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What if Taylor Swift had not won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal last night at the Grammys? How would she have announced her new album?
It’s all a little suspicious, isn’t it?
When Taylor hit the stage to pick up her 13th Grammy Award, she coyly let the news drop that “The Tortured Poets Department” was coming on April 19th.
At that moment all of her social media changed to feature the album cover and start pushing merchandise. It was as coordinated as a military takeover.
As in keeping with all Swift albums, there’s already a bonus track called “The Manuscript.” All the art direction is done and running today. There’s also a $35 version of the album that comes with a book full of arty photos.
So ask yourself: what if SZA had won last night? Or Miley Cyrus? What would Taylor’s people have done with all that pre-planned, ready to go marketing?
I was told several times over the last couple of weeks that Swift wouldn’t even commit to even attending the Grammys, let alone perform, if she wasn’t guaranteed a major win in advance. Even more oddly, all the main executives connected to her were seen exiting the main floor area of the Crypto Center before Album of the Year was announced. Did they know something we didn’t?
The timing of all of this is certainly worthy of a conspiracy theory. Taylor Swift is the best organized business since Apple. No stone is left unturned, ever. All of it is highly calculated and immaculately presented. This isn’t happening as a fluke, or by chance. I’ll bet the Harvard Business School will be offering courses soon in the marketing of this unique pop icon.
Stop the presses: Aerosmith is not over, by a long shot.
Also, Mariah Carey has some news about her next recordings.
At Clive Davis’s wild over the top A list pre-Grammy dinner, I had a cheerful chat with Ms. Carey. She never looked better and was happy to be in a music crowd.
I thought what was interesting about Mariah this past weekend is that she seemed a lot more like a team player. Not only did she bask in the camaraderie of Clive’s gang, but she also presented at the Grammys. With age, comes wisdom!
When I ran into her on the red carpet Saturday night, we talked about what she might be working on. I suggested maybe doing an album of classic songs that would show off her voice — which seems to be better than ever.
“It’s funny that you say that,” Mariah said. “There are going to be some things like that. You’ll see. You’ll like it.” I asked about some classic R&B, too. After all, the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” and Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” are two of her best recordings. Mariah agreed, and gave some hope that she’ll put aside scatting through hip hop songs at least once for a knock out pure vocal album!
I also connected with one of my best sources of info about Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. I’ve been concerned about Tyler. Last year he was in rehab. Then later in the year he had to cancel the rest of the group’s farewell tour because of vocal damage.
So what happened? “Steven really did have problems with his throat,” my source said. “The doctor said he had to stop singing and do nothing for at least six to 12 months. So he’s halfway through it and improving well. He will be back.”
And an album? “The group is planning an album of rap collaborations, just like they did with Walk this Way,” I was told. In the 80’s, Aerosmith joined Run DMC and a classic hit adapting their original record with those beloved rappers. Aerosmith is funky enough to do that with a bunch more of their songs.
It would make sense and also revitalize interest in their catalog that includes “Janie’s Got a Gun,” “Crazy,” “Dream On,” “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” and so on. There are plenty of new rappers whose talents would take to this project seamlessly. Maybe we’ll hear all this by the end of the year or early 2025.
With Chapman’s Grammy performance of her 1988 hit, “Fast Car,” the single is number 2 on iTunes and Luke Combs’s version is number 4. On the album charts, the Chapman album of the same name is number 1, and Chapman’s Greatest Hits collection is number 4.
The Grammys have also sent Miley Cyrus’s Record of the Year award winner “Flowers” back to number 1 on the singles chart. Three different versions of Joni Mitchell singing “Both Sides Now” have hit the top 30. Fans may not know about the original single, by Judy Collins, from 1969.
The number 3 single is Billy Joel’s “Turn the Lights Back On,” which Joel played last night on the show. “You May Be Right” and “Piano Man” are also on the iTunes charts. Fans also went looking to iTunes for Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” But Annie Lennox should have been allowed to finish the song. She was cut off too soon.
The Grammy show wasn’t perfect but it gets mostly high marks.
As for Tracy, you may not know this but she was discovered by Brian Koppelman, who went on to co-create “Billions” and movies like “Rounders.” Brian saw Tracy playing in Boston and got her to his father, the late great music man Charles Koppelman, and the rest is history!
There were so many big moments on the Grammys, it’s hard to know where to start. Joni’s reading of “Both Sides Now” was incredibly poignant after everything she’s endured healthwise. Fantasia took down “Proud Mary” in a fiery performance. Billy’s “Lights” lit up the stage. Burna Boy and co. were exceptional.
There were some misses. Janelle Monae was nominated for Best Album and never even mentioned. What was that all about? None of the nominees for Best New Artist were featured, especially Jelly Roll — he should have been front and center. Why did they choose “The Best is Yet to Come” for Stevie Wonder to sing about Tony Bennett? Tony is dead, the best has come and gone.
Overall the show was strong, though. We’ll see soon about the ratings. Meantime, the Academy might have done more to prepare for the monsoon rains engulfing the Crypto Center. The red carpet was incredibly soggy, and entree to the arena was not easy.
PS Meryl Streep has certainly taken to son-in-law Mark Ronson’s fame. She looked amazing on stage. But earlier in the day, Streep lost her Grammy contest for Best Spoken Word performance to Michelle Obama. No EGOT for Meryl this year!
For some reason no one understands, controversial congressman Matt Gaetz has been seen at Grammy rehearsals today. Oy vey.
Meantime, Taylor Swift does not seem to be performing despite her 6 nominations. I had heard over the weekend that Swift’s people said she would only do it if she knew in advance she was going to win. But this is the Grammys and CBS, so that wasn’t happening. So Swift will sit through the show from the audience to learn her fate.
Dua Lipa will open the show, and Billy Joel will close it. There will be In Memorian tributes to Tony Bennett, Sinead O’Connor, and Tina Turner. Jimmy Buffett gets a video tribute. Stevie Wonder — who I last saw at 2:30 this morning — will honor Tony. Fantasia and Oprah — still plugging “The Color Purple” — will do the honors for Tina. Annie Lennox sings “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
There’s been a lot of grumbling among nominees who aren’t superstars. The Recording Academy is giving only ticket to each nominee, and making them pay for a plus 1 or more. A musician named Cathy Fink originally posted her complaint to Facebook. Then I heard even Billie Eilish and other stars were in the same boat. But tickets cost a minimum of $750. For folk, jazz, and others who don’t have massive incomes, buying the extra ticket is a hardship to say the least. (Someone joked they could go to the Academy’s Musicares for the money. But they’re in trouble anyway.)
Gillis was fired from the cast in 2019 before the season started when videos were uncovered of him saying ugly things about Chinese people and making racist references to Chinatown. At other times, Gillis used homophobic and sexist language.
The comic was cancelled at least on “SNL.” But now that he’s become a hit on Netflix, the show is forgetting all that ever happened.
Gillis’s rise on Netflix seems unusual, but the streaming service is pursuing comedians in a huge way. Last night, CEO Ted Sarandos hosted a party at his home here in LA for 30 comics. Even Sarah Silverman was there, and her specials are on HBO. But everyone from Chris Rock to Tiffany Haddish was present. “It was an all star night,” said one guest.
When Gillis was fired from “SNL,” Lorne Michaels said in a statement that the language Gillis used was “offensive, hurtful and unacceptable” and that the show was “not aware of his prior remarks.” “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining ‘S.N.L.,’” the statement said.
The Gillis host appearance news comes on the heels of Nikki Haley making a controversial cameo on the show last night. She was mocking her famous “do you know what caused the Civil War?” answer in a town hall. This time around, “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri played the questioner, continuing the question by saying “it starts with sl and ends with avery.” Haley replied “that’s what I should have said.”
Why in the world would Lorne Michaels allow Haley a chance to repair her image on that show? I suspect this was a divisive moment not just for the audience but the cast. Edebiri, who’s beloved at the moment, is going to be asked about that a lot in the future.
But let’s not forget Donald Trump once hosted “SNL.”
Also of note on “SNL” last night: Jennifer Lopez lip syncing. Always fun to see the smoke machine, the hair flying around, the gyrating dancers all trying to distract from the spectacle of JLo. She’s done everything to sell her new record, and no one’s buying it.
I’m filing this at 6:16am New York time. Guests have only recently left the after party for Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy gala.
Only Davis, the great music mogul, could organize a room of 950 guests in which half of them are famous.
In the Beverly Hilton ballroom: Cher, Mariah Carey, Meryl Streep, Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson, Nancy and Paul Pelosi Smokey Robinson, Berry Gordy — and that’s the tip of the iceberg. The old guard met the new guard, everyone danced to groups like Public Enemy and the Islaey Brothers.
Tom Hanks introduced Clive, rattling off two or three dozen names of stars Davis either created or helped reach their stardom. Some — Like Dionne Warwick and Earth Wind & fire, and Melissa Manchester — who was at my table were there. (Also at my table Paul Shaffer and Frankie Valli. The latter is 89 and booking dates!
I jumped ahead: the night began with tennis great Serena Williams introducing her favorite band of all time, Green Day. And Serena wasn’t the only racquet-teer, Martina Navritolova was in the house.
The great songwriters Valerie Simpson and Diane Warren had their own table. So did Gregg Alexander — he wrote “Murder on the Dance Floor,” among others. More Hollywood types included the very hot Julia Garner. The Greatest Actress of all Time, Meryl Streep, came with daughter Grace and son-in-law Mark Ronson. Ronson performed a gender reversed version of his Oscar nominated “I’m Just Ken” with country star Lainey Wilson.
And then just quietly sitting around until it was their turn were legendary artists Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Dionne Warwick — and they closed the four show that had begun with no less than Green Day doing a medley of their hits. In between Green Day and these massive stars was a program that included Noah Kahan (who Meryl Streep really liked), plus Josh Groban singing Sondheim, then playing piano with a gospel choir and Michael Trotter Jr’s insanely emotional version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
The Hankses and the Dansons hung out, Cher and Steep reconnected, there was Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Sheila E., Lenny Kravitz, Boy Genius, Narada Michael Walden, Debbie Gibson, Kylie Minogue, producer Benny Blanco, Jack Antonoff with wife Margaret Qualley, Chloe and Halle Bailey, Janelle Monae, Don Lemon, and more more more! Comedian Jeff Ross brought Tiffany Haddish and Sacha Baron Cohen over from a dinner at Ted Sarandos’s house for 30 comedians.
Did I mention all the society types and philanthropists? There were plenty: Michael and Iris Smith, Nikki Haskell, Blaine Trump, Denise Rich, Barbara Davis with daughter Nancy and her husband Ken Rickel, to name a few.
But back to to Hollywood: Adrien Brody with Georgina Chapman, Michele Lee and Fred Rappoport, “Laugh In” producer George Schlatter — 93 and just published a memoir! I saw David Foster, Shania Twain, Luke Combs, Brandi Carlile, and MSNBC star Ari Melber. There was also Kenny Babyface Edmonds and Bon Jovi songwriter Desmond Child.
Ice Spice even performed and shook her derriere in the nicest way!
Forget Musicares or the Grammys. Or even the Vanity Fair Oscar party. Clive’s dinner is the centerpiece of entertainment. Each act is topping the previous one all night. Then finally Gladys Knight took the stage and delivered her own sublime rendition of “The Way We Were” — she had a big hit with it in 1974. Dionne joined her on stage with Andra Day and Keyshia Cole for “That’s What Friends Are For.” After a few minutes of vocal nirvana, Stevie came on stage and played the harmonica.
That was supposed to be the end. But then Stevie got the idea they should all sing “What the World Needs Now is Love.” Keep refreshing for the video. Stevie called out keys to the startled band and soon the room levitated. It was only then that I noticed the Nancy and Paul Pelosi and Berry Gordy were still there! So was much of the room, fixated on this legendary performance.
Look, in years past Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx, and all kinds of heavyweights made us think their shows were “the best ever” of the Clive Davis concerts. But this one will stand out — and not just because Cher and discussed ice cream! Or that I picked up news about new music being worked on by Aerosmith and by Mariah Carey. (More on that tomorrow.)
And Stevie? He had so much fun he trekked up to the Polo Lounge with everyone for the after party. He may still be there!
Sam Waterston was already a famous actor when he joined “Law & Order” as Jack McCoy. After a long run he took a break, then returned the most recent seasons.
Now Waterston is putting Jack to bed.
He’s 76 and I’m sure has lots of other things he wants to do. Tony Goldwyn will succeed him as the new DA. Waterston’s final show is set for February 22nd.
While “Law & Order” was off the air, Waterston starred with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Martin Sheen in “Grace and Frankie” for 7 seasons.
He has one Oscar nomination, a Tony nomination, an Emmy Award and several Emmy nominations.
We will also miss Jack McCoy, but he will live on in syndication. And Sam maybe could come back to theater. He was once the
standard bearer in Shakespeare productions at NY’s Public Theater. It’s been quite a career.
You may have heard that the great Carl Weathers has died at age 76.
Weathers starred with Sylvester Stallone in four “Rocky” movies as Apollo Creed. His character is the father of the Michael B. Jordan character in the “Creed” movies. Weathers has a long resume besides “Rocky,” but that’s his iconic film character. He was so popular after Rocky that he appeared in the James Brown video, “Living in America.”
See Stallone’s heartfelt video tribute to his old friend.
The Matthew Vaughn movie of Elly Conway’s novel has a rotten 34% among movie critics and bloggers.
Last night the movie made just $1.7 million, which means it’s headed for a very difficult opening weekend.
At the same time, the novel stands at number 555 on amazon.com’s best sellers list.
Someone hatched the idea to make Conway a pseudonym, a mysterious person who might be Taylor Swift. This started with the novel and then bled over to the movie.
But “Argylle” — with a great marketing campaign — isn’t clicking. No one took the Taylor Swift bait. And a two hour, 19 minute run time — what were they thinking?
The book is probably suffering more than the film. Universal is going to finish at number 1 this weekend with the Vaughn directed movie. But the chances for real “legs” are pretty minimal.
The movie is packed with stars — Oscar winner Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, even singer Dua Lipa — who’s opening the Grammy Awards Sunday night — which will give it an extra push.
Rachel Maddow’s interview on Monday night with E. Jean Carroll was a big hit.
Maddow on MSNBC scored 2.9 million viewers, beating Sean Hannity on Fox News by 400,00. Her victory brought MSNBC within 400,000 viewers of beating Fox News overall for the night.
Not bad!
Maddow Mondays are magic in ratings. The whole MSNBC roster rises significantly because of her.
Of course when Maddow asked Carroll how she would spend her $83 million she won from Donald Trump it was a great, and sarcastic, moment.
