What is about the Beatles' Let it Be sessions that continues to bedevil diehards?

Even after their aperture was tremendously widened with Get Back — Peter Jackson's three-part, almost eight hour, 2021 doc — something's always been missing. Because it was meant as a corrective to a film that, well, most of us haven't seen in a long time — if at all.

That's Let it Be, the original 1970 documentary on those contested, pivotal, hot-and-cold sessions, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Much of the calcified lore around the Beatles' last stand comes not from the film itself, but what we think is in the film.

Let it Be does contain a couple of emotionally charged moments between maturing Beatles. The most famous one: George Harrison getting snippy with Paul McCartney over a guitar part, which might just be the most blown-out-of-proportion squabble in rock history.

But superfans smelled blood in the water: the film had to be a locus for the Beatles' untimely demise. To which the film's director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, might say: did we see the same movie?

"Looking back from history's vantage point, it seems like everybody drank the bad batch of Kool-Aid," he tells GRAMMY.com. Lindsay-Hogg had just appeared at an NYC screening, and seemed as surprised by it as the fans: "Because the opinion that was first formed about the movie, you could not form on the actual movie we saw the other night."

He's correct. If you saw Get Back, Lindsay-Hogg is the babyfaced, cigar-puffing auteur seen throughout; today, at 84, his original vision has been reclaimed. On May 8, Disney+ unveiled a restored and refreshed version of the Let it Be film — a historical counterweight to Get Back. Temperamentally, though, it's right on the same wavelength, which is bound to surprise some Fabs disciples.

With the benefit of Peter Jackson's sound-polishing magic and Giles Martin's inspired remixes of performances, Let it Be offers a quieter, more muted, more atmospheric take on these sessions. (Think fewer goofy antics, and more tight, lingering shots of four of rock's most evocative faces.)

As you absorb the long-on-ice Let it Be, here are some lesser-known facts about this film, and the era of the Beatles it captures — with a little help from Lindsay-Hogg himself.

The Beatles Were Happy With The Let It Be Film

After Lindsay-Hogg showed the Beatles the final rough cut, he says they all went out to a jovial meal and drinks: "Nice food, collegial, pleasant, witty conversation, nice wine."

Afterward, they went downstairs to a discotheque for nightcaps. "Paul said he thought Let it Be was good. We'd all done a good job," Lindsay-Hogg remembers. "And Ringo and [wife] Maureen were jiving to the music until two in the morning."

"They had a really, really good time," he adds. "And you can see like [in the film], on their faces, their interactions — it was like it always was."

About "That" Fight: Neither Paul Nor George Made A Big Deal

At this point, Beatles fanatics can recite this Harrison-in-a-snit quote to McCartney: "I'll play, you know, whatever you want me to play, or I won't play at all if you don't want me to play. Whatever it is that will please you… I'll do it." (Yes, that's widely viewed among fans as a tremendous deal.)

If this was such a fissure, why did McCartney and Harrison allow it in the film? After all, they had say in the final cut, like the other Beatles.

"Nothing was going to be in the picture that they didn't want," Lindsay-Hogg asserts. "They never commented on that. They took that exchange as like many other exchanges they'd had over the years… but, of course, since they'd broken up a month before [the film's release], everyone was looking for little bits of sharp metal on the sand to think why they'd broken up."

About Ringo's "Not A Lot Of Joy" Comment…

Recently, Ringo Starr opined that there was "not a lot of joy" in the Let it Be film; Lindsay-Hogg says Starr framed it to him as "no joy."

Of course, that's Starr's prerogative. But it's not quite borne out by what we see — especially that merry scene where he and Harrison work out an early draft of Abbey Road's "Octopus's Garden."

"And Ringo's a combination of so pleased to be working on the song, pleased to be working with his friend, glad for the input," Lindsay-Hogg says. "He's a wonderful guy. I mean, he can think what he wants and I will always have greater affection for him.

"Let's see if he changes his mind by the time he's 100," he added mirthfully.

Lindsay-Hogg Thought It'd Never Be Released Again

"I went through many years of thinking, It's not going to come out," Lindsay-Hogg says. In this regard, he characterizes 25 or 30 years of his life as "solitary confinement," although he was "pushing for it, and educating for it."

"Then, suddenly, the sun comes out" — which may be thanks to Peter Jackson, and renewed interest via Get Back. "And someone opens the cell door, and Let it Be walks out."

Nobody Asked Him What The Sessions Were Like

All four Beatles, and many of their associates, have spoken their piece on Let it Be sessions — and journalists, authors, documentarians, and fans all have their own slant on them.

But what was this time like from Lindsay-Hogg's perspective? Incredibly, nobody ever thought to check. "You asked the one question which no one has asked," he says. "No one."

So, give us the vibe check. Were the Let it Be sessions ever remotely as tense as they've been described, since man landed on the moon? And to that, Lindsay-Hogg's response is a chuckle, and a resounding, "No, no, no."

The Beatles' Final Song: Giles Martin On The Second Life Of "Now And Then" & How The Fab Four Are "Still Breaking New Ground"

Having professed his love for the Rolling Stones with numerous documentaries and concert films, Martin Scorsese switches his attention to their one-time fiercest rivals as the producer of Beatles '64.

Out. Nov. 29, the Disney+ original centers on the year when the Beatles replicated their UK success on the other side of the Atlantic, with their iconic performance in front of 73 million "The Ed Sullivan Show" viewers the undisputed catalyst.

Of course, Beatles '64  is far from the first doc on the Fab Four to boast such an Oscar-winning pedigree. Both Peter Jackson and Ron Howard have essentially bowed down and declared “We're not worthy” with screen displays of fandom in recent years. In fact, since the group dramatically went their separate ways in 1970, countless documentarians — some who lived through it, others who had to learn it — have tried to place the success of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star in a wider context while finding new and interesting ways to tell their remarkable story.

So which are the documentary equivalents of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road (or whichever entry in the Liverpudlian' unrivaled back catalog is your ultimate)? From behind-the-scenes snapshots and musical deep dives, to intimate character portraits and star-studded retrospectives, here's a look at 10 documentaries any Beatles obsessive should have on their must-watch list. 

'Let It Be' (1970)

Eschewing the usual pop documentary conventions, the Oscar and GRAMMY-winnning Let It Be simply points the camera at the Beatles during the recording of their same-named final studio effort and lets the action naturally unfold. There are occasional glimpses of the tensions you'd expect from a band about to distintegrate; a fraught discussion about the guitar line on "Two of Us," for example, in which Harrison has to reassure McCartney that he's not being annoying (the guitarist's brief mid-sessions departure, however, is entirely omitted), and the moment which director Michael Lindsay-Hogg pithily described as Lennon dying of boredom. 

But the mood in the camp improved tenfold when the sessions moved from the decidedly frosty Twickenham Studios to the more inviting Apple HQ. Those studios became the site of an iconic rooftop concert in which the band delivered a triumphant, if resolutely windy, live farewell. Released just seven months before their official split, this was the Beatles at their rawest. 

Read more: 5 Lesser Known Facts About The Beatles' 'Let It Be' Era: Watch The Restored 1970 Film

'The Compleat Beatles' (1982)

What this two-hour ABC documentary lacks in correct grammar, it makes up for in fascinating behind-the-scenes footage and insightful commentaries from talking heads who experienced Beatlemania first-hand. Fellow Scouser Gerry Marsden, loyal Merseybeat journalist Bill Harry, and Cavern Club DJ Bob Wooler all have great stories to tell in the Malcolm McDowell-narrated special. But it's their first manager Allan Williams who steals the show with refreshingly unfiltered reminisces about their early Hamburg years. 

Viewers will also come away with a new-found respect for Harrison’s encouraging mother, an appreciation for the Beatles’ studio craft (producer George Martin comments how their abundance of creativity often left him exhausted), and a greater understanding of the sheer chaos that awaited the Fab Four faced whenever they took to the stage. And after seeing the trippy visuals created by director Patrick Montgomery, you'll never listen to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in quite the same way again.

'It Was Twenty Years Ago Today' (1987)

Named after the famous opening line from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, this 105-minute documentary explores how the historic concept album helped to usher in the second Summer of Love. First screened on ITV in the UK and then PBS on the other side of the Atlanic, It Was Twenty Years Ago Today invites some of the counterculture movement's most prominent names (including LSD advocate Timothy Leary, Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman, and poet Allan Ginsberg) to provide evidence. Ginsberg even puts his own unique spin on each of its 13 songs.

In contrast, McCartney and Harrison remain humble about their apparent ability to unify their generation — although both admit subscribing to the theory that "All You Need Is Love." A live performance of said track at the Monterey Pop Festival it was specially penned for only adds to the life-affirming vibes of this engaging alternative history lesson.  

'Imagine John Lennon' (1988)

Narrated from beyond the grave by the late Beatle, this all-encompassing doc was commissioned by his widower Yoko Ono, explaining why it delves into Lennon the man just as much as Lennon the musician. Candid interviews with his first wife Cynthia and his first-born Julian suggests the former wasn't always the ideal family guy. But unlike Albert Goldman’s hit-job biography which also emerged in late 1988, every facet of Lennon's complex personality is explored. Little-seen footage of an encounter with an inquisitive drifter, for example, proves he had a remarkable spirit of generosity.

Other Fab Four obsessives, meanwhile, will be most interested in holy grail moments such as an early rehearsal of "Imagine" and acoustic demo of then-unreleased "Real Love." The surviving Beatles, who didn't contribute to the film but gave their blessing, appeared to be just as wowed with what director Robert Solt constructed from over 100 hours of archive material. "A good lad he was," McCartney remarked about his ex-bandmate after one particularly emotional screening. 

"The Beatles Anthology" (1995)

First conceived in the 1970s as a feature film which would conclude with all four Beatles reunited on stage, this documentary project was revived in the mid-1990s as a TV series where all three surviving members reflected on their remarkable career. Interviewed by pianist Jools Holland over the course of three months, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr — then all in their fifties — provide a more subjective outlook on their remarkably impactful decade together, but their differing perspectives make for fascinating viewing.  Lennon, who was arguably the project's keenest voice, still gets his say in archival form.

Elsewhere, Martin, road manager Neil Aspinall, and press agent Derek Taylor help paint a more definitive picture. Of course, it was the two previously unfinished songs, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love," that helped kickstart a new wave of Beatlemania which perfectly aligned with the movement known as Cool Britannia.  

'The Beatles Revolution' (2000)

Coinciding with the release of the Beatles' chart-topping #1s compilation, this turn-of-the-century ABC doc highlighted how the Fab Four's impact extended far beyond sales figures and Billboard positions. Anoushka Shankar argues that their Indian sojourn helped to popularize Middle Eastern mysticism. Bill Clinton claims their iconic appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" helped the nation recover from the assassination of JFK. Director and screenwriter Milos Forman even credits them with bringing down the fall of communism! 

Whether you agree with such bold statements or not, this two-hour televisual love letter — hosted by "The View's" Meredith Vieira — provides a fascinating insight into the Liverpudlians' cultural stranglehold. And it would take the hardest of hearts to not be moved by Mike Myers' recollections of crying at A Hard Day's Night, "Because I liked these guys so much and I wanted to go have fun with them."

'George Harrison: Living in the Material World' (2011)

Before producing the latest Beatles' doc, Scorsese dipped his toes into Merseyside waters for this engaging biopic of the band's unsung hero. Named after his 1973 solo album, Living in the Material World celebrates Harrison's contributions to the Beatles' lore — whether penning standards such as "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" or steering their magical mystery tour to India.

The filmmaker is equally interested in the guitarist's life outside the quartet, from pioneering the all-star benefit gig with The Concert for Bangladesh to his pivotal role in producing films such as Withnail & I and The Life of Brian. Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and Jeff Lynne are just a few of the iconic talking heads who queue up to sing Harrison's praises, but it’s the interviews with his wife Olivia and son Dhani Harrison that lend Living in the Material World its heartfelt emotional core. 

'Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years' (2016)

Ron Howard's labor of love only spans from the Beatles' early Cavern Club beginnings to their deafening final live show at Shea Stadium. But the Fab Four crammed more touring into those four years than most of their peers would in four lifetimes. Indeed, the Best Music Film GRAMMY winner, which also raked in an impressive $12.3 million at the global box office, documents the Liverpudlians at their busiest and indeed their most public.

Alongside all the footage of their airport-hotel-stage repeat ad nauseam existence, Eight Days a Week also reflects on all the controversies they caused along the way, from their ill-fated trip to the Philippines to Lennon's claims they were "bigger than Jesus."

It certainly explains why the quartet decided to get off the treadmill at the peak of their powers. But thanks to electrifying live performances of "She Loves You," "Twist and Shout," and "Please Please Me," it also explains why they became such a phenomenon in the first place. 

"Get Back" (2021)

Adopting the restoration techniques of his wartime doc They Shall Not Grow Old and the mammoth running times of his Tolkien epics, Peter Jackson gave the Beatles' Let It Be sessions a new lease of life with this eight-hour treasure trove of archival footage. Unlike Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 effort, Get Back shows the origins and the aftermath of Harrison's short-lived exit from the group.

However, the tone of the three-part series — which has the support of all surviving Beatles and Beatles' widows — is more joyous and jovial. McCartney magically conjures up the title track on a whim, while Starr casually offers Ono some chewing gum, contradicting the accepted narrative that Lennon's other half was the bane of the band's later years. The five–time Emmy winner, which also presents the rooftop farewell in all its 42-minute glory, is that rare companion piece which proves to be just as vital as the original.

Read more: There's Not Much Left To Reveal About The Beatles' End. Let's Use The 'Get Back' Doc As A Manual For Moving Forward. 

"McCartney 3,2,1" (2021)

"Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow’s younger sister. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was recorded in front of the creator of the Moog. The piccolo trumpet on "Penny Lane" was inspired by a televised performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. These are just a few of the fascinating nuggets of information disclosed in Apple TV+'s joyously nerdy deep dive into McCartney's back catalog. 

In conversation with longtime fan Rick Rubin, the bassist makes for hugely engaging company across six half-hour episodes which shine new light on countless songs that have become part of the popcultural fabric. It's not just all talk, either. When the producer strips back  "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," exposing its bassline in all its surprisingly sludgy glory, even McCartney is taken aback at the sound that emanates. But perhaps the biggest surprise is the pitch-perfect impression that Macca delivers while recollecting a memorable backstage encounter with Little Richard.

Believe it or not, it's already that time of year again: the 2025 GRAMMY nominations have been revealed.

After a year that saw a pop renaissance and continued dominance by women across genres, the 2025 GRAMMY nominees followed suit. Beyoncé is this year's most-nominated artist, adding 11 more to her GRAMMY resumé (more on that later). Pop's newest reigning queens, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, solidified their thrones; they each celebrate six nominations, and are the only two artists nominated for Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist. 

In fact, six of the eight leading nominees are women. Female artists dominate both the Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year Categories, as well as over a dozen other Categories Best Pop Vocal Album, Best R&B Performance and Best Latin Pop Album.

But that's just one exciting aspect of this year's nominations. As you dive into the full 2025 GRAMMYs nominee list, take a look at some of the most notable feats and firsts from the 2025 GRAMMY nominations — and be sure to tune into Music's Biggest Night on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025!

Beyoncé Adds To Her GRAMMY Legacy

With 11 nominations, Beyoncé isn't just the most-nominated artist at the 2025 GRAMMYs — she's now the most-nominated artist in GRAMMY history. The 11 new nods bring her total to a whopping 99 nominations!

Queen Bey is already the artist with the most GRAMMY wins of all time with 32, a record she achieved upon her album RENAISSANCE winning Best Dance/Electronic Music Album at the 2023 GRAMMYs. 

Artists Are Nominated In Fields/Categories For The First Time

Along with a new GRAMMY record, Beyoncé also adds a new GRAMMY Field to her repertoire. She received her first nominations in the Country & American Roots Music Field, and five at that: Best Country Solo Performance ("16 CARRIAGES"), Best Country Duo/Group Performance ("II MOST WANTED" Featuring Miley Cyrus), Best Country Song ("TEXAS HOLD 'EM"), Best Country Album (COWBOY CARTER), and Best Americana Performance ("YA YA").

Post Malone also tallied the first Country & American Roots Music Field nominations of his career, earning nods for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song for his Morgan Wallen duet, "I Had Some Help," and Best Country Album for F-1 Trillion.

One of Malone's many F-1 Trillion collaborators, Luke Combs, notched his first nomination in the Best Song Written For Visual Media Category for his chart-topping Twisters anthem "Ain't No Love In Oklahoma."

Meanwhile, R&B titans Alicia Keys and John Legend both celebrate nominations in new Categories as well. Keys is nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album Category for the first time (Hell's Kitchen), and Legend received his first nods for Best Children's Music Album (My Favorite Dream) and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella ("Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Jacob Collier featuring Legend & Tori Kelly).

Charli xcx Continues Her Brat Summer

Pop's longtime cool girl Charli xcx also adds several new Categories to her GRAMMY nomination tally, but her reason to celebrate is a little bigger than that: they're her first nominations as a solo artist.

Charli xcx's previous two GRAMMY nominations came in 2015, and they were for her Iggy Azalea collaboration, "Fancy." Perhaps to fans' surprise, her own work had never received a nod — but brat changed that immensely.

One of the most-nominated artists with seven, Charli xcx earned her first nominations in the Album Of The Year (brat), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Apple"), Best Pop Dance Recording ("Von Dutch"), Best Dance/Electronic Album (brat), and Best Music Video ("360") Categories. She's also nominated in the same two Categories in which "Fancy" were 10 years ago: Record Of The Year ("360") and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("Guess" Featuring Billie Eilish).

Album Of The Year Marks Notable Firsts

Three of Charli xcx's fellow Album Of The Year nominees reach milestones with their respective nominations. Taylor Swift received her seventh Album Of The Year nomination thanks to THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, becoming the first woman artist to receive seven nominations in the Category. 

Billie Eilish notches her third Album Of The Year nomination in a row with HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, making her the first artist to have their first three albums nominated in the Category.

Jack Antonoff also achieved a back-to-back AOTY feat, as it's the second year in a row that he has been nominated for his work with two separate artists in the Category. His latest Album Of The Year nods are for Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT and Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. (Fittingly, Swift was one of the two artists last year too, as Antonoff was nominated for AOTY for his work on Midnights as well as Lana Del Rey's Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.)

Veteran Acts Earn Nods For The First Time In A Long Time

Several artists and creators celebrate their first GRAMMY nominations this year, including big-name stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Carin Léon, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, and Morgan Wallen. What's more, 32 of those first-time nominees have two or more nominations.

But while the Recording Academy is always excited to honor new nominees — check back to GRAMMY.com in January for the annual Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee series — one of the most interesting stories of the 2025 GRAMMYs centers on those who received nominations for the first time in over a decade.

Perhaps the most unexpected names to see on the list are the Beatles. The Fab Four are nominated for the first time in 28 years thanks to "Now And Then," what Paul McCartney has dubbed "the final Beatles record." The song earned nods for Record Of The Year and Best Rock Performance, which brings their career nominations count to 25; prior to the 2025 GRAMMYs, the Beatles have won seven GRAMMYs.

The longest time between nominations this year goes to the Black Crowes, who received their first nod in 34 years for Happiness Bastards, their first album in 14 years. They earned their first Best Rock Album nomination, as they'd only ever been nominated once previously, for Best New Artist in 1991.

Interestingly, the Rock, Metal & Alternative Music Field spawned a few long-awaited nominations for veteran acts. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth fame scored the first nominations of her career with her second solo album, The Collective, which is up for Best Alternative Music Album, and its lead single, "BYE BYE" is up for Best Alternative Music Performance.

Pearl Jam celebrated their first nominations since 2011 with their 12th studio album, Dark Matter, which received a nod for Best Rock Album as well as Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for its title track.

They're in company with their fellow '90s punk rock gods Green Day, who earned nods in all three Categories thanks to their latest album, Saviors. Marking Green Day's first nominations since 2014, Saviors is up for Best Rock Album, while singles "The American Dream Is Killing Me" and "Dilemma" are up for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, respectively.

Elsewhere, Usher earned his first nomination for his own work in 10 years with a Best R&B Album nod for Coming Home, and Eminem earned his first nod for Best Rap Album (a Category he's won six times) in 10 years with The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).

Collaborations helped Erykah Badu, Michael McDonald and Monica snag their first nominations in more than a decade, too. Badu's team-up with Rapsody, "3:AM," earned a nod for Best Melodic Rap Performance, the singer's first nomination in the Category and first overall since 2009. McDonald tallied his first nomination since 2004 thanks to his Lalah Hathaway duet, "No Lie," which is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Monica received her first nomination since 2011, which also marked a full-circle moment. Her collab with Ariana Grande and Brandy, "The Boy Is Mine," earned a nod for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — 26 years after her duet with Brandy of the same name won a GRAMMY for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

Will any legends go home with more golden gramophones? Will Beyoncé further her victory lap? Will there be several first-time winners? Tune into CBS on Feb. 5, 2025 to find out!

The Record Of The Year Category honors some of the year's biggest recordings — and at the 2025 GRAMMYs, the nominees are hits by a mix of newcomers and superstars.

Throughout the past year, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, and Chappell Roan proved why they're at the top of pop's current class. The Beatles and Kendrick Lamar both cemented their respective legacies, while Beyoncé and Taylor Swift continue to challenge their own musical boundaries.

With a range of unforgettable music moments, there's no telling who will take home the golden gramophone for Record Of The Year — which is awarded to the artist and the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s) — at the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards. But one thing is for sure: the eight nominees make for quite an exciting contest.

Check out the nominees below and read the full 2025 GRAMMYs nominations list ahead of Music's Biggest Night on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.

It can take years for an artist to work on their masterpiece. In the Beatles' case, the journey of "Now And Then" took 45 years. John Lennon originally wrote the demo in the late '70s. It's a mournful, piano-backed confession: "I know it's true/ It's all because of you/ And if I make it through/ It's all because of you."

The song remained unfinished long after Lennon's tragic 1980 passing, but — in a powerful act of love — his bandmates completed it for him. Paul McCartney enlisted Giles Martin (the son of Beatles' former producer and longtime collaborator George Martin) as the song's co-producer, using Lennon's original 1977 demo, George Harrison's guitar melodies from the 1995 Anthology sessions, and Ringo Starr's drumming and backing vocals from 2022. "Now And Then," which marked the Beatles' 35th top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100, is a tearful close to the band's legacy. 

"Obviously, it hasn't been, but it sounds like John's written it for Paul now, in a very emotional way," Martin told Rolling Stone. "It's a bittersweet song, which is very John. But with a combination of happiness and regret." 

McCartney never gave up on the song, which is a testament that true friendship never dies.

Beyoncé — "TEXAS HOLD 'EM"

After shimmying underneath a disco ball for 2022's GRAMMY-winning RENAISSANCE, Beyoncé wanted to keep the dance party going on 2024's COWBOY CARTER — except this time around, she traded Studio 54 for a honky-tonk. But "TEXAS HOLD 'EM," the album's joint lead single alongside "16 CARRIAGES," is much more than an instructional hoedown.

The 32-time GRAMMY winning icon has long incorporated African American history in her music, and "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" is no different. The single, like many tunes on COWBOY CARTER, is rooted in liberation. Country music is the backbone of America, but its roots in Black culture are often hidden. With "TEXAS HOLD 'EM," Beyoncé lifts the veil off the genre's true history by celebrating both her Houston heritage and the Black country artists that paved the way for her.

The song's message is clear, but it's balanced by playful melodies, Beyoncé's signature stacked harmonies and a plucking banjo (played by Rhiannon Giddens, an advocate for the reclamation of country music instruments by Black musicians). While Beyoncé is no stranger to chart-topping hits ("TEXAS HOLD 'EM" is her ninth solo No. 1 single on the Hot 100), she made history as the first Black woman to score a No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.

Sabrina Carpenter does whimsy so well. Chalk it up to her Disney Channel roots, but the singer's innate ability to craft an earworm is why she's skyrocketed as one of the biggest pop stars of the new generation. "Espresso," the lead single from 2024's Short n' Sweet album and unofficial song of the summer, encapsulates Carpenter's irresistible charm.

"The song is kind of about seeing femininity as your superpower, and embracing the confidence of being that b—," she told Vogue in April. 

That confidence is found all throughout "Espresso," from her cooing vocals to her cheeky songwriting ("I can't relate to desperation/ My give-a-f—s are on vacation"). Topped off by an irresistibly catchy, undulating chorus, "Espresso" helped Carpenter reach several career milestones that kickstarted a year full of them — including her first GRAMMY nominations.

Charli xcx has long been one of the coolest girls in pop, and her sixth album brat cemented that fact. On "360," the album's second single, the British star not only acknowledges her own cool factor, but of those around her. Produced by longtime collaborator A. G. Cook, the song trades in the producer's signature exaggerated hyperpop sonics for more minimalistic synths that complement Charli's auto-tuned vocals.

"I went my own way and I made it/ I'm your favorite reference, baby," Charli xcx exclaims on the cocky opening line before comparing herself to friends like model/musician Gabbriette and actress Julia Fox. "360" is a cheeky reflection of the ever-growing digital era, giving fellow internet "It" girls an anthem for the ages.

Billie Eilish — "BIRDS OF A FEATHER"

The beauty of Billie Eilish's artistry is in her vulnerability. For the nine-time GRAMMY winner's third album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, she pushed herself into her deeper territories with the assistance of her brother and go-to collaborator FINNEAS.

Second single "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" best exemplifies the album title's meaning in both its tenderness and desperation. It was initially intended to be a traditional love song, but given the siblings' unorthodox track record, they couldn't resist making it slightly untraditional: "I want you to stay/ 'Til I'm in the grave/ 'Til I rot away, dead and buried/ 'Til I'm in the casket you carry," Eilish sings on the opening verse in her signature whisper. 

Even with the juxtaposing lyrics, the song's airy production and wistfully gauzy synths still make for a beautiful, adoring statement piece. And the heartfelt sentiment paired with Eilish's breathy vocals quickly made "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" the biggest hit from HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, already garnering nearly 1.5 billion Spotify streams as of press time.

Branding Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" as merely a diss track would be doing it a disservice. The 17-time GRAMMY winner's tune is not just a rap song, but a cultural phenomenon. A seething finale to his (very public) feud with Drake, "Not Like Us" is a triumphant win for both Lamar and rap music as a whole.

Atop a buzzing sample of Monk Higgins' 1968 "I Believe to My Soul" cover, Lamar delivers slick wordplay and calls out Drake's presumed cultural appropriation of Southern rap: "You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars/ No, you not a colleague, you a f—in' colonizer."

Following its release, the song took on a life on its own: tennis icon Serena Williams (Drake's alleged former lover) crip walked to the track at the 2024 ESPY Awards, Megan Thee Stallion and Janet Jackson incorporated it into their concerts, and many national sports leagues used it in their game broadcasts.

Drama aside, "Not Like Us" — which also scored a Song Of The Year nomination — is a celebration of West Coast hip-hop. Lamar, a proud Compton native, enlisted Los Angeles-born DJ Mustard to produce the track. The chopped-up sample is inspired by Oakland's "hyphy" rap subgenre, while Lamar exaggerates his already-animated cadence, paying homage to late Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler. While "Not Like Us" is a targeted diss, it's also a reminder of California's historical impact on rap — and Lamar's place within that legacy.

Chappell Roan grabbed the world's attention with her bombastic interpretation of baroque pop and her knack for highlighting queer romance. "Good Luck, Babe!," April's breakout hit following her 2023 debut LP, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, ushered in a new chapter.

The song discusses compulsory heterosexuality, as Roan sings about a woman she's dating who tries to deny her feelings for Roan: "You can kiss a hundred boys in bars/ Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling." 

"I knew exactly what I wanted. I wrote it in three minutes," Chappell Roan told Rolling Stone of the song's creation, which she co-wrote alongside Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter. "I felt so much anger. I was so upset. It all came out and I didn't add anything when I wrote it all done. It was a perfect storm."

The anger definitely explodes on "Good Luck, Babe!," with Roan channeling '80s divas like Kate Bush and George Michael. The singer's goal was to make a "big anthemic pop song," and "Good Luck, Babe!" soared beyond all expectations.

Taylor Swift Feat. Post Malone — "Fortnight"

Despite nailing a formula that has made her one of the biggest pop stars of all time, Taylor Swift is still willing to take risks.

"Fortnight," from the 14-time GRAMMY winner's The Tortured Poets Department, serves as both the LP's first single and opening track. The chart-topping smash introduces the album's moodier tones, telling the story of a woman in an unhappy marriage who is now the neighbor to her ex-lover and his new wife. 

Atop '80s-inspired electropop synths courtesy of longtime collaborator and co-producer Jack Antonoff, the lyrics are unexpectedly dismal for Swift: "I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary/ And I love you, it's ruining my life." Featured artist Post Malone then sweeps in with his melancholic harmonies, giving more emotional weight to Swift's brilliant storytelling.

As the train of Beatles remixes and expansions — solo or otherwise — chugs along, a fair question might come to mind: why John Lennon's Mind Games, and why now?

When you consider some agreed-upon classics — George Harrison's Living in the Material World, Ringo Starr's Ringo — it might seem like it skipped the line. Historically, fans and critics have rarely made much of Mind Games, mostly viewing it as an album-length shell for its totemic title track. 

The 2020 best-of Lennon compilation Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Mixes featured "Mind Games," "Out the Blue," and "I Know (I Know)," which is about right — even in fanatical Lennon circles, few other Mind Games tracks get much shine. It's hard to imagine anyone reaching for it instead of Plastic Ono Band, or Imagine, or even the controversial, semi-outrageous Some Time in New York City.

Granted, these largely aren't A-tier Lennon songs — but still, the album's tepid reputation has little to do with the material. The original Mind Games mix is, to put it charitably, muddy — partly due to Lennon's insecurity about his voice, partly just due to that era of recordmaking.

The fourth-best Picasso is obviously still worth viewing. But not with an inch of grime on your glasses.

The Standard Deluxe Edition. Photo courtesy of Universal Music Group

That's all changed with Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection — a fairly gobsmacking makeover of the original album, out July 12. Turns out giving it this treatment was an excellent, long-overdue idea — and producer Sean Ono Lennon, remixers Rob Stevens, Sam Gannon and Paul Hicks were the best men for the job. Outtakes and deconstructed "Elemental" and "Elements" mixes round out the boxed set.

It's not that Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection reveals some sort of masterpiece. The album's still uneven; it was bashed out at New York's Record Plant in a week, and it shows. But that's been revealed to not be its downfall, but its intrinsic charm. As you sift through the expanded collection, consider these reasons you should give Mind Games another shot.

The Songs Are Better Than You Remember

Will deep cuts like "Intuition" or "Meat City" necessarily make your summer playlist? Your mileage may vary. However, a solid handful of songs you may have written off due to murky sonics are excellent Lennon.

With a proper mix, "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" absolutely soars — it's Lennon's slow-burning, Smokey Robinson-style mea culpa to Yoko Ono. "Bring On the Lucie (Freda Peeple)" has a rickety, communal "Give Peace a Chance" energy — and in some ways, it's a stronger song than that pacifist classic.

And on side 2, the mellow, ruminative "I Know (I Know)" and "You Are Here" sparkle — especially the almost Mazzy Star-like latter tune, with pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow (of Flying Burrito Brothers fame) providing abundant atmosphere.

And, of course, the agreed-upon cuts are even better: "Mind Games" sounds more celestial than ever. And the gorgeous, cathartic "Out the Blue" — led by David Spinozza's classical-style playing, with his old pal Paul McCartney rubbing off on the melody — could and should lead any best-of list.

The Performances Are Killer

Part of the fun of Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection is realizing how great its performances are. They're not simply studio wrapping paper; they capture 1970s New York's finest session cats at full tilt.

Those were: Kleinow, Spinozza, keyboardist Ken Ascher, bassist Gordon Edwards, drummer Jim Keltner (sometimes along with Rick Marotta), saxophonist Michael Brecker, and backing vocalists Something Different.

All are blue-chip; the hand-in-glove rhythm section of Edwards and Keltner is especially captivating. (Just listen to Edwards' spectacular use of silence, as he funkily weaves through that title track.)

The hardcover book included in Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection is replete with the musicians' fly-on-the-wall stories from that week at the Record Plant.

"You can hear how much we're all enjoying playing together in those mixes," Keltner says in the book, praising Spinozza and Gordon. "If you're hearing John Lennon's voice in your headphones and the great Kenny Ascher playing John's chords on the keys, there's just no question of where you're going and how you're going to get there."

It Captures A Fascinating Moment In Time

"Mind Games to me was like an interim record between being a manic political lunatic to back to being a musician again," Lennon stated, according to the book. "It's a political album or an introspective album. Someone told me it was like Imagine with balls, which I liked a lot."

This creative transition reflects the upheaval in Lennon's life at the time. He no longer had Phil Spector to produce; Mind Games was his first self-production. He was struggling to stay in the country, while Nixon wanted him and his message firmly out.

Plus, Lennon recorded it a few months before his 18-month separation from Ono began — the mythologized "Lost Weekend" that was actually a creatively flourishing time. All of this gives the exhaustive Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection historical weight, on top of listening pleasure.

"[It's important to] get as complete a revealing of it as possible," Stevens, who handled the Raw Studio Mixes, tells GRAMMY.com. "Because nobody's going to be able to do it in 30 years."

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Central Park, 1973. Photo: Bob Gruen

Moments Of Inspired Weirdness Abound

Four seconds of silence titled the "Nutopian International Anthem." A messy slab of blues rock with refrains of "Fingerlickin', chicken-pickin'" and "Chickin-suckin', mother-truckin'." The country-fried "Tight A$," basically one long double entendre.

To put it simply, you can't find such heavy concentrates of Lennonesque nuttiness on more commercial works like Imagine. Sometimes the outliers get under your skin just the same.

Read more: We've Thrown Everything We Could At John Lennon's "Imagine." The Song Nonetheless Endures 50 Years Later.

It's Never Sounded Better

"It's a little harsh, a little compressed," Stevens says of the original 1973 mix. "The sound's a little bit off-putting, so maybe you dismiss listening to it, in a different head. Which is why the record might not have gotten its due back then."

As such, in 2024 it's revelatory to hear Edwards' basslines so plump, Keltner's kick so defined, Ascher's lines so crystalline. When Spinozza rips into that "Aisumasen" solo, it absolutely penetrates. And, as always with these Lennon remixes, the man's voice is prioritized, and placed front and center. It doesn't dispose of the effects Lennon insecurely desired; it clarifies them.

"I get so enthusiastic," Ascher says about listening to Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection. "I say, 'Well, that could have been a hit. This could have been a hit. No, this one could have been a hit, this one." Yes is the answer.