The Superbowl is quickly approaching. It airs this Sunday 2/12/23 on FOX and will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. The big focus is on the Halftime Show. Even Adele said she would only be attending the game because of who is performing at the Halftime Show. That would be Rihanna. Rihanna is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. She has 14 number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, over 30 top 10 hits and a dozen more songs that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Rihanna has been an artist fans have wanted to do the Halftime Show for a long time as well as the Superbowl. It was reported that in the past Rihanna has been asked to perform and turned it down. Another exciting thing about Rihanna doing the halftime show now is she has just reserviced on the music front. Rihanna’s last album Anti came out in 2016 which was 7 years ago. Fans are anxiously awaiting her 9^th album which fans have dubbed R9.

Rihanna has a lot going on. She is a businesswoman. She owns Fenty Beauty, a cosmetic company and Savage X Fenty which is a lingerie company. Both are massively successful. She has been in movies. She did Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Ocean’s 8 in the time since her last album dropped. She has done music sporadically since her last album being featured on tracks by DJ Khaled for his song Wild Thoughts which also featured Bryson Tiller, Kendrick Lamar’s song Loyalty, the N.E.R.D. song Lemon, & Party Next Door’s song Believe It. Toward the end of last year, Rihanna released her first music in years with the Oscar Nominated song Lift Me Up for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. The song has so far peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also did another song Born Again which is also part of the Wakanda Forever soundtrack.

There are two big questions for the Halftime Show. What will Rihanna perform out of her huge list of hit songs and will there be any surprise guests? Some of Rihanna’s hit songs include Umbrella featuring Jay-Z, What’s My Name?  & Work featuring Drake, Break it Off featuring Sean Paul, Hard featuring Jeezy, Hate that I Love You with Ne-Yo, We Found Love featuring Calvin Harris, and Stay with Mikky Ekko. Those are just some of the hits. There are also deeper cuts that have featured Slash, Eminem, Nicki Minaj and many others. Rihanna has also been featured on hit songs with Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Shakira, Jay-Z, and tons more. There have been rumors that Rihanna will be bringing guests. The question is who. There is also the possibility that she could use this platform to debut a new song from her long awaited album. It has been said that this could finally be the year that her album gets released. They have been saying that for the past few years now. This would be a great way to get the rollout for the new album going. It has been said that Rihanna is planning on making a big announcement after the halftime show. Could it be the official release date for her album? Could it be the official announcement of her album? Could it the official announcement of her single and an album? Fans are anxiously waiting and hoping for all of the above.

I am excited for the Halftime Show. I think Rihanna will put on a good show. She has a huge catalogue to sift through. This will also be her first televised performance in years. This could be one of many. Since she is Oscar nominated for Lift Me Up, she could perform that song at the Oscars. We only have a week to go for all to be revealed.

The 65^th Grammy Awards will be airing this Sunday 2/5 on CBS at 8pm ET and streaming live on Paramount  Plus. A lot has changed when it comes to award shows. There used to be a time when the Grammys would attract over 20 million viewers or higher. 8.9 million viewers watched the 2022 Grammys. Live award shows have gone down in the ratings over the years. They don’t have the same buzz they once did. Every year, I am always seeing headlines saying “the least watched (pick award show) yet. “Grammys are down from last year. Grammys hit record low. However, last year’s telecast was up slightly from 2021. In music the Grammys were the main event. It was the crown jewel the same way the Oscars are to film, or the Emmys are to television. That has drastically changed and not just for music. The Oscars and Emmys have also been attracting lower numbers over the years. Music is most notable because there are so many award shows for music. There is the Country Music Awards, the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, the Video Music Awards, and more. All of those shows have been struggling in the ratings. This is referring to live viewing because these shows are live events. I do not know how much streaming makes a difference when it comes to these shows. Ratings are down in the television landscape in general. Only sporting events and the Superbowl seem to pull in large numbers these days.

Live events seemed to have lost their buzz. The Grammys, has lot its buzz as time has gone on. I did not watch The Grammys last year and that is because I had to work when it was on. I DVRD it but was so busy with work that eventually I just deleted it without watching it. There was a time if I had to work during an award show I would watch it once I returned home from work.  

The Grammys is still important and is still a big deal in the music industry. I think there are many factors why it has lot its buzz. First off, it does not help that a lot of the big stars are not attending. That has been the case for awhile now. Drake has not been at the Grammys in a few years. The Weeknd will not be there this year. Bruno Mars is sitting this one out. I just found out that Silk Sonic opted not to submit their album for consideration as well as Drake and The Weeknd. A big draw for the Grammys and all music shows is the performances. The Grammys is probably one of the only music award shows that actually spends a decent amount of time giving out awards. A lot of the other music award shows will spend the duration on performances and sprinkle in presenting the awards.  The Grammys has a ton of categories that do not air. The list itself is ginormous. If they were to present every single category, it would be an all day event. Beyonce has multiple nominations this year including Record of the Year for Break My Soul which went number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has been reported that Beyonce is not expected to attend which also means there won’t be a performance by her. Taylor Swift who has won tons of Grammys over her career which Beyonce has as well, is also not expected to attend. Taylor Swift has been dominating ever since she dropped her latest album Midnights with Anti-Hero dominating the billboard charts. The song was number 1 for a total of 8 weeks nonconsecutively. Over the years a lot of stars have been refusing to participate in the Grammys which does include Drake and The Weeknd which is also probably why they did not submit their work. Things like that are not helping the Grammys. The Grammys is the award show that has all the biggest stars in music. As years have gone on, more of the stars are not attending which also means they are not performing. The performances are a big draw to any live music show. The Grammys produced memorable performances like Eminem and Elton John who teamed up for Stan. There was Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar who performed Radioactive (Remix) and m.A.A.d city. Beyonce and Jay-Z gave an electrifying performance of Drunk in Love and so many more.

Will the Grammys be able to rebuild its buzz? In this day and age, never say never. Nothing is impossible. There could be a time the Grammys and other award shows reclaim some of their former glory. Top Gun: Maverick was a huge hit, and it finally came out 35 years after the first one. Running Up that Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush entered the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year after being featured on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. It found a second life on the chart and on radio. The song originally came out in 1985. There are tons of other examples. I think it could be possible for The Grammys to become buzz worthy again. I am looking forward to watching the telecast. I will be honest. It does get a little disappointing to not see my favorite artists perform or attend. The Grammys is a great platform to promote singles and albums as is all award shows. The landscape has changed so much. Artists don’t necessarily have to make the rounds to promote their singles or albums. A lot of recent hit songs have blown up because of TikTok. There are also social media platforms for artist to promote their latest material. There are other ways to market music without making TV appearances or doing radio interviews. The traditional marketing campaign is still useful and there are still a lot of artists who use it.

There are many reasons why The Grammys has lost its buzz. Some of it stems from office politics so to speak which has also contributed to the Oscars and Emmy issues as well. This is also a big part of why more and more artists are refusing to attend the award show. With all big award shows there will always be the question of them getting it right. The Oscars will nominate big movies that people actually saw to draw people in but the awards will go to films no one has seen or heard of in some cases. The Grammys has done that before when nominating big artists to get the eyeballs to watch the show but will then give the award to an artist many people are not familiar with. A common complaint for big award shows is that the usual things get the awards. How many times have popular songs or artists been nominated but lost out to a song or artists no one has heard of? Britney Spears is a huge pop star and does not have many Grammys or nominations. Katy Perry is another one with massive hits but zero Grammys. She has been nominated thirteen times. If The Grammys become more open minded, I think it will be able to build up buzz again. I also think The Grammys should try to work things out with the artists who currently are refusing to attend which would help by having tons of star power and performances.

This list was a bit tricky to make because there are currently not a lot of albums officially confirmed out of artists who I like. P!nk and Miley Cyrus have concrete dates and album titles. Cardi B, Selena Gomez, Rihanna and many more fall under speculation or have TBA dates.

P!nk Trustfall February 17

I am a huge P!nk fan and am looking forward to what she does with her 9^th album. She released lead single Never Gonna Not Dance Again which she performed at the AMAS. She also just dropped the title track Trustfall. Never Gonna Not Dance Again is a fun upbeat song and Trustfall is a little more similar to other songs from P!nk.  I am intrigued to see what the rest of album sounds like. If P!nk is going a more upbeat and dance route, I have no problems with that. P!nk can’t do any wrong in my eyes.

Miley Cyrus Endless Summer Vacation March 10

Miley Cyrus just dropped her lead single off her upcoming album, Flowers. Flowers seems to sample Bruno Mars’ song When I Was Your Man. The song is catchy, and I want to hear where this album is going to go. Miley has gone through many phases in her career. There have been hits and misses. I loved her last album Plastic Hearts so I am curious where Endless Summer Vacation will fall.

Jennifer Lopez This is Me…Now

The last album Jennifer Lopez put out was A.K.A. which came out back in 2014 and had the hit single First Love. It has been nine years since that album. This album is said to be her most vulnerable yet. Even though JLo hasn’t put out an album in a while, she has still put out music over the years including doing the bulk of the soundtrack for her film Marry Me. The album title is a play on her 3^rd album This Is Me…Then which came out 2002 which was the year of Bennifer, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Now this album is coming out at a time where Ben Affleck and JLO have not only reunited but they are now married. What will the album’s sound be? Who knows but I am looking forward to whatever JLO brings to the table.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez has said she has been hard at work on her next full-length album. This would be the first full album since her 6^th album Rare which came out in 2020. She did put out a Spanish EP Revelacion that came out in 2021. She also put out the song My Mind and Me in the fall that was tied to her documentary of the same name. She also has been busy starring in the hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building which will be airing Season 3 later this year. Not much is known about this album at this point other than Selena has said in interviews that this album is different than her prior work. I cannot wait to hear what Selena puts out next and there has been speculation about a potential collaboration with Dua Lipa. That speculation started when both gushed about wanting to work with each other.

Cardi B

It has been a long wait for Cardi B’s 2^nd album. It has been five years since her smash hit debut album. She has been busy over the years with more hit songs including WAP with Megan Thee Stallion, Please Me with Bruno Mars, Up, Money, and many more and that does not include the songs she has been featured on. Will any of her singles be included on her album? Who knows? Will she get more Number 1’s? Probably. I am most curious what features she’ll have on this one.  

Jonas Brothers

Nick Jonas revealed on The Kelly Clarkson Show that the album is done, and they are gearing up for the launch of their album. No date has been given at this time, but this will be the first album since their comeback album Happiness Begins that came out in 2019 and had the smash hit and number 1 song Sucker. They have released several songs since their album including What a Man Gotta Do, Remember This, Who’s In My Head, and X with Karol G. I have no idea if any of these will make the cut of the album, but I am stoked for more Jonas Brothers music.

Rihanna

Like the rest of the world, I have been waiting for Rihanna’s 9^th album since ANTI came out in 2016. It has been 7 years since that album! She has been taking her sweet time. She is a busy lady between doing movies, her business ventures, and being a mother. This year may finally be the year of getting R9. Who knows if this will be the actual title but it’s what fans have been referring to for quite some time. Rihanna released her first new music in November for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She did two songs Lift Me Up and Born Again. She is also going to be headlining the Superbowl Halftime show which is promising for new music whether she drops a song during the performance or shortly after. Fans are expecting the album to come out sometime this year. If not, there is always next year.

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber has said another album is coming. Since one did not materialize last year, I think it is safe to say it will be this year. He has teased exciting collaborations. I cannot wait to see who is on this album. Justin Bieber puts out good music. He did release a song last year Honest featuring Don Toliver. I don’t know if this will be on the album or if this was just an appetizer. This may not be indicative of what the album’s sound will be. In time we will soon find out.

This is not a long list and that is mostly because so much is in flux right now. These are the artists that have been the most vocal about putting out albums this year. Only two of these have concrete dates and singles. Cardi B and Rihanna have been teasing new albums for years now. Who knows if this will be the year, they finally put their albums out? The Jonas Brothers’ album has been teased since their last one and other than a few singles, we have yet to get real information on the project or timeline. Selena Gomez has also been teasing a new album for awhile as well. Again, no concrete date or timeline has been given. Jennifer Lopez gave concrete information with an album title and a track list but has yet to release any single and give a timeline for when the album will be dropping.

There are also a lot of other artists where albums could potentially drop this year. Dua Lipa is working on her follow up to her smash hit 2^nd album. Doja Cat is also working on a follow up to Planet Her. Hilary Duff teases from time to time about wanting to record another album. Who knows if Beyonce will drop another album this year? She’s Beyonce so she can do what she wants. I have no idea what Katy Perry and Lady Gaga have planned music wise. Ariana Grande has stated most likely a new album will not materialize until after she finishes Wicked which she is starring in. Taylor Swift has teased she has been in the studio. Given she has been rerecording past albums as well as new ones since she dropped Midnights in the middle of rereleasing past albums, anything is possible with her. She could drop more rereleases and a new album. There is always the chance Britney Spears could decide to get back in the studio and work on a 10^th album especially after finding success with the Elton John song Hold Me Closer. I think 2023 will be a good year for music and I think there will be a lot of surprises in store.