The New York Times - Louder: How Honest Can Demi Lovato Be?

March 19, 2021

By Caryn Ganz

Pop Music Editor

Our pop music coverage at The Times strives to give you an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes that results in the music you hear today. So it’s only fair that sometimes Louder gives you a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes of the making of that coverage.

Our night-of Grammys extravaganza ends around 3 a.m., after Jon Caramanica and I have our 1 a.m. phone call to chat about his critic’s notebook, and I schedule our “Best and Worst” to publish in the wee hours. I usually say to myself, “Don’t forget to send a Grammys newsletter” as I am falling asleep, and it would probably be more useful to write that down, as I forgot to send the Grammys newsletter this year. So all of our Grammys stories are here for you now: Ben Sisario’s overview of the night, where women won the major awards and Beyoncé broke a record; Jon’s notebook, about how the show embraced youth this year (and was the better for it); those bests and worsts; our analysis on Popcast.

I have a fairly good excuse, though: I was finishing the Demi Lovato profile that leads Louder today. I first met Lovato in 2008, when she was a Disney star who came through the Rolling Stone offices with the Jonas Brothers, who were the prime-time act at the time. She was making music in the Ashlee Simpson zone then, and my love of that zone is well-documented. (Jon Caramanica wrote an excellent profile of her during this cycle.) I followed her career as her music, and image, turned more pop diva. Talking to her earlier this month about that evolution, it’s clear how much of that period was painful and felt inauthentic — a rare thing for a star with an Instagram following of 100 million to admit. Admitting things has always been something Lovato does, though, a part of her aesthetic that draws fans close and opens herself up to public criticism. But how honest can a performer really be? Especially when she’s not totally sure who she is? In July 2018, Lovato nearly died from a drug overdose; the time that’s followed has been filled with changes. We discussed it all for this story.

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How Honest Can Demi Lovato Be?

The singer is opening up about her queerness, her near fatal overdose and her journey to living her truth. “I’m ready to feel like myself,” she said.

By Caryn Ganz

THE GRAMMYS

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Grammys 2021: Women Sweep Awards Shaped by Pandemic and Protest

Beyoncé broke a record, Megan Thee Stallion and H.E.R. won awards, Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” was named album of the year and Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” record of the year.

By Ben Sisario

Kevin Mazur/The Recording Academy, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Critic’s Notebook

The Grammys Discover Youth

A pandemic awards show that seemed poised to disappoint ended up pivoting instead, shifting its focus to women, hip-hop and most crucially, the next generation.

By Jon Caramanica

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

The Best and Worst of the 2021 Grammy Awards

Megan Thee Stallion owned the stage, struggling indie venues got a much needed spotlight and the event proved a pandemic awards show doesn’t have to look like a video conference.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli, Lindsay Zoladz and Caryn Ganz

Cbs/Via Reuters

The Grammys, Improbably, Made It Work

The show navigated a year of crisis, minted a new generation of stars and didn’t fixate on boomers.

Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated Press

2021 Grammys Winners: The Full List

The 63rd annual awards were held in Los Angeles on Sunday. Here is the full list of winners.

By Peter Libbey

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Addison Rae’s Pulsing Pop Debut, and 10 More New Songs

Hear tracks by glaive, Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive and others.

By Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Giovanni Russonello

TikTok and the Pop Music Rough Draft

The wildly popular platform has reshaped pop during the coronavirus pandemic, and changed how record labels grapple with unpredictable virality.

Critic’s Notebook

With ‘Zodiac,’ Mary Lou Williams Spanned Classical and Jazz

Two new interpretations show there are many ways to interpret a genre-crossing suite.

By Seth Colter Walls

FEATURES

Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times

Serpentwithfeet’s Music Is Otherworldly. But His Message Is Down to Earth.

On his new album, “Deacon,” the singer and songwriter makes a stark emotional pivot: “I didn’t want to go down in history as the sad boy, because I’ve just experienced so much joy.”

By Jon Pareles

Kosuke Okahara for The New York Times

The New Vanguard

Satoko Fujii, a Pianist Who Finds Music Hidden in the Details of Life

In ensembles big and small, the prolific musician uses sound to make the world’s complexities a little more graspable.

By Giovanni Russonello

Suzanne Plunkett for The New York Times

Yearning for Life on Tour, Roadies Open Up Online

Backstage music crews were set adrift by the pandemic. For some, a weekly Zoom group has been the answer.

By Alex Marshall

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Review: ‘Genius: Aretha’ Speaks Loudest When It Sings

Cynthia Erivo is dynamic in a bio-series that is strongest when it makes the case for the Queen of Soul as a creative force.

By James Poniewozik

In ‘Genius: Aretha,’ Respecting the Mind, Not Just the Soul

After seasons about Einstein and Picasso, the National Geographic series “Genius” brought together Cynthia Erivo and Suzan-Lori Parks to explore Aretha Franklin’s life and art.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

OBITUARIES

Bhaskar Menon, Who Turned Capitol Records Around, Dies at 86

After becoming the label’s chief in 1971, he oversaw the release of gargantuan hits like Pink Floyd’s album “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

By Ben Sisario

Sally Grossman, Immortalized on a Dylan Album Cover, Dies at 81

She picked out a red outfit and struck a relaxed pose on the cover of “Bringing It All Back Home,” leaving much for fans to guess about.

By Neil Genzlinger

Carmel Quinn, Irish Singer and Storyteller, Dies at 95

A hit on the television variety-show circuit of the 1950s and ’60s, she also sang to packed crowds for many years at Carnegie Hall for St. Patrick’s Day

By Katharine Q. Seelye

INSTRUMENTS!

Elísabet Davíðsdóttir, via Georgia Tech School of Music

Listen to Five of the World’s Newest, Wildest Instruments

A Lego guitar and a “war tuba” are among the highlights of this year’s Guthman Musical Instrument Competition.

By Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

Rikki D Wright for The New York Times

How the Harp Got Hip

An instrument long associated with angels and virtue plucks its way across musical genres and social media.

By Alexis Garcia

NEWS

The Charts

Drake Shakes Up the Singles Chart, but Morgan Wallen’s Album Holds On

Three of the rapper’s new tracks dislodged Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” on the Hot 100, while the country star notched a ninth week atop the Billboard 200.

By Ben Sisario