The last week of September may have been Michael Bublé's most special of the year. Four days after making his debut as a coach on "The Voice" on Sept. 23, he released his first-ever greatest hits album, The Best Of Bublé.

It was a fitting combination of two major career moments for the five-time GRAMMY winner. While his Best Of compilation honors his catalog, his new role on "The Voice" allows him to personally thank fans for a remarkable career.

"To this day, I still can't believe I'm doing this," Bublé tells GRAMMY.com. "When I'm on 'The Voice,' every chance I get, I'm jumping into the audience, because I'm emotional and sentimental about [how] each one of those people changed my life."

From hit originals like "Everything" to his reimagined Great American Songbook classics such as "Feeling Good" — and even his treasured rendition of "The Spider-Man Theme" — The Best Of Bublé celebrates his impact as a contemporary crooner. Though that legacy includes 75 million albums sold worldwide and multiple No. 1 albums, Bublé is the first to admit that it wasn't easy to convince industry players that his traditional pop style would work in the 21st century. Not only has he proven that tenfold, but through it all, he's been able to stay true to who he is — and that's what matters most.

Below, in his own words, Bublé reflects on his hard-fought journey to becoming an international superstar, and some of the songs on The Best of Bublé that mean the most to him.

I had [released] music for 10 years before my first [major label] record, which was [2003's] Michael Bublé. I had put out many independent records, I had gone and done a lot of indie festivals. I was singing this stuff forever — I mean, it seemed like forever, but I was 17 years old when my first independent record came out.

I was so stoic about who I was, and the music that I loved. And I loved jazz, and I loved the Great American Songbook. I was so entrenched in loving that, and so protective of it. But it's funny, because it was literally so far from being cool or marketable that it took me so long to even get a meeting with a record company.

Every single label and agency said the same thing. And sometimes I'd wondered if they had talked to each other about it, and that there was, like, a manifesto that they had written, so that when Michael Bublé comes in to try to sell himself, here's what you say: "You are a really talented young guy. You're really fun to watch on stage in the nightclubs, but this music, there's no commercial value in it, and we don't see how investing in you would be financially responsible. But, you're really talented, and it's going to happen for you one day." 

Finally, when I was 25, I was introduced to David Foster, who at that time, was running 143/Reprise [Records] at Warner. He had just had success with Josh Groban, and I think it had given him a little bit of an opportunity. So I said to him, "Would you take me to see Tom Whalley at Warner?" And he said, "No way. You're on my radar, but I just don't see how this kind of music is going to take off" — the same thing!

I drove him nuts. Actually, as a matter of fact, it came down to him saying, "The only way I'd produce a record is if you came up with the money," which was like, 100 grand a track. So my manager and I went bank to bank in Vancouver until we found someone who would lend us the money. 

I put David in an awkward position where he finally took me to Warner, and I got my deal. And even then, it was just the beginning of a long story, because I had a one-record deal, and they said, "If you don't [sell] this many albums, there's no way there's a second album."

I had a great manager named Bruce Allen. He would say, "Listen, they're not really biting in America. So what would you think about going to the Philippines? What do you think about going to Australia or South Africa?" And I did, and that's kind of how it started.

I started to find success, and we started playing nightclubs. In New York, I'd play the Blue Note, or in LA, I'd play Michael Feinstein's. They were really smart about how they sold me, because I could have sold more seats at some point, and they were like, "No, we're going to go to LA, and we're going to make sure that it's a theater, and that people can't get tickets." And I was so impatient. It was like, "Yeah, but I can do this!" Thank God I had a great team of people.

A lot of people can't say this about their relationship with a record company, but I've had a 20-year love affair. They're my best friends. For a lot of great artists, that's the trifecta — a supportive label and publicity department, and a manager who works you to death and loves you. I had this dream collaboration with them, and it worked out for me.

There's a woman named Jo Faloona, who now has worked with me for the last 15 years in my management company. But she used to work for Warner in Canada, and her job was to guesstimate, for budgetary reasons, what I would sell in [my] lifetime as an artist. And she had some very moderate projections for me — 50 to 100,000 copies in my lifetime. I came to her, and I was like, "Jo, how could you have such moderate projections?" She goes, "Chicken, your first f—ing single was '[The] Spider-Man' [Theme].' I did not see a lot of longevity for you."

And when I think about it like that, I understand. They didn't know I was a songwriter at that point. It was like, "Who is this little Sinatra, Dean Martin singing guy?" Was I a good entertainer? Probably. But did I have a great sense of who I was artistically? I knew I did, I sort of had to prove that to them.

Really, truly, the best thing that ever happened to me was not making it for so long. I was 27 the first time I ever felt like I had real success, and I had become who I was going to be as a man. I was so appreciative. 

To this day, I still can't believe I'm doing this. When I'm on "The Voice," every chance I get, I'm jumping into the audience, because I'm emotional and sentimental about [how] each one of those people changed my life. 

I've gone through heavy stuff. Like when my son was diagnosed [with hepatoblastoma in 2016], it gave me a deeper sense in the connection that I had to my audience. Everything I had was because of them, and it was hard not to be emotional.

I wouldn't call it a "greatest hits" [album], because I wanted it to be the best of my favorite stuff. Because, listen, "Spider-Man" wasn't a greatest hit. But you know what? There is not a day that I don't get into an Uber and somebody tells me that their kids listen to "Spider-Man." It carries that sentimental value.

Those early songs I'd written, songs like "Everything" and "Home," had a special place for me. Especially because I had to fight — at that time, the company was saying, "No, no, no, you're an interpreter of music."

[With "Home"], I had a letter from an executive at the company, and it said, "You have said the word 'home' 41 times in this song. It's not a great song, and we don't want it." And then when I did "Everything," I was doing the music video for it, and I remember standing behind the trailer getting ready to go and shoot. And an executive said to me, "If I had known that you wanted originals, we would have hired a songwriter for you. I think the song is weak." On the first record that I did with David Foster, I had songs, and he used to say, "Well, you can do that on your solo record." There was this running joke, "Oh, you're a songwriter?" So those songs meant a lot to me. 

And then there's songs like, "Feeling Good," "Cry Me A River." I think the thing I'm best at is arranging and reinterpreting standards. But that comes with coming up with conceptual ideas that take a song and change it from the first time that you've heard it. For me, they were always very cinematic — even "Feeling Good." I mean, obviously, Nina Simone is a goddess. I was deeply infatuated by her and all her records. I had this very James Bond-esque thing that I had in my head. And I was so lucky that I could articulate that, and that a producer like David Foster could put that down on pen and paper. 

It was always cinematic. "Quando, Quando, Quando," I remember singing it to [David] and pretending that I could speak Portuguese. There's these demos where I'm singing the Nelly Furtado part. As ridiculous as it sounded, David got it.

God, I love the Dap Kings. I miss Sharon Jones every day. "Baby, You Got What It Takes" was one of my favorite songs ever. I got wasted with her when we did that recording. There was so much smoke in the booth, we couldn't see past each other. We performed on "SNL" together, and we were like kids in a candy store. We couldn't believe we were doing it together. She was such a great lady, and the Dap Kings were such a badass group of musicians. There's so many memories, craziness. 

It's 21 years [of] making music with my favorite humans — my musicians, my co-writers, the arrangers, the producers. People I idolized. I was listening to [The Best Of Bublé], and I was thinking about [the fact that] every note that came out of my mouth, I never let one go without it meaning everything. And whether I failed or succeeded, I can look back with this great sense of pride.

Nearly two years after bringing her 2020 album Chromatica to life with a sold-out stadium tour, Lady Gaga is bringing The Chromatical Ball to your living room. GAGA CHROMATICA BALL, an HBO Original special that premieres May 25 exclusively on MAX, will take Little Monsters into the mesmerizing, colorful world the 13-time GRAMMY winner crafted with her sixth studio set. 

The Chromatica Ball was a joyful cultural triumph as the world emerged from lockdown, hitting 20 stadiums across Europe, North America and Asia in the summer of 2022. While it was named after Chromatica and featured the majority of the dance-driven album's track list — including the smash Ariana Grande duet, "Rain On Me," and lead single "Stupid Love" — the tour was a celebration of the breadth of her acclaimed career as a whole, which has spanned decades, genres, styles, and entire industries. 

GAGA CHROMATICA BALL documents Lady Gaga's sold-out September 2022 show at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which was one of the biggest venues on the tour. Showcasing a stage inspired by brutalist architecture and a set list stretching from the pop star's 2008 debut album, The Fame, to her Top Gun: Maverick track, "Hold My Hand," the film will also take fans inside the raw passion Gaga brings to each and every live show. 

In celebration of the concert film, GRAMMY.com revisits 15 of Gaga's most career-defining songs to date, from early hits like "Poker Face" to stunning deep cuts like Chromatica's "Free Woman."

"Just Dance" (feat. Colby O'Donis), The Fame (2008)

Lady Gaga burst onto the scene in 2008 with a fully realized point of view and pop star persona, but her debut single actually wasn't an immediate smash on the charts. Instead, "Just Dance" served as the sleeper hit that kick-started Gaga's legendary career, landing at the precipice of the Billboard Hot 100 after a 22-week climb from its initial entry at No. 76 to the nascent pop star her very first No. 1 hit. 

A polished dance floor banger produced by RedOne and co-written with Akon, "Just Dance" perfectly crystallizes the dance-pop resurgence of the late 2000s that Gaga not only helped spearhead, but masterfully rode into the upper echelon of 21st century pop stardom. Notably, the song also earned Gaga the first GRAMMY nomination of her career for Best Dance Recording in 2009 — a full year before her debut album would announce itself as a major force at the 2010 ceremony.

"Poker Face," The Fame (2008)

If "Just Dance" set expectations sky high for the music Gaga had up her well-manicured sleeve, "Poker Face" majorly surpassed them — and subsequently, became one of the defining pop songs of the decade. With its relentless rhythm, sing-song  "Po-po-po-poker face, po-po-poker face" refrain, and winkingly naughty lyrics ("'Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin," anybody?), the song proved Gaga knew how to expertly construct an earworm while delivering a high-concept visual spectacle in spades. 

"Poker Face" became the singer's second consecutive No. 1 single on the Hot 100, marking the first time a brand-new artist had accomplished the feat since Christina Aguilera's one-two punch of "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants" a full decade prior. By year's end, "Poker Face" had become top-selling single of 2009 across the globe, and the following year, it earned Gaga her first nods for both Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year at the 2010 GRAMMYs, with The Fame also being nominated for Album Of The Year.

Though the song and LP ultimately lost in the major categories, they respectively took home the golden gramophones for Best Dance Recording and Best Electronic Dance Album, officially making Gaga a GRAMMY-winning artist after less than two years in the industry. 

"The Fame," The Fame (2008)

While it was never released as an official single, the title track off Gaga's 2008 debut album serves as something of an early thesis statement for the avant garde star who so confidently declared, "POP MUSIC WILL NEVER BE LOWBROW" as she burst from New York City's underground scene to the global stage.

Gaga lays bare her ambitions with brazen clarity on the punchy electronic track, as she gushes over her single-minded love for "runway models, Cadillacs and liquor bottles" and sings, "Give me something I wanna be/ Retro glamor, Hollywood, yes we live for the fame/ Doin' it for the fame/ 'Cause we wanna live the life of the rich and famous." Later on the song's bridge, the pop star vows, "Don't ask me how or why/ But I'm gonna make it happen this time," and in retrospect, there's no denying Gaga accomplished everything she set out to achieve at the start of her career. 

"Bad Romance," The Fame Monster (2009)

The Fame heralded Gaga as the next big thing in pop music. But rather than spend a couple years fine-tuning her follow-up, the newly minted star decided to double down while the iron was red hot by reissuing the album as The Fame Monster, complete with eight new songs. And in doing so, she catapulted herself to superstar status with just five syllables: "Ra-ra-ah-ah-ahh." 

If the Gaga of "Just Dance" and "Poker Face" was a flashy striver fighting her way to the center of the cultural zeitgeist, "Bad Romance" presented Gaga as a high-fashion pop queen ready to turn her coronation into a victory lap. Not only did "Bad Romance" score Gaga her fifth consecutive top 5 hit on the Billboard 200, it also won her the GRAMMYs for Female Pop Solo Performance and Music Video/Short Form in 2011. (The Fame Monster, meanwhile, took home the golden gramophone for Pop Vocal Album — the first of Gaga's four nominations and counting in the category.)

"Telephone" (featuring Beyoncé), The Fame Monster (2009)

"Hello, hello, baby, you called, I can't hear a thing…" On its face, "Telephone" may sound like a garden variety electro-pop bop, but Gaga turned the track into an unforgettable club banger of the highest order by recruiting the one and only Beyoncé. The two superstars play off one another with panache as they shrug off responsibility and incessant calls from home in favor of giving into the music.

The single's murderous, Jonas Åkerlund-directed visual remains one of the most iconic in Gaga's storied visual history. Fourteen years after Gaga and Honey B drove off in the Pussy Wagon with the promise to never come back, Little Monsters and the Beyhive are still clamoring for a follow-up. Need proof? Just look at the internet frenzy Queen Bey caused when she appeared driving a similarly hued taxi in a teaser for the album that became COWBOY CARTER earlier this year.

"Born This Way," Born This Way (2011)

Almost from the moment she emerged onto the national consciousness, Gaga was considered a gay icon in the making, proudly advocating for the queer community — and in turn, cultivating a passionate, devoted LGBTQ+ fan base who worshiped at the feet of Mother Monster. So, naturally, she used her 2010 sophomore album to gift the masses with the Pride anthem of a generation. 

Drawing comparisons to Madonna's "Express Yourself," "Born This Way" became a defining hit of the 2010s and helped empower listeners from the clubs, to the streets, to the inside of the closet to embrace what makes them special and fearlessly declare, "Baby, I was born this way!" Additionally, the gay anthem holds the distinction of being the 1,000th No. 1 hit in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, as well as Gaga's first single to bow at the top of the chart upon its debut.

"Yoü And I," Born This Way (2011)

Though she would go on to explore the genre further in 2016's Joanne, Gaga pretty much perfected her interpretation of classic Americana with the country-rock stomp of "Yoü and I" in 2011. Released as the fourth single from Born This Way, the gutsy power ballad found the singer driving a muscle car right through the glitzy, electro-pop aesthetic of her past as she wailed, "This time I'm not leavin' without you" over a sample of Queen's "We Will Rock You" and an original electric guitar line by none other than Brian May himself.

The music video for "Yoü And I," meanwhile, was classically high-concept in the most Gaga of terms. It saw the star transform into a number of alter egos including Yüyi the mermaid and the snarling, chain-smoking Jo Calderone. Whether running through the Nebraska cornfields of the song's setting or being brought back to life a la bride of Frankenstein by future ex-fiancé Taylor Kinney, Gaga proved that she could make a visit to America's heartland as avant-garde as ever.

"Marry The Night," Born This Way (2011)

Among Born This Way's litany of hits, "Marry the Night" is widely regarded among Little Monsters as something of a cult favorite. Though it didn't ascend quite as high up the charts as preceding singles like "Judas" or "The Edge of Glory," the track's music video might just be the most autobiographical visual the New York City native has ever released. 

As the fantastical clip opens on an unconscious Gaga lying prone in a hospital bed wearing "next season Calvin Klein" and custom Giuseppe Zanoti, the singer lays out her entire approach to her artistry. "When I look back on my life, it's not that I don't want to see things exactly as they happened, it's just that I prefer to remember them in an artistic way," she explained. "And truthfully, the lie of it all is much more honest because I invented it…

"It's sort of like my past is an unfinished painting," she continues. "And as the artist of that painting, I must fill in all the ugly holes and make it beautiful again. It's not that I've been dishonest; it's just that I loathe reality." Gaga's rejection of the ordinary in favor of artistic reinterpretation has given fans not only the creative explosion of "Marry the Night," but the entirety of the pop star's avant-garde oeuvre.

"The Lady Is a Tramp" (with Tony Bennett), Duets II (2011)

Smack dab in the middle of Gaga's Born This Way era, Tony Bennett invited Gaga to duet on his 2011 album, Duets II. The pair's charming, spunky rendition of the Rodgers and Hart classic "The Lady is a Tramp" not only opened the album, but it showcased an irrepressible chemistry between the two stars that led to two more collaborative full-length albums, 2014's Cheek to Cheek and 2021's Love For Sale — both of which won GRAMMYs for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. 

The song ultimately became something of a cheeky hallmark to how much Gaga and Bennett adored one another; even after they'd released an album full of jazz standards like Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek," the young pop ingénue chose to sing "The Lady Is a Tramp" for Bennett's 90th birthday celebration at Radio City Music Hall, dedicating it to her friend as he beamed from the front row.

The pair's sweet friendship would continue on all the way until Bennett's death in 2023 following a years-long battle with Alzheimer's disease. In a heartfelt social media tribute, Gaga shared the impact of Bennett's friendship: "Sure he taught me about music, about showbiz life, but he also showed me how to keep my spirits high and my head screwed on straight."

"Applause," ARTPOP (2013)

She lives for the applause! For the lead single for her 2014 album ARTPOP, Gaga shined a spotlight back on the parasocial relationship and adoration that comes with fame. This time, though, the pop star demands listener participation rather than simple voyeurism as she belts, "Give me that thing that I love/ Put your hands up, make 'em touch!" 

In the song, Gaga also shares the complex philosophy behind the album's title ("Pop culture was in art, now art's in pop culture in me.") But between shouting out famed sculpturist Jeffrey Koons (whom she commissioned to create the iconic ARTPOP cover art) and referencing everything from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus to the pop iconography of Andy Warhol in the surrealist music video, Gaga's message was deceptively simple: She lives for the A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E, baby.

"Aura," ARTPOP (2013)

When it came time to present the highbrow themes of ARTPOP to the masses, Gaga chose to open the 2013 iTunes Festival with "Aura," a frenetic exploration of fame, celebrity, suppression and identity built over a skittering sonic palette inspired in equal parts by Middle Eastern music, spaghetti Westerns and mariachi.

Though she initially faced some backlash over accusations that she had appropriated the wearing of a Muslim burqa in the song's lyrics, "Aura" effectively set the stage for ARTPOP as a piece of sophisticated performance art unlike anything Gaga had created before — all while promising fans a glimpse "behind the curtain" at the girl underneath the camp and artistry. And though ARTPOP may have been more than a bit misunderstood at the time of its release, it arguably remains the boldest and bravest album in Gaga's manifold discography.

"Joanne," Joanne (2016)

Gaga found inspiration for her fifth studio album from the life and death of her late aunt (and namesake), Joanne Stefani Germanotta. The singer never met her relative, but Joanne's spirit was imbued throughout the album, from its homespun lyricism to its stripped-back sonic palette that found the singer exploring the sounds of country, soft rock and Americana.

Nowhere on the record is Gaga's profound connection to her aunt more evident than the title track, which she recorded two different versions of and released as the album's third and final single. "Take my hand, stay Joanne/ Heaven's not ready for you/ Every part of my aching heart/ Needs you more than the angels do," she sings softly over a spare piano line on "Joanne (Where Do You Think You're Goin'?)."

With its roots in her family tree, the song clearly holds a special place in Gaga's heart — especially considering she chose to mix it with "Million Reasons" for her performance at the 2018 GRAMMYs. (A full year later, she took home the GRAMMY for Best Pop Solo Performance in 2019 for the acoustic piano version.)

"Shallow" (with Bradley Cooper), A Star Is Born (2018)

"I can see myself in the movies/ With my picture in city lights," Gaga memorably sang in "The Fame." And a decade later, she manifested her dream into reality with a starring role in the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born. 

Opposite Bradley Cooper, the singer proved she had plenty of star quality on the silver screen on top of her status as a pop supernova. The movie musical's soundtrack was also dominated by Gaga's vulnerability and vocal abilities, fully giving herself over to the story of a star-crossed love that ends in superstardom and tragedy — particularly on the emotional keystone that is "Shallow." In fact, by the time she lets out her famous, guttural wail in the song's emotional bridge, it's easy to forget that "Shallow" is, in fact, a duet rather than a dazzling showcase of Gaga's chops. 

On top of being an essential touchstone in Gaga's canon, "Shallow" is also memorable for being the song that turned Mother Monster into an Oscar winner after she, co-writer Mark Ronson and the rest of their collaborators took home the trophy for Best Original Song at the 2019 Academy Awards. (The song also won a GRAMMY for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance that year.)

"I've worked hard for a long time," Gaga said through tears while accepting her Oscar. "And it's not about winning, but what it's about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it. There's a discipline for passion, and it's not about how many times you get rejected or you fall down or you're beaten up. It's about how many times you stand up and are brave and you keep on going." 

"Rain On Me" (with Ariana Grande), Chromatica (2020)

Gaga's Chromatica era began with "Stupid Love" and its colorful, Power Rangers-chic video, but the star hit peak pop excellence by joining forces with Ariana Grande on the album's second single "Rain on Me." 

"I'd rather be dry but at least I'm alive/ Rain on me, rain, rain," the two superstars harmonized on the house-fueled disco fantasia's upbeat refrain, before letting the beat drop and giving in to the impulse to dance it out. Released in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the track provided hope, joy and a message of hard-fought resilience at a scary, unpredictable and unprecedented time when it felt like the world was ending as we knew it.

The following year, Gaga and Grande won the GRAMMY for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance at the 2011 ceremony, becoming the first female collaborators to take home the award in GRAMMYs history. 

"Free Woman," Chromatica (2020)

"Free Woman" was a bit overlooked when it was released as Chromatica's fourth and final single in the spring of 2021, but the narrative Gaga shares on the jubilant track is central to her personal history and experiences in the music industry. Over a thumping Eurodance-leaning beat, she recounts the PTSD she suffered from after being sexually assaulted by an unnamed producer early in her career.

Gaga also offers a rallying cry for her beloved LGBTQ+ fan base on the song, particularly those in the trans community, as she belts, "This is my dance floor I fought for/ Ain't hard, that's what I'm livin' for…We own the downtown, hear our sound." Ultimately, that empowering lyric is a notion that encapsulates the overarching theme of Gaga's career thus far — one that fans around the world can revel in again and again with GAGA CHROMATICA BALL.

On Aug. 11-13, Outside Lands returned to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for the 15th time. The city's premiere multi-day music and food festival attracted approximately 75,000 daily attendees, and promoter Another Planet says that about half of the 225,000 ticket holders live outside the Bay Area. 

Though it takes place in the peak of summer, San Francisco in August is relatively cold and nicknamed "Fogust," which may have shocked any of the out of towners who showed up in shorts and barely-there tops.

The mild weather conditions meant that the true heat was left up to the performers  to generate, and the more than 90 acts happily delivered. Below, we recount seven of the sets that were worth braving the summer cold to witness.

Shaq Takes Day One Championship

Moonlighting as DJ Diesel, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal apologized for starting his incredibly surprising set a few minutes late.

"Sorry I’m late, I was just hanging with Steph Curry and Draymond Green," he said, name checking the Golden State Warriors’ star players. He laced his banter with basketball metaphors and later brought out Warriors guard Gary Payton II to play Queen’s "We Are The Champions" in the team’s honor.

After dropping jaws by firing up aggressively, atonal EDM beats, he invited the crush of fans to come up on stage and "party with Diesel" one at a time. His set veered from Guns N Roses to Imogen Heap and he has to be the first DJ to call for a "ladies only mosh pit" while playing Aqua’s "Barbie World." 

When he threw a young blonde boy on his shoulders and they both pumped their fists in unison, it was everything — and that’s how a superhero DJs.

Janelle Monáe Celebrates The Fam

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lessie Vonner (@lessievtrumpet)

With a towering stack of Jamaican sound system-styled speakers, giant beach balls, a towel-waisted band and swimsuited dancers, Janelle Monáe brought the sexy "Black Sugar Beach" and "Lipstick Lover" vibes of her new album The Age of Pleasure to the Lands End main stage, which she last graced in 2018. 

Monáe has since come out as nonbinary and greatly expanded her fanbase; at Outside Lands, she dedicated her performance to "my community, the LGBTQIA+ community," saying, "I love you so much. To be Black, to be queer, to be nonbinary, to evolve and to have family like you is a blessing."

Monáe’s natural charisma has only gotten sharper over time, and her dance moves are more infused with the quick steps of the Godfather of Soul James Brown and Prince. Her almost Rockettes-level line choreography with her dancers has leveled up as well.

This year’s Outside Lands also saw the debut of the LGBTQIA+-centric Dolores’ stage, which was powered all weekend by local party crews such as Hard French, Fake and Gay and Oasis. A highlight was Reparations, an all-Black drag show hosted by the incomparable Nicki Jizz, San Francisco’s serial Drag Queen of the Year (according to local publication 48 Hills) who wore a large penis hat that she claimed was true to her actual size. The most overtly queer-friendly edition of Outside Lands was something beautiful to continue and build on in the future.

Kendrick Lamar Brings The Friday Night Light

Last seen rapping to a small but rapturous crowd on a secondary stage at Outside Lands in 2015, Kendrick Lamar has grown immeasurably as a recording artist and live performer. Lamar commanded the Lands End stage, closing the festival’s first night with quietly assertive control and grace in a performance that felt like a rightful graduation. This veritable elder statesman slot has been previously held by major acts like Radiohead, Neil Young With Crazy Horse and Paul McCartney.

His 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers featured prominently in the 21-song set, which included leftfield covers of Pusha T’s "Nosetalgia" and The Weeknd’s "Sidewalks." But Lamar knows that people still want to yell their lungs out to earlier cuts like "Swimming Pools (Drank)," "Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe," "m.A.A.d city," "HUMBLE." and "Alright" and he obliged.

Lana Del Rey Swings Back To Twin Peaks

Flower crowns were all the rage when Lana Del Rey made her Outside Lands debut in 2016 at Twin Peaks, the festival’s second largest stage. A new generation has since discovered the singer’s outsize character and vibe, and as the gates opened on Saturday, giddy groups of teenage girls rushed to park themselves at the edge of that very same stage to catch Del Rey’s big return to Golden Gate Park.

This time, Del Rey’s set included a projection that said "God Bless You San Francisco" and a giant swing woven with flowers that flung her into the air while she sang. Her set spanned her classics, like "Video Games" from 2012’s Born To Die, current hits, such as the title track from this year’s album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd., and a loving cover of Tammy Wynette’s 1968 country hit "Stand By Your Man." 

Though she’s revered as an almost otherworldly figure and was an angelic vision in white, Del Rey doesn’t act untouchable in 2023 — in fact, she literally came down and touched some of those fans who waited all day for her.

Foo Fighters Come Out Crooning

"We’ve gotta fit 28 years into two f—ing hours!" Dave Grohl explained early in the Foo Fighters' set. It was a towering goal that they tackled with consummate ease, reaching back to hits such as "Times Like These" and "The Pretender" and showing the continuum through to recent songs like "Rescue."

After playing a few choice riffs of "Enter Sandman," it would have been less of a surprise to see a member of two-time Outside Lands headliner (and Bay Area natives) Metallica join them on stage than who actually came out for a cameo. After flying in from Argentina, Michael Bublé initially pretended to be a regular audience member before going onstage to sing his hit "Haven’t Met You Yet." 

The Foo-Bublé connection is fun and surprising: New drummer Josh Freese has also played for the Canadian crooner, and "Haven’t Met You Yet" is part of a medley that the Foo Fighters are doing on tour that is comprised of other bands Freese has supported (including Devo’s "Whip It" and Nine Inch Nails’ "March of the Pigs").

Of course, the late drummer Taylor Hawkins will always be a prominent part of the Foo Fighters and their shows, and they played "Aurora" in his memory. As the park’s Polo Field lit up in violet-colored lights, Grohl’s 17-year-old daughter Violet Grohl also joined to sing three songs with her father, which he said was his absolute favorite thing in the world to do. 

"I’m sure I’m embarrassing her right now!" he said.

Gabriels Tributes Tina Turner

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joanne Weir: TV Host, Author (@chefjoanneweir)

"We’re California boys, but this is our first time in San Francisco," shared Gabriels singer Jacob Lusk before turning the Sutro stage into the Church of Outside Lands, and instructing everyone to share some neighborly love.

The Los Angeles band has some meteoric fans: Elton John invited Lusk, whose early resume includes being a former "American Idol" contestant who was in a gospel group with the late Nate Dogg, to sing with him on stage at this year’s Glastonbury. Lusk’s incredible vocal range flexes from baritone to falsetto on a dime, and he frequently takes a step back from the microphone while singing, as if not to overwhelm it.

In a particularly touching moment, Gabriels performed Tina Turner’s "Private Dancer" while a montage of footage of Turner filled the screen.

Megan Thee Stallion Triumphs Over Tragedy

Fog flooded the park as a super snatched Megan Thee Stallion took to the stage in a hot Barbie pink outfit and long red hair, but she blazed through the haze with ground-sweeping twerking and saucy tracks like "Body," "Her," "WAP" and "Big Ole Freak." It was her first performance since Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years for shooting her, and she was feeling noticeably buoyant.

"F— all my haters!" she said in the middle of the set. "None of the s— you was doing or saying broke me." 

She received nothing but love from the crowd, and she was delighted by a big pocket of "boys" that she saw. Meg truly loves her "Hotties," and even stopped in between songs to sign someone’s graduation cap. A recent grad herself, she is proud of her fans who follow suit.

"Real college girl s—!" she exclaimed.

7 Blazing Sets From Rolling Loud Miami 2023: Travis Scott, Sexyy Red, Rae Sremmurd & More

David Foster was born in Victoria, British Columbia. The son of a blue-collar worker and homemaker, Foster started playing — and studying — piano at age four. One morning his mom was dusting the family piano when she hit a key by accident and David said, "That's an E!" naming the correct note.

"It sounds cliché, but it's true," says the 72-year-old, reflecting on a life spent searching for the right notes. "When I go to the doctor's office, still to this day, when they ask me my occupation, I always reply musician."

After studying music at the University of Washington at 13, the prodigy moved to Edmonton, Alberta where he led a nightclub band in a joint owned by jazz piano player and arranger Tommy Banks. The impresario took Foster under his wing and encouraged the teenager to write. "As a songwriter, I bloomed late," Foster says. "In my early 20s I wrote some songs and some got recorded, but looking back they were just awful."

Thanks to Banks' tutelage on the art of arranging — and the hard work of gigging in bands throughout the early-to mid 1970s — Foster's songs kept getting better. In his CSHF acceptance speech, Foster shared some simple advice another mentor, Quincy Jones, once gave: "The three ingredients to a hit record are: the song, the song and the song."

As a keyboardist during this early chapter of his career, Foster kept searching for those key ingredients. He played on a pair of George Harrison records (Extra Texture and Thirty Three & 1/3) and also lent overdubbed piano to Lynyrd Skynyrd's third studio album Nuthin' Fancy (1975). One of his early production credits was Alice Cooper's fourth studio record From the Inside. The 1978 concept album chronicled Cooper's time inside a New York sanatorium during a rehab stint for alcoholism. Reflecting back, Foster says this project was not one of his best.

"I don't think that album holds up. Not because of Alice, but more due to my ineptness at producing that kind of music. I believe I took him a little too far to my side," he recalls. "Still, I loved making that record. The same goes for the Tubes, who I co-wrote 'She's a Beauty,' with. They were so inventive and creative.

"Most people, who know me, know that when I lay my hands on the keys what comes back is not rock 'n roll," he adds. "Even though rock is not what I'm known for producing, I listen to all kinds of music."

Foster admits during his prime production years he rarely listened to music for fear he might unintentionally copy something he heard on the radio. These days, he has rediscovered the joy of listening for pleasure. Some music Foster is currently digging includes Big Thief and Miles Davis.

As the decade came to a close, the first major milestone for the songwriter-turned producer — and first GRAMMY — came after co-writing the song, "After the Love Has Gone." Four decades later, the 16-time GRAMMY winner was inducted into Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame (CSHF) along with Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Alanis Morissette and Daniel Lavoie, became the five newest inductees into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame (CSHF).

Before being feted by his peers, the legendary musician, composer/arranger and producer, took time to chat about career-defining moments — the hits and the misses — along with the joys of touring the The Kat & Dave Show.

Earth, Wind & Fire - "After The Love Has Gone" (1979) 

"After the Love Has Gone," the top track off Earth, Wind & Fire's 1979 album I Am, peaked at No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B charts. The song was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards: Record Of The Year, Song Of TheYear and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo Or Group — winning the GRAMMY in this category; Foster also won his first GRAMMY (Best R&B Song) for this co-write. The beautiful ballad became the winning formula and sound Foster became known for throughout the 1980s.

"I wrote 'After the Love Has Gone' with my friends Bill Champlin and Jay Graydon," Foster recalls. "I took the song to another friend, Carole Childs, who introduced me to Earth, Wind & Fire's leader Maurice White. He loved the song and wanted to record it. This led to me co-writing with Maurice most of the songs on I Am. He was another mentor."

Foster's admiration for the band remains to this day. "I love Earth, Wind & Fire so much. Every R&B band and artist all the way up to Drake owes a debt to Maurice White and his band. There are so many genres hidden in their music: from rock to jazz; R&B to country."

Chicago - "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" (1982)

During the early-to mid-1980s, Foster collaborated with jazz-rock band Chicago on three albums: Chicago 16, Chicago 17 and Chicago 18. The producer arrived at a time when the band was in flux. Columbia had dropped them after underwhelming sales and they had recently signed with Warner Bros. Chicago 16 was the band's comeback and included the power ballad: "Hard to Say I'm Sorry." Foster co-wrote the No.1 hit with Chicago's singer/bassist Peter Cetera.

"Anytime you are working with a band it is difficult. Chicago had seven very powerful members and they all had an opinion on what they thought should go on their records," Foster says. "To get the best results in the studio, it can't be a democracy. That is why a producer is there … to say 'yes' to this and 'no' to that. Even a band as famous as Chicago needs direction.

"They didn't believe in all the decisions I made and they struggled with me, but they appreciated the success we had," he continues. "Over the years, slowly, I've talked to all the guys. They've reflected and grown and we are now good."

The trio of Chicago albums was also great for Foster professionally, as a songwriter. A successful writing partnership was formed with Peter Cetera. The pair went on to write "You're the Inspiration" for Chicago 17. The 1984 album was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards and Foster won Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal (s). This was Cetera's last record with the band. Despite Chicago's commercial success in the 1980s, Cetera and Foster's close-knit relationship was one of the reasons the rest of the band were not happy during this period.

"They had lost their way," recalls Foster. "I did my best to remind them of their greatness and try to recapture some of the magic of their early albums in the 1970s; these were phenomenal records when they had the tiger by the tail and were running on all eight cylinders."

Whitney Houston -  "I Will Always Love You" (1992)

Foster worked with Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard soundtrack — taking the Dolly Parton-penned "I Will Always Love You" and making it into a GRAMMY-winning hit.

In their first collaboration, Foster chose to include the third verse to the song — which had not made it into Linda Ronstadt's 1975 cover — after Parton herself pointed out that she would love to hear it. In a 2013 interview remembering Houston one year after her death, Foster spoke of how much he loved working with her because she always surprised him and brought something different to every recording. "Ninety-nine percentof the time Whitney gave me something better than what I asked for," he said.

Céline Dion - "The Power Of Love" (1993)

This ballad topped the Billboard charts in 1993 and remained there for four weeks. In the documentary David Foster: Off the Record, the producer recalls the first time he saw Céline Dion.

After getting a tip about the young singer, who was already a star in her province, Foster flew to Montreal and then drove 100 miles in the rain to hear Céline perform in a tent in rural Quebec. Her voice hit him immediately and Foster ended up producing her English-language debut, Unison (1990). He is credited with bringing her music to an audience outside the Francophone world.

"Céline's the best singer I've ever worked with,"  Foster says of the five-time GRAMMY winner, with whom he notched another one of his 16 golden gramophones for Falling into You (1986). "She was also incredible at taking direction. She knew her job, which was to sing. When it came to everything else, she just let others take care of it. Céline was the perfect artist. She had opinions, but she would try anything asked of her and that was golden."

Michael Bublé - "Home" (2005)

Another fortuitous Canadian discovery was Michael Buble, whom Foster first heard at a wedding when the unknown singer delivered an original version of the oft-covered popular standard "Mack the Knife."

As with his first listen of Céline, Foster heard something in Bublé's delivery. Eventually, the pair convened in Los Angeles to record. The crooner's self-titled debut arrived in 2003 on Foster's label 143 Records and cracked the Top 10 in Canada. The following year, Bublé won New Artist Of The Year at The Junos [Canada's equivalent to the GRAMMY Awards]. From there, the rise to stardom for the artist was steady. It's Time, his fourth studio album was released in 2005 and reached No.1 in Canada, Italy and Japan; it also spent 104 weeks on Billboard Top Jazz chart, including a record-breaking 78 weeks at No.1.

It's Time featured Bublé's first megahit, "Home." The original song, co-written with Foster's daughter Amy Foster-Gillies, won the Juno for Single Of The Year and went to No.1 in 10 countries. While Bob Rock produced It's Time, Foster was heavily involved in overseeing his young protégé and arranging many of the songs.

For The Love Of Live  

After spending 40 years in what he calls "dark studios," Foster decided to take a hiatus from the producer's chair and return to his first love of playing piano and performing.

Currently, Foster is on tour with his wife, singer, songwriter and actress, Katherine McPhee. "I love performing live," he says. "For so many years I was in a submarine environment: air-tight studios with no windows. I would make a record and then whoever I was working with, they would get to leave the studio and go out into the world and play these songs we had written and recorded and see the reaction from people. I never got to experience that. Now I do."

Before hanging up, Foster reveals he is returning to the studio with Chris Botti, to help produce a live album for the former trumpeter in Sting's band. "He's just phenomenal!" Foster says describing his admiration for Botti. "Chris called me late one night and pleaded with me to produce for him. 'All I need you to do is come in for one week,' he said. 'I want to make a live album.' I thought, One week sounds like fun … And, I want to win another GRAMMY!"

5 Essential D'Mile Productions: Silk Sonic, H.E.R. & Others

Chloe Flower may have landed in the public consciousness by accompanying Cardi B at the 61st GRAMMY Awards, but two years later, she's not fading away. The classical pianist and composer wants to fuse pop and classical in a more encompassing way. Welcome to Popsical, Flower's self-conceived genre tag that aims to close the gap between trap beats and Franz Liszt.

"To me, the whole idea of Popsical is that I felt instrumental music had that stigma. It had to be a certain way," Flower tells GRAMMY.com over Zoom from her Manhattan high-rise. "People told me my entire life 'You have to be really successful in solo piano first before you can add drum beats to something.'" Because Flower loves all kinds of music, from pop to reggaetón, this was a quandary for years. But on her debut, self-titled album, her catholic inspirations have blossomed big.

Read More: Chloe Flower Is Redefining Classical Music (With Some Help From Cardi B)

Chloe Flower, which dropped July 19 via Sony's Masterworks imprint, is the perfect entry point to the musical universe of Popsical. Subdivided into acts with narrations from alternative medicine king Deepak Chopra, the album splits the difference between classical orthodoxy ("Prelude No. 1") and full pop immersion (including an electrified cover of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy"). 

While Flower has the headstrong personality and label encouragement to pull off such a feat, she's aware that few other women—especially those of color—have those resources and support systems. With the interest of making classical music a more attractive and inclusive arena, she has a few ideas as to how that world can open up to everybody, not just a few.

Read on for an in-depth interview with Flower about the nexus of pop and classical music, constructing Chloe Flower like a front-to-back cinematic experience, and how young women of color can be encouraged to become producers and composers.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

I'm a classical music fan, but I don't hear much about it outside of history books or the pages of The New York Times. What's the state of this artform?

I would say it's completely changing. Classical music is so different today, in 2021, than when I signed with Babyface in 2010. It was either crossover—there were a select few crossover artists—or it was strictly classical. I think [the shift is] because of social media, YouTube and all these other outlets, when people can express themselves in any way they want and it's not just up to The New York Times to decide something is cool or OK to do.

Who are the key people to know in modern classical?

There are so many new artists I've been following. I tend to follow pop artists, and that's part of the reason I wanted to start this Popsical movement. I didn't feel like there were enough people on the instrumentals. Not just classical music, but instrumental. People would always be like, "Oh, you play piano! You're like Kenny G!" but that's not the only sound there is—smooth jazz or adult contemporary.

That's why, back in the day, I loved Vanessa-Mae. She's one of the first crossover artists to come out of the U.K. She did Bach's Toccata in Fugue—a song I have on my album as well—with an EDM beat. EDM music doesn't resonate with me in the same way that a trap beat or hip-hop beat does, [but] I was always looking for that artist who was that mixture of pop and instrumental.

I think there must be other people out there who want to explore that instrumental space but don't necessarily fit into that Vanessa-Mae category or the Piano Guys category. I love Piano Guys. They're another crossover classical artist that has done so well. So successful. David Garrett is another one who's been so successful at the violin, doing crossover music, but so different from what I do.

I'm sure Babyface saw that versatility in you when you started working together.

Yeah, I was so shocked. He was the first producer I ever asked to work with me and he was the only one I'd heard of! I just cold-reached out to him on Google. I found his manager's email and just randomly sent him a demo. I think he understood that maybe there was a space here for a new kind of sound.

Deepak Chopra's presence on your debut album is interesting. He's synonymous with new age, a style I find a lot of value in that nonetheless gets a lot of flak.

When people say "new age," there's definitely a stigma associated with it. Even in film. You'll watch movies like [2001's] Serendipity from back in the day and see the crossover flutist, and it's kind of a joke in the movie. That has been the reputation of new age, but as with classical music, audiences are embracing a new style, a new sound. I think a lot of people nowadays are embracing spiritual and holistic health practices.

But for me, Deepak is a close friend. I've known him for many years. I know him personally and he really practices what he preaches. He's very authentic in what he believes. He is truly a believer that music is a powerful tool for healing. It was perfect for me because that's how I view music too. I believe music education should be as accessible as religion or sports education. It's completely inaccessible, and part of the reason is that there's no demand.

People think of instrumental music as Kenny G or new age. They think of it that way, so kids aren't demanding to learn an instrument because they don't necessarily want to. I feel that music is so important because it has that healing power.

We saw during the pandemic how music brought people together, from the people singing on balconies in Italy early on to people using pots and pans in New York City. We could hear it because we live right near a hospital [in Manhattan]. That was music too—it's all a form of sound and using that sound as therapy. You can listen to a song and be in a better mood or feel empowered to take action on something. Deepak shares that philosophy with me.

That's why I'm interested in new age. It has literal utility. And while your music has its own genre tag—Popsical—I can hear that component in your work as well.

I'm so honored and complimented by that! To me, the whole idea of Popsical is that I felt instrumental music had that stigma. It had to be a certain way. People told me my entire life "You have to be really successful in solo piano first before you can add drum beats to something."

I'm not just a solo pianist. I love trap music. I love beats. I love reggaetón. All these sounds together—they don't fit in any category. I really call my album an instrumental mixtape because it's all these different sounds. I can never fit into that classical crossover box ever.

Is there a barrier between young people and classical music that Popsical can traverse?

One of the things that is definitely becoming huge in the instrumental space is what we were talking about earlier: The utilitarian function of music. Peaceful piano, right? That's been huge on playlists: People listening to music in the background. But I feel like instrumental music is more than peaceful piano, [even though] that's a huge market. It's huge. But it doesn't necessarily translate into performance.

Like, would you go play a whole peaceful piano playlist in Madison Square Garden? Would someone buy tickets for that and listen to 90 minutes of peaceful piano? I'm not sure, but I think the market has expanded greatly because of that playlist and that sound in the background.

But the idea of Popsical, to me, is to generate demand in younger people. And not just in younger people, but older people too. I don't think it's ever too early or late to learn an instrument, or to listen to music in a different way—not just to sleep.

Beyond blurring styles, what was the artistic intent behind Chloe Flower?

My album is self-titled—not just because I produced and wrote it—but it was a reflection of me. Like I said earlier, I'm not just a solo pianist. On my album, there's actual works by classical composers and then there's solo piano music that's not classical—a little more pop with a pop structure. Then, there's trap beats.

Track 14 is called "POPSICAL," and it's called that because it's a medley of most of the songs I wrote on the album. It's a medley of those themes. It has a very cinematic quality—I imagined it to be like the end credits of The Sound of Music. That's what I was thinking when I wrote and arranged it. It's a reflection of me and the fact I'm not just one sound. 

The label and I were really excited. It's risky for any label to do something that hasn't really been done often or well. It was scary, but it was really cool. I think that's the idea behind this: To showcase instrumental music and the way people listen to it in a different way.

It's interesting that you call it a mixtape when it's separated formally by acts. Was it challenging to square that circle?

No, actually, it was so perfect. That's partly why I had Deepak there. Because it's an instrumental album without lyrics, I wanted people to listen to the album however they want, but [also] from beginning to end, which is why it starts with the prelude and ends with the end credits—the big, thematic Hollywood ending.

Which instrumental records have you been checking out lately?

I actually listen to a lot—a lot—of classical music and Disney soundtracks. I've been listening to a lot of Leroy Anderson. Obviously, a lot of Liberace. I love his brother, George Liberace, who was kind of the quiet, silent partner behind Liberace. He wrote all the arrangements and orchestrated everything. He was a genius arranger. Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of my favorite pianists. I'm always listening to him and Evgeny Kissin.

How can young people interface with classical music in a way that doesn't involve dropping $400 on a ticket?

Totally. It's so inaccessible in that way. And you have to buy your outfit, because you have to dress up when you go to Lincoln Center. You can't just show up in sweats. I think using platforms like YouTube and TikTok [is the answer]. I see so many people who'll tag me doing the Cardi B cover or a classical cover. It's usually "Für Elise" or Bach's Toccata in Fugue, but they're doing it with their own trap beat and it sounds so cool.

As you start to research, you'll see a lot of instrumentalists out there. It's really cool.

I wonder if Popsical can show that classical can not just be melded with pop, but be pop. I'm pretty sure it was pop music hundreds of years ago.

Definitely. I think Mozart was the Justin Timberlake of his time.

I also [wanted to] tell a story. It's a musical journey from beginning to end. I thought of it as a life cycle. For me it was about, in essence, being born with a clean slate. The hardships of life and dealing with that. The darker songs are in the second act and Deepak talks a little bit about suffering. And then you end with hope. If people were to listen to it from beginning to end—which I hope they did—they would experience that with me.

Read More: Women In The Mix 2021 Recap: How Female Powerhouses Convened To Close The Wage Gap And Amplify Women's Voices Across The Music Industry

Have you faced any discrimination in the music business based on who you are or what you look like?

I haven't had an experience that overt, but definitely, as a producer and composer, 100 percent I'm always the only woman. I'm typically the only woman in a studio. It's just me. That by itself is a problem, right? I have such a strong personality and I'm so used to not fitting in, so I can survive that kind of environment and [be] fine, but that's not the case for every woman out there.

I think it's important for there to be more female composers and producers. That's why my label and I wanted to call it Chloe Flower. "Produced by Chloe Flower. Written by Chloe Flower." Because, as a female and a person of color, I represent such a small group of people. Those numbers need to go up. 

I met a girl who's 14 or 15 and she's Asian, and I'm working on a solo-piano Christmas album, so I told her I'd include one of her compositions. She's really good.

Read More: Jen Shyu On New Album 'Zero Grasses: Ritual For The Losses,' Overcoming Grief & Discrimination In Enlightened Spaces​

How do we encourage more young women of all backgrounds to enter this field?

I think definitely by promoting as many female producers and composers [as possible]. Not just artists. It's important. So many women don't get songwriting or producer credit. I've been in so many sessions where I play piano on songs and they look at me and go "You don't need the credit." 

I've done so many free sessions that I joke about it. When I do a concert, I'm like, "That's a great fee, but if you divide it by the number of hours I've worked and practiced and done free sessions, it's like negative $1,000 an hour." 

When I go into a studio and it's all dudes, it doesn't necessarily make me so excited to be in the studio. It's all the time, and I think when women see other women in the studio, it's more fun. It's more empowering than being the only girl. 

So, I think it's definitely about promoting and highlighting and honoring these new, young, female composers and producers and showing other women it isn't just a male space.

"At Night, The Disco Goddess": Why Nirvana Songs Make For Killer House Music