On a wet but buzzing Thursday evening ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs, leading lights in the music industry gathered for the third annual Recording Academy Honors Presented By The Black Music Collective. Along the event's black carpet, stars and industry insiders were showing out — taking photos, reconnecting with friends and collaborators, and chatting with the press. 

The official 2024 GRAMMY Week event was held Feb. 1 — the first day of Black History Month — at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles and was sponsored by Amazon Music and City National Bank. Each year, BMC presents its Global Impact Award to legendary musicians advancing the culture, and 2024’s honorees Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey, loomed over the entire evening before they'd even arrived.

Flava Flav, sporting his patented clock necklace, was also hyped about the evening. "It means everything to be at the GRAMMYs tonight. This is big," Flav told GRAMMY.com. The rapper then spoke about the two transcendent stars being honored. "I feel real big about the honorees. Mariah Carey, always been proud of her and I love her songs…Lenny Kravitz is my dude. That’s my man. So congratulations Lenny!" 

The significance of the event was felt from the first foot set on the black carpet. Afrobeats star Fireboy DML weighed in on the importance of the night. "I’m honored. It feels good. It’s always important to be in spaces like this," Fireboy told GRAMMY.com, adding that he's excited about his upcoming fourth album. "It’s important for the culture." 

As attendees inside the jam-packed ballroom room eagerly awaited the main guests of the night, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. spoke about the momentum being built through Black Music Collective. 

"[Last year] I spoke how great it was to be holding the second annual BMC event. To me it meant we established a new tradition. And now the tradition proudly continues," Mason Jr. told the audience, emphasizing how the influence of Black culture can be found in all corners of the world and across musical genres. 

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A performance by Nigerian superstar Davido, a first-time GRAMMY nominee, spoke to the power of musical diversity in the Academy and BMC. Although the crowd had sat down with their appetizers, many stood up to vibe out as Davido performed his nominated song, "Unavailable."

By the time Andra Day, adorned in a bright red leather coat, got to the end of her rendition of "Strange Fruit" with support from trumpeter Keyon Harrold, everyone in the ballroom was on their feet. It was a great moment for Day, whose cover of Billie Holiday’s 1939 cry for justice hammered home the connection between Black artists across different genres and across time.

Gabby Samone garnered the second standing ovation of the night for her take on Nina Simone’s "Four Women." Simone has had a number of major cosigns as her star has grown brighter, and her fans include Jennifer Hudson and none other than Mariah Carey. Samone's performance was followed by a powerful song from Erica Campbell, whose I Love You is nominated for Best Gospel Album this year.

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A set from DJ Mannie Fresh, Kravitz took the stage to receive the first BMC Global Impact Award of the night. Introduced by mentee H.E.R, she talked about "American Woman’s" genre-bending influence on her own career and Kravitz's own influence from childhood. "The fashion, the confidence, the badass walk, and the killer vocals made me at six years old say to my dad ‘I wanna play guitar.’ ‘I wanna be a rockstar.’ ‘I wanna be like Lenny Kravitz,’" H.E.R. said. 

She then listed off some of Kravitz’s other accomplishments including working on "Rustin," the new Netflix film about critical civil rights architect Bayard Rustin, as well as Kravitz’s work in philanthropy through his Let Love Rule Foundation. 

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Once the din died down, Kravitz took a trip back to childhood, too. He shared how, when he went to go see the Jackson 5 with his family, and was so hooked that he dreamed of becoming part of the storied troupe. "I fantasized that I was their long lost brother and turned the Jackson 5 into the Jackson 6," he said.

Kravitz also spoke the various genres of music that helped mold him, drawn from many different corners. From his "grandfather’s block in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn," where he "witnessed the birth of hip-hop," to being shaped by legends like Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone. He also shouted out his godmother, the late great actress Cicely Tyson. 

In a particularly cool mashup of genre and generation, Quavo provided vocals to "Fly Away," flanked by P-funk all star George Clinton, Earth, Wind & Fire bassist Verdine White, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. At the end of the performance, Kravitz went over to each performer and hugged them.

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After a brief intermission, record producer and BMC Chair Rico Love shouted out leadership, including the Recording Academy board of trustees and Ryan Butler, Vice President of DEI. Love spoke about Black Music Collective as a space where everyone can feel at home. "The life of a creator is so hard. And lonely. That’s why it’s valuable to build community," he emphasized. 

Black Music Collective’s scholarship program, in collaboration with Amazon Music, Love said, will once again support HBCU students who aspire to be in the next generation of music industry power players. In 2023, scholarships were awarded to students at Florida A&M University, Texas Southern University, Norfolk State University, among others. Love recalls the mentors he had when he was coming up and is glad BMC is also paying it forward. 

Last night’s program found one of the few people on the planet that even Mariah Carey might be star struck by. Before the pop legend received her Global Impact Award, Stevie Wonder appeared and sat down over a keyboard. 

"Very excited to be here to celebrate someone that has been a friend and I’ve been a fan of since the very beginning of hearing her voice," he said, before serenading Carey with "I Just Called to Say I Love You," ending the rendition with "I love you, I love you, you are my hero."

Mariah Carey was seemingly surprised and star-struck herself. Once she overcame the awe, Carey detailed the pressure she faced early in her career to avoid leaning into Black music. "When I first started in the music business, I was often told to ‘conform’ to certain expectations. I was not encouraged to focus on my love for Black music," she told the crowd.

Later, some of Carey’s other friends and collaborators performed, including Babyface, who once sang backing vocals on Carey’s "Melt Away." (Carey then returned the favor by singing on "Every Time I Close My Eyes.") Another Carey collaborator, Busta Rhymes, performed crowd favorite "I Know What You Want" and offered sincere thanks to Carey for her boldness and desire to "run with the wolves." Tori Kelly also sang "Vision of Love" during this segment and earlier in the night, gospel legend Yolanda Adams performed "Make It Happen." The third annual Recording Academy Honors/BMC event certainly did make it happen, as attendees flooded out of the ballroom and into the streets pumped with pride.

2024 GRAMMYs: See The Full Nominees And Winners List

Head to live.GRAMMY.com all year long to watch all the GRAMMY performances, acceptance speeches, the GRAMMY Live From The Red Carpet livestream special, the full Premiere Ceremony livestream, and even more exclusive, never-before-seen content from the 2024 GRAMMYs.

During her acceptance speech at the 2026 Grammys, Laufey delivered one of the most inspiring calls to action in Grammy history. Accepting the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for A Matter Of Time, the Icelandic singer/songwriter gave a massive thanks to all the music educators around the world.

"I owe everything to my music education, to my arts education," she passionately said from the Grammy stage. "We cannot cut arts funding. It's so important. What you all do here is so important."

Much like Laufey, the Grammy organization strongly champions the power of music education and professional development. To mark Music In Our Schools Month this March, the organization that provides year-round learning, networking, and professional development is spotlighting the life-changing impact of music learning, honoring music educators, and elevating the next generation of creators and industry professionals through curated programs and immersive initiatives. The organization's commitment to music education supports the entire music ecosystem — from classroom to career — and ensures emerging leaders are prepared to shape the future of music.

"For me, both music education and professional development are the same: It all points to continuing education," Dr. Chelsey Green, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy, told the Grammy organization in an exclusive interview for the Gramophone newsletter. "Staying on top of your development is the holistic education needed to be as rounded and healthy as an artist as you can, especially as so many independent artists are emerging and sustaining their careers independently."

Here are six essential ways the Grammy organization and its affiliates support working professionals and emerging artists and leaders through year-round music education and professional development.

Investing In The Next Generation Through Mentorship & Career Access

The Grammy organization provides access to mentorship programs, internships, workshops, scholarships, and networking opportunities to ensure that music's next biggest stars and industry leaders are equipped with the tools, knowledge, and networks they need to thrive.

Grammy U & The Grammy U Mentorship Program

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Grammy U is the Grammy organization's premier membership program for the emerging music community, designed to help aspiring creators and professionals launch their careers. One of its flagship initiatives, the annual Grammy U Mentorship Program Presented by Amazon Music connects eligible Grammy U members with Recording Academy members for a six-month mentorship session, during which participants build relationships that often extend well beyond the program, with some mentees landing their first industry roles through the Grammy U Mentorship Program.

In celebration of Music In Our Schools Month, the Grammy U Mentorship Program will continue to host virtual programming for mentees this month, as well as Grammy U Mentorship Mixers across Chapters nationwide.

Leading Ladies of Entertainment Mentorship Program & Symposium

Created by the Latin Recording Academy in 2016, the Leading Ladies of Entertainment initiative bridges the gender gap in the music industry by honoring influential women and empowering future leaders. Paying-it-forward and forging opportunities for future generations is a core pillar of this initiative, and in 2021, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation established its Mentorship Program, where  past honorees and industry professionals provide personalized guidance to selected mentees over three months, offering insights into entrepreneurship, branding, career navigation, and leadership. Applications for the fifth cohort of the Leading Ladies of Entertainment Mentorship Program are open now through Monday, April 6.

In March 2026, the initiative launched its inaugural Leading Ladies of Entertainment Symposium, an inspiring, all-day gathering focused on mentorship, leadership, networking, and the advancement of women in music.

Opening Doors Through Scholarships & Financial Support

The Grammy organization actively works to remove barriers to opportunity via its various scholarship programs, which ensure talented students can pursue their dreams without financial limitations standing in the way.

Your Future Is Now

Presented by Amazon Music and the Recording Academy's Black Music Collective (BMC), the Your Future Is Now scholarship program awards scholarships and hands-on, immersive professional development experiences to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program will return for its fifth year in 2026.

Quinn Coleman Memorial Scholarship

Established in 2021 in honor of late music executive and DJ Quinn Coleman, the Quinn Coleman Memorial Scholarship, presented by the Grammy organization and Grammy Museum, provides professional development and resources that prepare students for full-time careers in music; resources include scholarships, stipends, wellness seminars, and internship opportunities at the Recording Academy or Latin Recording Academy.

Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Scholarships

The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation is a global champion of music education and empowers communities through Latin music and culture. For over a decade, the Foundation has fostered the next generation of Latin music creators through scholarships, education programs and grants that advance Latin music, such as:

• The Prodigy Scholarship, also known as the 2026 Noel Schajris Scholarship, which offers financial support toward a bachelor's degree at Berklee College of Music for the 2026 fall semester

• Gifted Tuition Scholarships awarded to students to cover tuition and housing costs, as well as wrap-around services provided by the Foundation, toward a four-year bachelor's degree at the institution of their choice

• Several Tuition Assistance Scholarships, which offer financial support to students pursuing or starting a degree in music in the 2026 fall semester

Learn more about and apply to the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation scholarship programs.

Immersive Learning: Real-World Industry Experiences

Professional development comes alive when students and rising professionals step into real music spaces and attain real-world experiences from working artists and executives. Here are a few examples the Grammy organization provides:

Grammy Camp

The music industry's only summer camp dedicated to delivering direct, real-world insight from working music makers, Grammy Camp is a national summer program for high school students. Led by Grammy winners, Grammy nominees, and music industry professionals, the program provides hands-on training and insider access across multiple disciplines — from performance and songwriting to production and music business.

Presented by the Grammy Museum, Grammy Camp is expanding to four U.S. cities for the 2026 summer season: Nashville, Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Grammy In The Schools

The Grammy Museum's Grammy In The Schools program is a regional music industry career day, presented in partnership with a local Recording Academy Chapter, that provides insight to high school students about diverse career options in the music industry and direction on how to prepare for them.

The Grammy In The Schools Music Industry Career Day program connects high school students with Grammy winners, Grammy nominees, and working professionals across disciplines, offering candid conversations about what it takes to build a sustainable career in music. The program also features keynote panels as well as hands-on, interactive workshops where students can learn about producing a track, writing a song, and navigating the industry.

For Music In Our Schools Month, Grammy In The Schools 2026, in partnership with the Recording Academy's New York Chapter, heads to New Haven, Connecticut, this month for a day of hands-on learning and interactive sessions.

Professional Development & Networking At Every Stage

The Grammy organization prioritizes professional development for its members, as well as the creative community and the music industry at large, throughout the year, providing hands-on access to career pathways across the industry and helping emerging professionals build the networks and skills that shape long-term careers.

The Los Angeles Chapter's NEXT Class program, founded in 2014, provides real-life experiences and mentorship and networking opportunities for emerging Recording Academy members as they begin their paths as future leaders of the music industry.

The monthly Level Up series, one of the Grammy organization's many exclusive membership programs, engages Recording Academy members through purposeful programming focused on professional development and member networking. For Music In Our Schools Month, the Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Chapters will collaboratively host a special edition of Level Up featuring Education Committee Members discussing music and health spaces.

In 2024, the Grammy organization established the Music Education & Professional Development Committee (MEPD), a hub to centralize its efforts and facilitate collaboration regarding education and professional development initiatives across the Recording Academy and its affiliates. Currently led by Co-Chairs and industry executives Nikisha Bailey and Riggs Morales, the MEPD Committee amplifies the organization's mentorship and education initiatives for its collective +29,000 members across its Chapters, Wings and affiliates, including Grammy U, the Grammy Museum, MusiCares, the Latin Recording Academy, and the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. The MEPD Committee includes Recording Academy members from across the country and activates locally at each of the Academy's 12 Chapters and on a national level.

Honoring The Educators Who Inspire The Next Generation

Every year, the Grammy organization proudly celebrates music educators through awards that spotlight the changemakers shaping the future of music and ensuring the impact and longevity of music education in the classroom.

Music Educator Award

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Presented by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Museum, the Music Educator Award honors current educators who have made a significant contribution to music education while demonstrating a deep commitment to ensuring music education remains a vital part of school communities.

Jennifer Jimenez, of South Miami Senior High School in Miami, Florida, received the 2026 Music Educator Award; she was honored at the annual Special Merit Awards ceremony in January during Grammy Week 2026.

Applications for the 2027 Music Educator Award are now open. Nominations are due March 15, 2026. Applications are due March 31, 2026.

Latin Music Educator Award

In 2025, the Latin Recording Academy, in partnership with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, launched the Latin Music Educator Award to honor educators from the global music community who are making a significant impact by incorporating Latin music into their curriculum.

Luciana Ortega, of the Instituto Santa María de San Carlos in Chile, was honored with the inaugural Latin Music Educator Award during Latin Grammy Week 2025 last November.

The Impact Of Music Education: By The Numbers

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The Grammy organization's commitment to music education and professional development is reflected not only in its programs, but in the thousands of lives they impact every year. Here's a look at the organization's impact on music education and professional development by the numbers:

Grammy Museum (in the last year alone)

• 18,000: Number of K-12 students who attended a workshop, field trip, or program at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles

• +38,000: Number of students and teachers who were impacted by 446 music education programs and initiatives at the Grammy Museum and across the country

• $200,000: The amount awarded in grants for music research and sound preservation by the Grammy Museum

• In 2025, the Grammy Museum announced free youth admission (17 and under), generously underwritten by the Stengaard Gross Family Education Initiative

Grammy U

• +8,000: The amount of Grammy U members worldwide

• +2,000: Participants in the current Grammy U Mentorship Program Presented by Amazon Music

• +130: Programs in 2025

• 700: Schools with members represented in Grammy U

Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation

• +$15 million: The amount the Foundation has awarded to students, schools, music programs, musicologists, and researchers from around the world to date

• New programs launched by the Foundation in 2025

  • Leading Ladies of Entertainment Fireside Chat  

  • Emerging Talent Spotlight  

  • Latin Grammy In The Schools Learning Session and After School

See the full list of winners and nominees from the 2026 Grammys.

Watch highlights and exclusive Grammys content from the 2026 Grammys all year long.

The Recording Academy's Black Music Collective (BMC) will host the fourth annual Recording Academy Honors, celebrating the illustrious careers of music legends Pharrell Williams, Brandy, and Kirk Franklin. Taking place Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, the event, an official Grammy Week 2026 event, leads up to the 2026 Grammys.

Williams will receive the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, recognizing his musical achievements, entrepreneurial innovation, philanthropic efforts, and global cultural influence. Both Brandy and Franklin will each receive the Black Music Icon Award, recognizing Black music creators whose artistry, innovation and service have shaped the industry and inspired generations around the world. Adam Blackstone will return as music supervisor for the evening.

"Pharrell, Brandy and Kirk are true visionaries and masters of their craft. Each has built a legacy that transcends genre, defies convention and shapes culture. Their artistry continues to inspire generations of artists around the world. I'm thrilled to join the Black Music Collective in honoring three of music's brightest stars in January and celebrating their immeasurable contributions to the industry," Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said.

Past Recording Academy Honors honorees include Alicia Keys, Dr. Dre, JAY-Z, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, Lil Wayne, Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott, and Sylvia Rhone.

Grammy Week is the Recording Academy's weeklong celebration comprising official Grammy Week events celebrating the music community and current Grammy nominees in the lead-up to the annual Grammy Awards. Grammy Week 2026 culminates with the 2026 Grammys, which take place live Sunday, Feb. 1, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The 2026 Grammys will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+ at 5-8:30 p.m. PT/8-11:30 p.m. ET. Hours ahead of the live telecast, the 2026 Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony will be held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on live.grammy.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel.

Learn more about Pharrell Williams below:

Williams is a 13-time GRAMMY Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated musician, filmmaker, philanthropist, and the Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, with over 10 billion combined global music streams to date.  This year, Williams produced Let God Sort Em Out, the highly anticipated return from Clipse, which earned five GRAMMY nominations, including Album Of The Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album, and Best Music Video. In 2024, Pharrell released his critically acclaimed animated biopic PIECE BY PIECE, directed by Morgan Neville in partnership with Focus Features and LEGO. The film features a 21-track soundtrack, including five new original songs written and performed by Williams alongside 16 catalog tracks from his career. Its titular single earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Film Music, bringing his career total to 43 GRAMMY nominations. Beyond music and film, Williams founded YELLOW in 2019, a nonprofit committed to evening the odds for youth through education. That same year, he launched the first SOMETHING IN THE WATER festival. In 2020, he debuted Humanrace, a brand dedicated to empowering individuals in their pursuit of well-being. Williams also launched Black Ambition, a nonprofit providing pathways to success for Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Learn more about Brandy below:

Multi-platinum, GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, and actress Brandy is one of the most influential artists in pop music history. She first rose to fame in the '90s with her quadruple-platinum self-titled debut album, her starring role in the hit sitcom Moesha and her iconic performance in Disney's television adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Revered by peers and fans as "the Vocal Bible," Brandy is celebrated for her unparalleled, emotionally rich voice and genre-defining catalog – from her five-time-platinum album Never Say Never and its GRAMMY-winning classic "The Boy Is Mine" to her acclaimed 2020 album b7. In 2023, she released Christmas With Brandy, a holiday album highlighting her continued evolution as a vocalist and storyteller. She continues to expand her creative imprint through acting, with roles in A24's The Front Room, Disney's Descendants: The Rise of Red and the 2025 film I Know What You Did Last Summer. She is currently preparing to release her memoir PHASES, described as the result of countless hours of reflection, work and healing.

Learn more about Kirk Franklin below:

Franklin is a 20-time GRAMMY Award-winning artist, songwriter and producer whose innovative fusion of gospel, R&B, hip-hop, and pop has redefined contemporary gospel music for more than three decades. His critically acclaimed 2023 album Father's Day featured the No. 1 single "All Things," earning him his 20th GRAMMY Award, followed by the uplifting 2025 release "Do It Again." Franklin recently received the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards for his enduring influence across music and entertainment, and debuted his original series Den of Kings, which drew over one million views in its first week. His influence spans generations and genres, highlighted by collaborations with artists such as Chance the Rapper, Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, and Mariah Carey. Beyond music, he continues to broaden his creative footprint through television and film, as well as his SiriusXM channel, Kirk Franklin's Praise. A committed mentor and advocate, he supports emerging talent through initiatives like Camp Lotus and champions organizations such as Compassion International and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He remains committed to inspiring people worldwide with a message rooted in faith, love and resilience.

Franklin was initially set to be honored during the 2025 event prior to the Recording Academy's decision to condense GRAMMY Week programming to prioritize Los Angeles wildfire response. See here for Franklin's initial announcement as the Black Music Icon Award honoree.

Learn more about the Black Music Collective below:

The Black Music Collective (BMC) is an advisory board of music industry leaders dedicated to advancing opportunities in Black music and championing increased representation across the field. Since its inception, the BMC has remained dedicated to championing and empowering Black music creators and industry leaders. Powered by the Recording Academy's DREAM Network, the BMC serves as a central hub for creators and business leaders across all genres, uniting visionary voices to set unified goals, foster community and drive meaningful change within the industry. In further support of its mission to cultivate the next generation of Black leaders in music, the BMC awarded $85,000 in scholarship grants last year to Black college students and HBCU music programs.Learn more about the Black Music Collective and follow the BMC on Instagram and Facebook for more news and updates.

Learn more about the Black Music Collective and the Recording Academy's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, recent DEI achievements, and year-round work to support artists, creators and music professionals of all backgrounds.

Award-winning global creative and experiential agency MVD Inc. returns to produce Recording Academy Honors for the fourth consecutive year. Guests will enjoy specialty cocktails by PATRÓN Tequila throughout the star-studded celebration.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in 2023 but was updated in 2025 with the addition of four songs.

If the holiday of trick or treating, pumpkin carving and decorating the yard with skeletons is your favorite of the year, then you'll no doubt already have a playlist stacked with creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky bangers ready to fire up on Oct. 31. But if you want to add a bit of prestige to your supernatural soundtrack, there's another list of Halloween-friendly songs to check out — one that highlights another celebrated annual occasion.

Along with giving GRAMMY gold to the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer and Vampire Weekend, the Recording Academy has embraced the odd musical spooktacular in several forms. It granted Halloween obsessive Frank Zappa Best Rock Instrumental Performance for Jazz from Hell in 1988; the year after, it handed Robert Cray Band Best Contemporary Blues Recording for Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. In fact, two of the GRAMMYs' most decorated albums are eerily titled: Michael Jackson's Thriller and Santana's Supernatural, which respectively won seven and nine golden gramophones.

The Recording Academy has also dished out goodies (of the statuette, rather than the sweet, variety) to the likes of Mavis Staples' "See That My Grave Is Clean," Chick Corea's "Three Ghouls," Mastodon's "A Sultan's Curse," and TLC's "Creep." And it's given GRAMMY nominations to several more ominously named releases, including Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft," AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," Jeff Beck and Joss Stone's version of the spooky classic "I Put a Spell On You," and Olivia Rodrigo's "vampire."

In celebration of Halloween, check out 14 other works — whether creepy-sounding or creepily titled — that have left Music's Biggest Night completely bewitched.

Stevie Wonder — "Superstition"

Best Rhythm & Blues Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance Male, 1974 GRAMMYS

It seems unlikely that Stevie Wonder walked under a ladder, crossed a black cat, or "broke the lookin' glass" while recording "Superstition" — the squelchy Moog-funk classic kickstarted his remarkable run of 25 GRAMMY Awards when it won both Best Rhythm & Blues Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance Male in 1974.

Taken from what many consider to be his magnum opus, 1972's Talking Book, "Superstition" also gave Wonder his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in over a decade. And the soul legend further leaned into its supernatural theme in 2013 when he appeared as a witch doctor in a Bud Light Super Bowl commercial soundtracked by the ominous chart-topper.

Mike Oldfield — "Tubular Bells"

Best Instrumental Composition, 1975 GRAMMYS

Considering how perfectly Mike Oldfield's prog-rock epic Tubular Bells complements all-time classic horror flick The Exorcist, it's remarkable to think that it was recorded before director William Friedkin came calling. Oldfield, then aged only 19, used a variety of obscure instruments across its two mammoth pieces. Yet, it's the brilliantly creepy Steinway piano riffs that open Part One that are still most likely to bring anyone who experienced the movie's hysteria in a cold sweat.

Oldfield was rewarded for helping to scar a generation of moviegoers for life when a condensed version of his eerie masterpiece picked up the Best Instrumental Composition GRAMMY in 1975.

The Charlie Daniels Band — "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"

Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group, 1980 GRAMMYS

The Charlie Daniels Band certainly proved their storytelling credentials in 1979 when they put their own Southern country-fied spin on the old "deal with the devil" fable. Backed by some fast and furious fiddles, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" tells the tale of a young musician named Johnny who bumps into Beelzebub himself during a jam session in the Peach State. Experiencing a downturn in soul-stealing, the latter then bets he can win a fiddle-off, offering an instrument in gold form against Johnny's spiritual essence.

Luckily, the less demonic party proves he's the "best that's ever been" in a compelling tale that GRAMMY voters declared worthy of a prize, Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group, in 1980.

Michael Jackson — "Thriller"

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, 1984 GRAMMYS

The 1984 GRAMMYs undeniably belonged to Michael Jackson. The King of Pop picked up a whopping 11 nominations for his first blockbuster album, Thriller, and then converted seven of them into wins, including Album Of The Year. (He also took home Best Recording for Children for his narration on audiobook E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.)

Remarkably, the title track's iconic John Landis-directed (and thrillingly horrific) video didn't feature at all; its making of, however, did win Best Music Film the following year. But the song itself did pip fellow superstars Prince, Billy Joel and Lionel Richie to the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance crown. Jackson would also win a GRAMMY 12 years later for another Halloween-esque anthem, his Janet Jackson duet "Scream."

Duran Duran — "Hungry Like the Wolf"

Best Music Video, Short Form, 1984 GRAMMYS

Produced by Colin Thurston, the man behind another early '80s Halloween-friendly classic, (Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy"), "Hungry Like the Wolf" cemented Duran Duran's status as MTV icons. Alongside their much raunchier earlier clip for "Girls on Film," its jungle-themed promo was also responsible for giving the Second British Invasion pin-ups the inaugural GRAMMY Award for Best Music Video, Short Form; it featured on the Duran Duran compilation that was crowned Best Video Album, too. Frontman Simon Le Bon had been inspired to write their U.S. breakthrough hit by Little Red Riding Hood, giving the new wave classic its sinister, and appropriately predatory, edge.

Ray Parker Jr. — "Ghostbusters"

Best Pop Instrumental Performance, 1985 GRAMMYS

Ray Parker Jr. not only topped the Hot 100 for four weeks with his ode to New York's finest parapsychologists, he also picked up a GRAMMY. Just don't expect to hear "who you gonna call?" in the winning version — it was in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance where "Ghostbusters" reigned supreme.

The fact that Parker Jr. wrote, performed, and produced the entire thing meant he still took home the trophy. However, Huey Lewis no doubt felt he should have been the one making the acceptance speech. The blue-eyed soul man settled out of court after claiming the spooky movie theme had borrowed its bassline from "I Want a New Drug," a track Ghostbusters' director Ivan Reitman admitted had been played in film footage intended to inspire Parker Jr.

TLC — "Creep"

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, 1996 GRAMMYS

Although nothing to do with the 2004 London underground slasher or 2014's same-named found-footage horror, TLC's "Creep" still has a strong connection to the scariest date on the calendar: it was released on Halloween in 1994. Furthermore, its themes of infidelity left Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes so spooked that she initially planned to gag herself for its iconic satin pajama video in protest.

Redefining its titular term, the four-week chart-topper finds the husky-voiced T-Boz freely admitting to straying from an unaffectionate relationship, proving that the playa anthem wasn't solely the reserve of their male counterparts. It's a bold feminist act that helped power parent album CrazySexyCool to diamond status and was deservedly rewarded with Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal at the 1996 GRAMMYS (where CrazySexyCool was also crowned Best R&B Album).

Ralph Stanley — "O Death"

Best Male Country Vocal Performance, 2002 GRAMMYS

Traditional Appalachian folk song "O Death" had previously been recorded by the likes of gospel vocalist Bessie Jones, folklorist Mike Seeger and Californian rockers Camper Van Beethoven, just to name a few. Yet it was Ralph Stanley's 2002 version where GRAMMY voters first acknowledged its eerie a cappella charms.

Invited to record the morbid number for the Coen brothers' period satire O Brother, Where Art Thou, the bluegrass veteran won Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 2002 ceremony, also picking up a second GRAMMY alongside the likes of Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris when the soundtrack was crowned Album Of The Year.

Skrillex — "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites"

Best Dance Recording, 2012 GRAMMYS

David Bowie fans may well feel aggrieved that his post-punk classic "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" was entirely ignored by GRAMMY voters, while the bro-step banger it inspired was showered with awards. The title track from EP Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites added Best Dance Recording to Skrillex's 2012 haul: the asymmetrically haired producer also walked away with Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his work on Benny Benassi's "Cinema." Packed with speaker-blasting beats, distorted basslines, and aggressive synths, Skrillex's wall of noise is enough to scare anyone off their pumpkin pie.

Eminem feat. Rihanna — "The Monster"

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, 2015 GRAMMYS

Who says lightning can't strike twice? Just four years after picking up five GRAMMY nominations for their transatlantic chart-topper "Love the Way You Lie," unlikely dream team Eminem and Rihanna once again joined forces for another hip-pop masterclass. Unlike their previous collab, however, "The Monster" didn't go home empty-handed, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2015 ceremony. The boogeyman hiding under the bed here, of course, isn't a Frankenstein-esque creation, but the mix of paranoia, self-doubt and OCD that leads the Real Slim Shady into thinking he needs a straitjacket.

Jason Isbell — "If We Were Vampires"

Best Americana Roots Song, 2018 GRAMMYS

While the Twilight franchise may have failed to add a GRAMMY to its trophy cabinet, it did pick up several nominations. But four years after the Team Edward vs Team Jacob saga wrapped up, folk hero Jason Isbell proved mythical bloodsuckers weren't a barrier to awards success.

Emerging victorious in the Best Americana Roots Song Category, "If We Were Vampires" is a little less emo than the various Twilight soundtracks. Still, as a love song dedicated to wife Amanda Shires — and the quiet acceptance that the Grim Reaper will inevitably end their story — it's certainly no less emotional.

Esperanza Spalding — "12 Little Spells"

Best Jazz Vocal Album (12 Little Spells), 2020 GRAMMYS

Gleefully playing the witch doctor, prolific singer/bassist Esperanza Spalding individually released every song (and an accompanying video) from her seventh album across 11 days before serving up its cauldron of genre-hopping sounds in full. Designed to celebrate the healing powers of art, each referred to a specific part of the body ranging from the abdominal portal to the thoracic spine. The title track's typically esoteric ode to the latter ("Casual ribs house an expanded mind/ Left and right hemispheres in balance") is arguably the most spellbinding part of an alternative human biology lesson that enchanted GRAMMY voters enough to win Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2020.

SZA feat. Phoebe Bridgers — "Ghost in the Machine"

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, 2024 GRAMMYS

Despite its ghoulish title, artificial intelligence appears to be the object of terror in what many, including the GRAMMY voters who awarded it Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2024, regard as the highlight of SZA's sophomore. But while the progressive R&B star expresses a world-weary disillusionment with how machines are taking over her livelihood ("Robot got future, I don't/ Robot get sleep but I don't power down"), her musical partner-in-crime Phoebe Bridgers seems more haunted by the breakup — one that's left her standing alone in an airport bar. The result is a tale of two halves that lives up to SZA's "super alternative and strange" claims.

Laufey — "Haunted"

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album (Bewitched), 2024 GRAMMYS

Sadly not a tribute to the classic '60s sitcom starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Bewitched is instead a self-described "love album" that helped Laufey surpass Björk and Sigur Ros as Iceland's most streamed artist. The singer/songwriter also picked up a Best Traditional Pop GRAMMY in 2024 for her second LP, an immaculate collection of jazz, pop and classical that bridged the gap between Gen-Z and the Great American Songbook. And "Haunted," a poetic lament to unrequited love ("Rose perfume, low-lit room/ I'll pretend you'll stay forever") soundtracked by shuffling bossa nova beats and sultry strings, casts its most potent musical spell.

As Mariah Carey settles into the Friday night before Labor Day, she's the picture of cozy luxury, eating Chinese food and sipping a glass of wine. And as the superstar asserts, she wouldn't have it any other way: "The Era of Mi is fabulous."

Just a few days earlier, the five-time GRAMMY winner had heralded the "Era of Mi" in the countdown to her long-awaited 16th studio album, Here For It All. 

"The Era of Mi basically just means, like, I'm gonna do whatever I want," she declared on social media, seated elegantly in front of a gigantic screen displaying the album's beaming, black-and-white cover art. "It's really just about owning the moment." 

For both singer and her devoted Lambily, the moment in question has been a long time coming. After all, a new Mariah Carey album doesn't come around every day: Here For It All marks the icon's first collection of original music since 2018's chilly, atmospheric Caution. 

With its carefree attitude and timeless sound, the studio set not only embraces Mimi's outlook in her newly declared era, it serves as a jubilant celebration of everything she's built throughout her record-breaking career. Across its 11 tracks, the music of Here For It All represents everything Mariah does best — from laying bare a broken heart with commanding poise on "In Your Feelings" to throwing her trademark shade with devastating accuracy on the withering "I Won't Allow It."

Out Sept. 26, the album also provides a new soundtrack for what's turned out to be a particularly celebratory year for Carey. She just marked the 20th anniversary of her landmark, GRAMMY-winning 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi with a sprawling, 40-track re-release filled with remixes, previously unreleased bonus tracks, live cuts and more.

In recent months, she's also received recognition at numerous different awards shows for, remarkably, the very first time in her career. In June, she was honored with the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET Awards; months later, she received the Michael Jackson Vanguard Video Award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards. ("I can't believe I'm getting my first VMA tonight…I just have one question: what in the Sam Hill were you waiting for?" she quipped to rapturous applause during her acceptance speech for the latter.)

In the intervening near-decade since her last album, the Songbird Supreme has also added exciting and mind-blowingly successful layers to the unparalleled business of being Mariah Carey — including publishing The Meaning of Mariah Carey, her No. 1 New York Times best-selling memoir; collaborating with pals like Ariana Grande ("yes, and?") and Latto ("Big Energy"); and completely dominating the Christmas season, thanks to "All I Want For Christmas Is You" making its annual trip to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the last six years and counting. 

And yet, amid the nonstop accomplishments and festivities, Mariah was also quietly at work in The Butterfly Lounge, her home recording studio/personal sanctuary, creating new music with a handful of trusted collaborators. According to Carey, the birth of Here For It All occurred thanks to those signature "Mariah ballads" she teased in a June sit-down with Apple Music. "I didn't really know where they were going, what we were doing," she recalled, "I just knew that I was in ballad zone."

The first song to come out of those early sessions was "Nothing Is Impossible," an inspirational number that follows in the grand tradition of past anthems like "Hero," "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" and The Emancipation of Mimi's Lambily-adored closer "Fly Like a Bird."

There's also "Here For It All," a personal favorite Mariah loved so much that she decided to make it the title track for the entire project. ("I named the album Here For It All because I didn't want anyone to skip over that one — even though it's the last one on the album," she quips.) Each intimate song proves that there's also a raw, vulnerable side to the Era of Mi, too — one that pulls back the curtain to show fans even more of the humanity behind one of the world's greatest voices.

Carey's new era is hardly all big ballads and melisma, though. On the chic, self-referential album opener "Mi," she sets the tone by leaning fully into her persona as the music industry's most fabulous diva, proudly declaring, "I don't care about much if it ain't about Mi/ Let the money talk first, conversations ain't free/ I'm the D-I-V-A, that's MC/ I'm the hot toddie, hottie body, yea that's tea."

And when it came time to kickstart the official roll-out for Here For It All at the beginning of the summer, she selected the hotshot "Type Dangerous" as its lead single — a banger that finds her strutting through a crowd of adoring, autograph-hungry fans on the hunt for a bad boy (all while "dripped in Balenci', cropped leather coat and some nine-inch Fendis," naturally).

With its swaggering sound rooted in old-school soul and new jack swing, "Type Dangerous" quickly earned Mariah the milestone 50th hit of her career on the Billboard Hot 100. It also turned into a crossover success at both urban and pop radio, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult R&B Songs chart, reaching the top 10 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and reaching the Top 40 of numerous pop tallies.

While the icon says that she was "super happy" about the single's success, she also gushes over sampling Eric B. and Rakim's 1986 debut single, "Eric B. Is President," on the track: "I mean, that sample is my favorite. Like, people have no idea how much I love that song." And though Carey admits she was initially hesitant to utilize such a treasured hip-hop classic, the choice led to yet another milestone moment this year, with Rakim joining her for an opulent, history-making performance on the BET Awards stage in June.

Along with sampling the song's stuttering, instantly recognizable refrain — "Ma-ma-make 'em, make 'em clap to this!" — Mariah cleverly interpolated some of Rakim's own lyrics from "Eric B. Is President" into the rhyme scheme of "Type Dangerous." But the most savage stanza is all Mimi as she coos, "Hit the little girls room to powder my nose/ Then came in three hatin' ass hoes/ They don't know the meaning of water nor soap/ I don't have time for the rigamarole."

Of course, hearing an unfamiliar word like "rigamarole" in a Mariah Carey song should come as no surprise to anyone who's been listening for the last 35 years. After all, the songstress has been expanding the Lambs' understanding of the English language from the moment she found herself "so enraptured" on "Vanishing," the pristine, melismatic ballad from her 1990 self-titled debut. In Mariah's world, why use a boring, basic word when you can educate the masses with something fabulous instead? 

It's not just the "rigamarole," either. The singer's sense of wordplay remains as reliably razor-sharp as ever throughout Here For It All — whether she's delivering an onomatopoeic "Clink, clink, clink, pow/ Look at me now" on the bittersweet "Confetti & Champagne," or promising she's "gonna use [her] expertise" to keep it "nice, nice, neat, neat" on the album's delightful, dancehall-inflected second single, "Sugar Sweet."

As Carey tells it, her legendary lyrical prowess is actually rooted more in the emotion of the moment rather than an academic approach to choosing the perfect word or turn of phrase. 

"It's more like, What is my vibe right now? What am I feeling? And then sometimes, a specific word will just come to me that works within the sentence that we're singing. So I use it," she explains matter-of-factly. "And it's so funny, 'cause a lot of people say to me, 'I learned to speak English from you' and different things like that. It's amazing."

On the business front, Here For It All marks Carey's first release under her very own namesake imprint, MARIAH, in an exclusive partnership with gamma. "I was so tired of the major label system," she sighs. "They're bleak, darling." 

Carey personally shouted out gamma. during each of her two acceptance speeches at the VMAs on Sept. 7. But in conversation, the Elusive Chanteuse remains rather, well, elusive about the specifics of her deal with the pioneering media company and how it may or may not change the ownership structure of her catalog.

"I've been doing this for a long time now, and I don't know what gives me more control, what doesn't," she muses. "It's just an interesting life." (Coincidentally, since its founding in 2023 by former Apple executive Larry Jackson, gamma. has also helped many of Carey's past collaborators, including Snoop Dogg, Usher, Rick Ross and French Montana, release their own records as well.)

While each of those stars have helped Mariah capture the zeitgeist over the decades on fan-favorite tracks like "It's Like That," "Crybaby" and "How Much," she went in an altogether different and more Mi-inspired direction with one particular quartet of collaborators on Here For It All: The Clark Sisters.

Together with the modern gospel icons, Carey wrote and recorded the reverential worship song "Jesus I Do." And as it turns out — despite being one of the most famous and successful artists in Billboard history — Carey is the first to admit she found herself positively starstruck once the pioneers of the famous "Clark Sound" walked into the studio. 

"I've wanted to work with them forever. Especially Karen. All of them, but especially Karen because she's the First Lady!" she raves over collaborating with the GRAMMY-winning sister act. "It was just like a miracle — they were The Clark Sisters, and there they were sitting on the couch next to me. I have no words for how amazing that was."

Releasing her first album in nearly seven years has also given Mariah — a star notoriously averse to acknowledging the passage of time — the rare opportunity to reflect on each chapter of her historic career, which she's done album by album in the lead-up to Here For It All's unveiling. 

"You know, sometimes I like it, sometimes I'm like, 'Ahh, I can't look at this, I don't want to look at this!'" MC jokes about the choice to revisit each of her 16 album covers. (She also spilled plenty of behind-the-scenes tea on the trip down memory lane — from the fact that "somebody didn't want [her] to be that uncovered" in the super-cropped artwork for 1993's Music Box to shooting the cover of 2002's Charmbracelet in Capri, Italy.) 

"But it is great, because I'm able to reminisce … From the time I first started till now, it's a pretty long time," she continues before dropping her voice and deadpanning, "But I don't know numbers."

One number Carey is willing to recognize is the 30th anniversary of 1995's Daydream, which magically happens to coincide with the release date for Here For It All. And in conversation, it's clear that the record, which was certified 11x Platinum by the RIAA and has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, remains a cherished memory worth celebrating for the superstar.

"I would have to say that 'Always Be My Baby,' my first song that I wrote with my dear friend Jermaine [Dupri] — that's one of my favorite memories from Daydream," she says, before adding fellow charttopper "Fantasy" to the list. 

"Especially the version with O.D.B.," Mariah continues. "And everybody was telling me, 'Oh, you shouldn't do that. Why are you gonna work with him? What does that mean? Why are you even doing that?' And they didn't know what they were talking about, and then it went on to be one of my biggest records ever." (Clearly, as every Lamb well knows, following her artistic intuition despite the naysayers has been a guiding principle in Mariah's career since long before she put a name to it in her current Era of Mi.)

Next up, the singer is set to return to her throne as the Queen of Christmas with her latest residency, Mariah Carey's Christmastime in Las Vegas (once "It's Time," of course). The slate of festive shows run from Nov. 28 through Dec. 13 at the Dolby Live at Park MGM, but don't expect Carey to hit the road for a tour any time soon.

"I just want to take a little time for me — the Era of Mi," she says. "I think we're gonna do a deluxe album and then take it from there. But right now, I just really don't want anyone to tell me that we're gonna do any kind of touring. I can't handle it."

Instead, after getting some magical help from Santa Claus and Rudolph through the holiday season, Mariah plans on jetting off for a private holiday in the sun where things will remain, obviously, all about Mi: "Up my sleeve is Eleuthra. It's a beautiful place in the Bahamas, and I've gotta go there. [It's going to be] next level. Eras and eras of Mi."