so I was hoping that didn't happen, and it worked out.

Fela Kuti… speaking of people who should be on money. But what's his significance to you, personally?

I just think the way he was a fighter, the way he was a band leader, I really pride myself on musicianship.

Again, being from New Orleans — Afro Orleans is the name of my new band that we're going out with in the summer, and it's the horns, it's the percussion and all of that. So it is in that spirit of Fela. Also, his grandson, Mádé Kuti, is on one of the songs, "Who You Are."

He's the first person that made me pay attention to African music in general. My gateway was Fela. And so, to connect it this way, and to finally be in Lagos where he did it — to be at the shrine — was just special.

You made Cape Town to Cairo in such an intuitive and freewheeling manner. How did you ensure an album came out the other end, and not a bunch of outtakes or something?

It was trial and error, man, because initially I was trying to do so much stuff that I was like, Wait, I lost my voice. You know what I'm saying? I was just trying to do too much, and I was like, OK, let's kind of refocus and keep the main thing. So, I had to cancel some interviews; I had to cancel some things and really focus on the main things.

For me, it was trusting those ideas, the things that felt good. What happens in the studio with me is, sometimes I'll have a good idea, but I'm like, well, I can beat that. Let me try to beat it, and then I'll try to beat it. Sometimes, that first one was the one that was supposed to happen, but technically I'm beating it.

But am I beating it? I don't know, because maybe it wanted to come out in that pure form, and not have me get in the way with all my knowledge and years of [experience].

So I started to really trust that. I really just was like, OK, first idea, let's go. This first melody, that's what came out. Let's go with that. Then, I would write lyrics to my mumble track of the melody that I felt right, that moved me immediately. Thankfully, I've been writing songs for a long time, and we got to it, man.

But you're right — it wasn't just about writing songs in 30 days. It's about writing a complete album that I thought was good in 30 days, which is a completely different thing. But I just locked in, man, and I'm still kind of tripping that it happened this way, but I can literally place every song and remember where I was because it's such a short period of time.

I can't wait to fully see the footage of me creating from scratch. We're working on the documentary now, but I've never seen myself make something from nothing [like] this. So, I'm excited to see the inception to the full thing.

What's Maroon 5 up to?

We just did Questlove's podcast and talked about it a little bit, but we're definitely working on a record. Adam's been on fire writing lately, and we just finished the residency in Vegas days ago. We'll be back in Vegas in September, at Park MGM.

But it's going great, man. The music is coming out really cool. I joined at a unique time, which is after Hands All Over and before "Moves Like Jagger" and all of that stuff. It was a transition when Adam started to bring in co-work, and Hands All Over is the last time they didn't use co-writers.

So, now it's back to just him writing, and it's refreshing. I can't lie. It's exciting.

2024 GRAMMYs: How The New Best African Music Performance GRAMMY Category Is A Massive Win For The World