Donna Grantis understandably had the particular late Prince on her mind whilst making her new solo lp,   Diamonds & Dynamite, whose title monitor is premiering exclusively below. The guitarist, a Toronto native, played with Prince as part of 3RDEYEGIRL and the New Power Generation. The girl was also working with him in a blend jazz collective that he set aside in order to concentrate on his solo piano shows before his death in 04 2016. And she was considering Knight in shining armor to produce  Diamonds & Dynamite , an eight-track arranged that takes Grantis back to the particular improvisational fusion roots she had been exploring before joining the Knight in shining armor universe. “This was something Prince and am talked about, ” Grantis tells Billboard. “He asked if he could generate the record, which is pretty insane since the direction of the record general was really influenced him in a lot of ways. He introduced me to some whole new repertoire of jazz songs I wasn’t familiar with. ” According to Grantis, that would particularly be Miles Davis’ fusion function of albums such as  Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson  and   On The Part.   “That’s the kind of songs that would be playing on (the PA) while audiences were coming in plus taking their seats at our own shows, ” Grantis recalls. During the time she leaned more toward  the background music of Billy Cobham and Ruben Scofield, jazz but “a bit more out on the busier side. As it pertains down to it, blues was really my basis as a player. ” But Prince’s tutelage opened some new scenery for her. “What We loved about it was the improvisation factor, which I’ve always gravitated toward, and that rock ‘n’ roll mindset, ” Grantis says. “We can have into exploring a lot of pretty uncommon terrain and even taking some fairly standard songs but playing all of them out a lot and taking these to some pretty far-out places plus exploring different sounds. I adored that, and it really shaped the particular direction for his process therefore (Prince) was in my mind the entire time I was making this record. inch Diamonds & Dynamite   also functions “Violetta” and “Transformer, ” a set of tracks released as a vinyl solitary during November on HockeyTalkter Information, the vinyl imprint operated simply by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready — who also appears around the songs. Grantis met McCready once the members of Pearl Jam went to a 2013 Prince concert within Seattle, and in May of 2016 the group invited Grantis to join all of them on stage during encores at their particular Toronto shows. “They’re just awesome guys, and Mike’s one of my personal favorite guitar players on the planet, ” Grantis recalls. “We talked about collaborating and that resulted in that release on HockeyTalkter. Paul loves vinyl, as do I, plus it just looks beautiful, like artwork. ” Grantis programs to tour in support of  Diamonds & Dynamite  and is continuing to work on songs for what she hopes will end up a prolific solo catalog. And he or she, like many others, is curious to find out what of her work with Knight in shining armor is in his vaults and will probably surface in the future. “We recorded a ton — it was simply part of our day to day, whether i was recording rehearsals or jams or even real specific arrangements of tracks, ” she remembers. “The music that were on (2014’s)  Plectrumelectrum   are just some of the songs that are around. There’s material presently there; I’m looking forward to hearing it at some time. “

How can you hope to fully honor an artist of the magnitude of Chris Cornell in a single evening? As a singer, his octave-scaling voice was beyond peer. As a songwriter, he made his mark time and again with dark, emotive, and affecting lyrics that influenced whole generations and touched the hearts of millions across the world. And as a frontman, well, whatever it is — that indescribable mix of charisma, bravado, mystery and raw sexual power — Cornell had more of it than nearly any your who’ s ever picked up that microphone. The answer, a minimum of according to the organizers behind the My corporation is The Highway tribute concert towards Wednesday night, was to pack all the Forum in Inglewood, California having several dozen of the most famous, talented, and in addition beloved musicians on the planet and let these folks have at it for several continuous hours of nonstop betting. The sheer breadth of the technique assembled, across so many genres pertaining to music, told the story of Chris’ s eclectic, artistic life in a manner that defied comprehension. It was the kind of demonstrate to that his memory demanded. Companies show that his friends, along with the 18, 000 or so fiends gathered together in that large ruedo will never forget. Your overall event was a rock lover’ le dream,   a  Gen-X variant of The Last Waltz or the Concert For George . You start with the Melvins’ chaotic and extremely high volume set —  mimicking their checking appearance ahead of Soundgarden at the band’ s Motorvision show at the Important Theater in Seattle in 1992 —  you were taken on an aural journey through Cornell’ s exceptional sonic palate. Metallica brutalized via renditions of early Soundgarden shapes like “ Head Injury” and as well as “ All Your Lies, ”  combined with their own song “ Master Connected Puppets” because why the hell genuinely? Foo Fighters dialed up undoubtedly Cornell’ s deep, solo slashes “ The Keeper, ” prior to rest of the band left their a person that can become a leader himself Grohl alone to dedicate the best tear-jerking take of his fresh “ Everlong” to his left friend. Queens of the Stone Age advance man  Josh Homme stunned durring an unorthodox, solo take on Johnny Cash’ s arrangement of Soundgarden’ amazing “ Rusty Cage. ” As a spectator, you were no given room to breathe earlier than someone like Ryan Adams impacting you with a gut-wrenching, full-string accept Soundgarden’ s “ Fell along Black Days. ” Or John Stapleton and Brandi Carlisle taking part in Temple of the Dog for “ Hunger Strike. ” Or Husbond Levine using his lithe falsetto to bring Cornell’ s solo Singles formula “ Seasons” to life, next to Bead Jam founder Stone Gossard not to mention acoustic guitar. Surprises abounded, and issues that seemed like they wouldn’ t working on paper turned into some of the evening’ ‘s biggest highlights. Jack Black scatting his way through an a cappella performance of “ Spoonman” to assassinate oxford learner’s thesaurus ? oxford university press, 2008. time ahead of Metallica’ s appear is a perfect example. One of affecting moments of the night replaced the music however. Brad Pitt was requested with introducing Chris’ daughter Toni, and though it was just the young musician’s third time ever performing especially in an environment of this magnitude, she emaciated with a tender cover of Dollar Marley’s classic “ Redemption Single, ” accompanied on acoustic guitar for Bob’s son Ziggy. Chris’   son  Christopher had the ease of bringing out the evening’ ings headliners, Soundgarden. His eldest child Lily imparted some of her father’ s wisdom onto all of us: “ Success didn’ t come from a real desire for success itself, it was constructed from a passion and an absolute have a weakness for what he did. ” After receiving an elongated standing délire, his wife Vicky touted your partner’s husband’ s philanthropic accomplishments. “ To me, and because of all of someone, Chris lives on as a music underworld whose passion for helping other businesses is more alive today than ever. ” The real the beef and bird of the show was delivered through reunions of three of Cornell’ s old bands, beginning with former ‘ 00s group Audioslave, individuals who the evening’ s host Jimmy Kimmell warned was one of typically two bands to ever display on his show and drive all their audience so crazy that the T. A. Riot Squad had to will be in and shut it down. Most of the reconfigured Audioslave lived up to their roudy reputation with a dynamic run through amongst “ Cochise, ” led merely by Jane’ s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell and Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. Guitarist Tom Bruno played like a man on fire from the “ Like a  Stone, ” and Dave Grohl sounded recommend he tore every shred with regards to his remaining vocal cords as you are singing “ Show Me How to Function. ” Next up would be Temple of the Dog —  at least 3/5 of Temple of the Tyke or mutt, with guitarist Mike McCready to singer Eddie Vedder unable to choose. Both men were sorely neglected, but nevertheless, Stone Gossard, bassist Shaun Ament and a revolving set of drummers gamely ran through their generally beloved material from that seminal alt-rock album. Among the entire lineup, synonymous that caused the most amount of head-scratching was Miley Cyrus —  a girl pop background didn’ t swiftly endear her to a certain section of Cornell’ s fanbase  — but know me when I tell you that he or she blew the doors off the place ready scorching vocals on “ Think that Hello 2 Heaven. ” Only a few dry eyes left after that specific. And then there was Soundgarden. After a short video tribute by means of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Url site, Cameron, guitarist Kim Thayil, or bassist Ben Shepherd emerged next to each other for perhaps the final time onstage to give their musical brother model hell of a send-off, reprising reaches like “ The Day I Attempted to Live, ” “ I Up, ” “ Loud Love, ” “ Drawing Flies, ” “ Rusty Cage, ” and “ Outshined. ” The trio ended accompanied by a multitude of singers, including The young swift Momsen, Thayil’ s MC50 bandmate Marcus Durant, Taylor Hawkins, and at last Carlile again who (with some help from Peter Frampton on guitar) slayed the evening’ s final vocals, “ Black Hole Sun. ” Simply put: It was incredible, intense furthermore undeniably cathartic. Now i am The Highway was an amazing & altogether fitting tribute to a generational artist. You could truly feel the real love, compassion, and effort that went into each and second of the show, from the person who took part in it. And still when it was all over, after every super star had their turn behind the several microphone, and while Kim Thayil’ beds guitar continued to blare  enter through the air, you couldn’ regarding shake the impossible desire for a guy himself to amble out of the wings one more time to show us all  the best way it’ s really done, in a very dynamic, stultifying way that only can. As Matt Cameron said although his introduction, “ There’ on hour so much I miss about Philip, but what I miss most within the him walking into a room. Chad is with us tonight. He’ a playful got the best seat in the house. ” Here’ s hoping.

---

Grammy nominees Camila Cabello , Cardi B , Dan + Shay , Article Malone , Shawn Mendes , Janelle Moná e and Kacey Musgraves would be the first group of performers announced for your 61st annual Grammy Awards. The particular hitmakers will all take the phase at the Feb. 10 show in the Staples Center in Los Angeles, that will air on CBS and be hosted by Alicia Keys . Cabello will make her Grammy performance first at the show where she is selected for best pop solo performance (“Havana (Live))” and best pop expressive album ( Camila ). First-time Grammy nominees Serta + Shay are in the combine for best country duo/group performance to get “Tequila, ” and fellow new nominee Malone has four nods, for record of the year (“Rockstar”), album of the year ( beerbongs  & bentleys ), best pop solo performance (“Better Now”) and best rap/sung efficiency (“Rockstar”). Moná e  is up for album of the yr ( Dirty Computer ) and best music video clip (“PYNK”). Two-time Grammy winner  Musgraves  is nominated for four honours as well, including album of the calendar year ( Golden Hour ), best country solo functionality (“Butterflies”), best country song (“Space Cowboy”) and best country concept album ( Golden Hour ). Cardi  increased for record of the year (“I Like It”), album of the 12 months ( Invasion of Personal privacy ), best pop duo/group performance with Maroon 5 (“Girls Like You”), best rap functionality (“Be Careful”) and best hip hop album ( Invasion associated with Privacy ). Mendes may also be performing on the Grammy stage the first time, where he’ll be vying regarding song of the year (“In The Blood”) and best pop expressive album ( Shawn Mendes ). The particular 61st annual Grammy Awards may air on CBS on February. 10 at 8 p. meters. ET/5 p. m. PT.

---

Norwegian producer Alan Walker has partnered with a short-video social-media app in 48 countries for a greater good. 

The title track of his debut album, Different World — released through Sony Music in December — addresses climate change, with the lyrics and music video reflecting the current state of the environment, and driving home a message of hope if everyone works together.

Walker, singer Sofia Carson, and two more producers CORSAK and K-391 are spearheading the #DifferentWorld campaign by posting four videos, encouraging users to do their part for the environment. This campaign runs across 48 global markets, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Western Europe.

On Jan. 23, 70 participants with the most creative videos will receive a variety of gifts endorsed by Walker, including signed posters, masks, tees and hoodies.

Allowing users to express their creative ideas through short videos, the campaign gives the community an opportunity to participate in a meaningful movement in a fun and inspiring way.

“I’m so excited to be introducing my new song with the launch of this #DifferentWorld challenge, and I’m looking forward to seeing the creative videos that the community comes up with,” Walker shared with Billboard Radio China in an email interview. “I want to use my voice to raise awareness on climate change and the environment where we live. All together, we can create a different world.”

My #DifferentWorld challenge is live now on @tiktok_us. Record yourself doing a small and fun environmental act with Tik Tok, using #DifferentWorld to join! Can’t wait to see your videos —- pic.twitter.com/bnP3TWBiWb

— Alan Walker (@IAmAlanWalker) January 13, 2019

A multi-talented artist, the rising Chinese producer CORSAK draws inspiration from both ancient and modern culture from his homeland China, with his musical style and signature sound resulting in a unique hybrid of genre-bending melodies.

“It has been an exciting experience for me as well to produce this song together with Alan, Sofia and K-391,” he shared. “I’m looking forward to creating more fun and inspiring moments in the campaign.”