Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of Broken Record. My name is Ellie, I'm your host, and this week is a very exciting episode because this past Sunday was the 66th Grammys, and I had a virtual media pass for the Grammys, and I got to interview some really cool people. So I'm very excited to talk about that this episode, but first I wanted to share kind of what the process was like of being a virtual press member for the Grammys, because I didn't really know anything going into it. Like this was my first kind of like major event that I had a press pass for, and it was virtual, so I didn't know how it was gonna work.
And there was just a lot of questions in my mind, so I wanted to explain some of the things that I felt were really interesting about how they handled virtual press. So I had, everyone who had a virtual press was able, got links to two different zooms. One of them was for the red carpet, and one of them was for the media center. And the media center is basically, I like to call it the winners room.
It's where after celebrities win a Grammy, they go there and they like take pictures of themselves with the Grammys, they get questions from reporters about their Grammy win. Like it's basically just like the quick press room where they can, the Grammys and all the different press people can get quick photos and interviews with Grammy winners. So it was really cool that I had access to both of those because in person, like I noticed there was definitely people who either prioritize the red carpet or prioritize the winners room, because while the Grammys for the red carpet, main telecast was going on, the Grammys opening ceremony was going on, so like there would be winners coming from the opening ceremony into the media center to like get interviews, take pictures, but if you were on the red carpet, you would just miss it. And a lot of the people who ended up winning at the opening ceremony ended up walking the red carpet, so I guess people still were able to see them there, but it was interesting because not all the winners did that and also like a lot of the people on the red carpet didn't have like factual information.
Not that they were saying things that weren't true, but like they would be like, I believe you just wanna Grammy and like they weren't like for sure in their knowledge, which I thought was really interesting, but yeah, it was really cool. So that alone was really cool with me that I was able to go in between both of the rooms areas or whatever, and I thought it was really special. So I'm gonna split this up because I have a lot of talking to do, so first I'm gonna play in a question that I got to ask Black Pumas. I'm just wondering how you guys are feeling today, and I know you guys have created a large following thing.
So I'm just wondering how you're feeling about being at the Grammys today, hopefully winning your nomination, and I'm wondering what performance you're excited to see during the Grammy ceremony. Obviously we're greatly validated to be here to stand before you guys today, and we really love what we do. So again, I think I definitely am feeling a lot more comfortable. I'm looking at our fits, Adrian pointed it out before, we seem so much more chill and presentable to our own liking, and yeah, I mean, what about the performances though?
I heard it's pretty stacked this year. Yeah, there's some amazing ones. I did see Joni Mitchell was performing, we were able to play her at the tribute to her a couple years ago, Duolipa. I know at this daytime telecast, Robert Glassberg will be performing good friend Gabby Moreno, so a lot of amazing talent.
That was just Black Pumas who are an amazing Duoband, and they have been nominated for seven Grammys, unfortunately they haven't won any, but they're really talented, and I recommend listening to their music. And another thing I want to mention about having a press pass for the Grammys, or I assume really any like major awards ceremony or event is that I didn't know who was coming. So like throughout the night, we didn't have a certain list of people who were like, these people are going to stop by our station, and they'll answer questions on Zoom, but we didn't have that, so we were just kind of like scrambling the whole time. Not, I wouldn't say scrambling, because you obviously can prepare general questions to ask everybody, the question I just asked Black Pumas was kind of general, it wasn't specific to them, it was just like, how are you feeling, what performances are you excited to see?
So that was nice to have a couple of backups like that, but also just, it was funny, because like we won the Zoom, there was a couple of people there in person, and one of the people there would just be chatting in the Zoom, and she would be like, Black Pumas is next, or like, we're trying to get boy genius, and like, she would be, like she would give us like a heads up, but it was really like, maximum two, three minutes before they went on Zoom, so you didn't really have a lot of time to prepare, but it was really interesting, it was fun, it kept me on my toes, but yeah, it was interesting. I definitely feel like I didn't ask as good of questions as I could of if I had known who was coming, but I mean, I feel like that happens with everyone, the more time you have to prepare, the more prepared, you'll be, but I don't know, I thought it was really interesting, it was cool, I'm glad that they at least gave us a heads up, like here's who's coming next, because I'm not gonna lie to some of the people, I just looked up really quickly on Google, and I was like, Black Pumas Grammys, or Coco Jones Grammys, just to remind myself what they were nominated for, if they've won any Grammys in the past, like, what their current nominations are for, like, it was just, I don't know, it was really interesting, kept me on my toes, and it was kind of fun, I talked to a couple people on the red carpet, so, next I'll play another interview, that was on the red carpet, I say interview, but in reality, it was only one question, because the press, like, the virtual press at the red carpet, the virtual press and the in-person press in the media center, were only allowed to ask one question per artist or band, or whoever stopped by, so whenever I say interview, just know I'm only asking one question, because that was all I was allowed to, but that being said, here's my interview slash question, with brothers, I was born. Hi. Hello.
So, you guys are just icons in general, I love your music, and I'm so glad that you guys were recognized at the Grammys, and you worked with a lot of iconic people as well, and so I'm wondering how you guys approach collaborating with artists and creating music, with knowing that there's gonna be another voice on the track versus collaborating with just the two of you, and creating music by yourselves? At the end of the day, being a songwriter, the song leads everything. You can't just try to squeeze around paying to us, where it'll hold, because it might be cool, or it might be beneficial. And we, our songs come first, I mean, I'm a guitar player, I love playing solos over everything, but sometimes the song doesn't need that, so I always pay fealty to the song, and we lit that lead, and working on doing collaborations, for example, when we did Burning Man with Earth's Bentley, it was his idea to do that, he asked us if we wanted to be a part of the song, and we said, yeah, but we have to listen to the song first, we have to actually like it.
If it's something that we don't feel like resonates with us, we aren't going to do it. And after the first listen, both he and I immediately loved it, and it made sense, it harmonized with who we are as creators. So it's gotta make sense in a long-term narrative, it's gotta fit who you are aesthetically above all. It can be a little challenging, especially if you're working together, you're most likely the case that you admire one another.
So a lot of times they're like, well, I wanna hear you do this, and I'm like, well, I wanna hear you sing. And so you find in that sweet spot, it can be challenging, but when you do, it's just the best. So I absolutely adore Brother's Osborne, I think they're a very, very talented country band, and it was really cool to be able to talk to them. It was definitely very interesting seeing who would stop and just kind of kept walking.
It was really cool, because there's a couple of people who stopped who, I didn't think would stop. Like Coco Jones stopped on the red carpet, which I thought was really cool, because she was nominated for a lot of things this year, including Best New Artist. There's just a couple of just really cool people who stopped and I just wonder if that stopped. And I thought that was really cool.
I'll probably get into this later when I'm playing interviews from the media center, but there was a couple really, really cool people who I just look up to in so many ways that stopped. And I was kind of mind blown. I was very much freaking out fan-girling behind the camera, like it was insane. But someone who I talked to, who for me was a fan-girl moment, I absolutely adore him, because just Brilliant is Tyler Johnson.
He is a producer and he has worked with so many famous people. Some of the highlights that he's worked with is Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles. Like are you kidding me? I talked to someone who has worked with those people that's insane.
Are you kidding me? Like it was just Brilliant. And so I'm going back to the thing I said earlier where we didn't have a lot of time to prepare questions and it was a lot of scrambling because I definitely did get stuck in a loop for a second. And I asked brothers Osborne what it was like working by yourself and collaborating.
And I asked Tyler Johnson a very similar question but in a different way because he works more in production and brothers Osborne are more in like singing and songwriting and whatever. And so definitely felt a bit repetitive to me, but it's okay. And I'm still very glad I asked him that question because it was super interesting to listen to both of their answers. And so yeah, here's Tyler Johnson.
Hi, first of all, congratulations on your nominations. Thanks. I love all the production work that you've done with many of your artists that you worked with, Harry Styles. Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus.
You have worked with the biggest names. What is it like approaching working in production with these different artists who are so famous and have such different styles? How do you approach kind of identifying the different production that each track or album needs? I think a lot of the time the artist comes with what they want to express kind of themselves and then it's my job to extract it and refine it.
But ultimately it has to come from them. And that's always what's going to make a good album is that the artist has something they want to say both lyrically and sonically. And both Harry and Miley have recently. And it's been really, makes my job a lot easier that they bring so much to the table.
I think it's so cool that I got to talk to all these people. It's just so interesting hearing all of their insights and all of their views on music and the music they've created and the music they've listened to. And they're excited to see. Like it was just so cool.
And I was so lucky that I got to do it. It was insane. It was crazy. It was just brilliant.
Like I, it was very interesting. Because I feel like for me, I always, this might be a little bit narcissistic of me, but I always like picture like what I would be saying if like I was on a run carpet and I was getting asked these questions. And I always think to myself, like I don't know if I could sound that educated or like I don't know if I'd ever get the level of experience that they have to be able to talk so well about the topics that they are. It's just, it blows my mind how brilliant these people are.
And it was just insane to watch it firsthand, unedited. Like it was just so cool. And I'm just so lucky and excited that I got to do this because I mean, I saw a whole bunch of different people. I saw people who have been in the industry industry for decades.
And I saw people who have just joined the industry recently. And I saw songwriters and producers. And singers and like it was very interesting to hear everyone's perspectives. And I really value that and it was super cool.
So I wanna talk about Andrew Wyatt. If you're not sure who Andrew Wyatt is, he is a producer. And he was basically producing the Barbie soundtrack. He produced the Barbie album with all of the famous people.
He produced, wrote and sang on, I'm just Ken. He got Dua and Billy and Taman Paula and Nicki Minhala. Like he was responsible for getting all these people on the famous Barbie soundtrack. And it was insane.
And so I was able to ask him a question about I'm just Ken and his reaction to seeing it just absolutely take off. We're gonna go to KMIH now. Oh, in pink, it's a theme. Hi.
Hi, how are you? Thanks for wearing pink. Yes, of course, got us a code. More funny.
So I'm just wondering what was it like for you as one of the creators of the song to see I'm just Ken absolutely take off and be nominated for all these prestigious awards and be like so recognizable with all the public. What has it been like to just see how it's just taken a life of its own? It was really fun. And it was also like you have to understand that for a song like Ken, it's kind of like the same thing with the Shallow and the Stars of Orrin, which is like the whole movie supported that song.
And so the Barbie phenomenon has a film. So I think Greta deserves a lion's share and Ryan of the credit because we can write a song and then how that song is contextualized and the energy that that song is trying to transmit was the energy of the film really. So I think that in a word, how is it felt? It's just been a lot of fun because you see a song that even if it is expressing real emotion, it's one of those things that could be construed as like serious and emotional or really funny.
And I think it kind of works maybe if we did our job right as both. And I think it's been a wonderful thing to watch people get the joke and get the serious side too. Because you see kids doing it at their high school or in their like elementary school performances and then you see it spoofed in a lot of like TikTok videos. You see both people taking it as like this serious emotional song that they want to sing.
That means something to them and kids they're just having fun with it. So it's amazing to see it work. I love Andrew White. And I love his answer to my question.
And I'm just a big fan of his. And it was really cool to talk to him. And my mom, I love my mom so much. She was with me the whole day.
And by the whole day, I mean, I joined a Zoom at 11 AM and I got off the Zoom at 9.15 PM. So that's 10 hours actually. So my mom was there the whole time. She was supporting me, taking pictures of me and my setup and like videoing when I would ask someone questions.
It was really cute and adorable. And it made me happy to have her there with me. And it was really cute and adorable. And her favorite person that I talked to was Andrew White because she thought he was very nice to me and took the time to respond to my question thoughtfully.
So I appreciate that. Thanks Andrew. I'm glad you got another fan. But yeah, I just loved having my mom with me because she and I got to fan girl behind the scenes about it.
At one point, we saw Taylor Swift walk in the backgrounds of the Zoom video for the red carpet. And we flipped out. We were so excited. It was just really fun and really exciting.
And my mom took it so seriously. Like when I told her that I got the Grammy virtual press pass, she was like, oh my gosh, OK, what are you going to wear? What are you going to do with your hair? You're makeup.
We need to get someone to do your makeup. And what is your background going to be? We got to make sure you have good lighting. She was so excited.
And it was really adorable and cute. And we did the whole setup. It was so exciting and adorable. And I had the best time with her.
And I'm very glad she was there with me. It was so exciting. So Andrew White was the last person I talked to on the red carpet. But I did talk to two more people who are winners of Grammys.
And they are just brilliant. And so I got to talk to Leve, which is very exciting, because I love her music so much. I actually did an episode about her a couple weeks ago. And so I feel like I manifested it.
I love Leve. I'm so proud of her that she won a traditional pop vocal album. And I just am so proud of her. It was awesome.
I'm so glad that she won a Grammy. She so deserves it. And it is just insane. And I'm so excited that I got to talk to her.
Leve is so brilliant. And I love her voice. I love her music. And I was just fangirling so much.
So my question didn't make the most sense. But she was very nice. She got it. She answered it.
And it was amazing. OK, here is me asking a question to Leve. Hello. Hi.
I love you so much. I love your music. Congratulations on winning the Grammy. How do you feel about your role in just bringing jazz music to a wider audience and incorporating pop into that and just creating such an audience that a new audience that can value jazz music?
It feels so cool. I grew up singing jazz standards and loving jazz music. And I felt a little bit alone in it. But I noticed that nobody really hated it either.
So I made it a goal to create a community of an audience that likes this kind of music. And I think that's been the biggest gift in this process, finding a group of like-minded people. Congratulations. Thank you.
I love Leve so much. And I'm so glad that I got to talk to her. It was so cool. And I just, oh my god.
I can't believe I talked to Leve. I love her music so much. And it's so cool that I got to talk to her. That's insane.
That's an insane statement that I get to make. But yeah, Leve, Queen, she won a Grammy. And I'm very proud of her. So after that, I kind of took a break for a little bit because the Grammy's main telecast, which is what everyone sees on TV, was starting.
And they have a bunch of performances throughout the show. And they only announced like, I want to say between five and 10 awards. They only announced between five and 10 awards throughout the whole telecast. And so it was kind of slow getting through because these are also the biggest awards.
So sometimes the celebrities don't go through the media center. But slowly and surely, there was a couple of people who went through, which was really cool. Carol G, won a Grammy. And she went through, which was super cool.
And Lainy Wilson came through, which was super cool. I love Lainy Wilson. My mom and I were watching the CMT Awards. And she just was adorable and amazing.
And so my mom and I always talk about her. And it was really cool that I got to talk to her. And I didn't ask her a real question. I was just asking her how she was feeling.
But her response is so adorable and so heart-felt. And so I love it. And I want to share it. So here's Lainy Wilson right after she won a Grammy.
Hello. Hi. What's going on? How you doing?
I'm good. How are you? Doing great. Good to see you.
Congratulations on winning your first Grammy. This is amazingly big news. How are you? I'm feeling great.
I just got off the FaceTime with my mom and daddy and sister and nephews. And I'm just I'm old and cloud nine. I really do. But I feel like this is also just the beginning.
And that's very exciting feeling. Even though I've been at this a long time, I've been in Nashville for 13 years. And my first song at nine years old, for some crazy reason. It still feels like tonight is the beginning.
Amazing. Congratulations. Thank you. I love Lainy Wilson.
That was so short and sweet. But she's just adorable. I love her accent. And she's just sweetheart.
And I want to be her best friend. That is period and a sentence. That is just that. Yeah.
Overall, this experience was so cool. I'm so insanely lucky that I got this because I am not Billboard. I'm not Grammy.com. I'm not Vogue.
I am not a big name in the music industry. I don't know how I got this virtual pass. It was insane to me. I'm so glad and grateful that I did.
It makes me so happy and feel so cool that I can say, I've talked to all these people now that I can say, I've had a virtual press pass for the Grammys. This is just the biggest deal to me. And I'm so lucky and glad that it happened. And it makes me so excited.
It's so cool. It's so cool. I just was fangirling the whole day. And it was brilliant.
It was brilliant. And everyone was winning and coming through. There was like, lols and time, whatever. And it was so cool to just see everything.
See everything happen. Like, when we first called on the Zoom, everyone, there was like a stage manager in the red carpet area and in the media center who would tell who was asking the questions, call on people. And in the beginning, they checked our audio and checked our cameras, which I thought was very nice. I don't know.
I feel like that's kind of like a common sense. Of course, you want to check your audio and mics. But it was just really cool. I don't know.
I feel like with big events, like the Grammys and the Oscars and everything, I feel like they just kind of, in my mind, I feel like they were just expecting us to just know and should just be ready and just already make already like have checked that our stuff was working. But the fact that they checked it was like, I don't know. It just made it more humanized. I don't know how to explain it.
But I feel like this is like the big times. Like I feel like this is all professionals. And I thought it was really cool that they checked that everyone, everyone, the audio was good. And everyone's camera looks good.
I don't know if that makes any sense, but I don't know. It just seemed to more humanizing. It was really cool. It made it more personable.
I don't know. That just really stuck out to me. This is probably such a weird thing to talk about. Like, of course, if you're at the Grammys, you want your microphone and your video has to look good.
But I don't know. It just, it watered my heart. That's what I would say. But yeah, it was really cool overall.
And I mentioned earlier that some really cool people walked through the media center afterwards. And Carol G. Leve, like, Laney Wilson, they were all amazing. And the biggest fan of the media center was Billy Eilish, and Phineas O'Connell.
They walked through and they answered questions. And it was just I was just sorry. I could not believe that I was on Zoom with them, seeing them live and non-edited. And like their raw reactions to the questions they were getting, it was insane.
It was insane. I couldn't believe it. I have been the biggest Billy fan for so long. And oh my gosh, it was honestly crazy.
It is crazy that I was on the same Zoom as Billy Eilish. I actually freaked out. I freaked out. It was insane.
And I will never get over it. I will never get over it. It was so cool. Yeah.
And this was so cool. This was insane. So thank you so much for listening to me, just fan girl and rants about my amazing day that I had. I'm Ellie.
I'm the host of the show you're currently listening to. It is called Broken Record. It is on every Tuesday at 6 PM on 88.9 The Bridge. And if you can't make it then, that's OK.
You can search up KMIH Broken Record on any podcast streaming platform. And you'll be able to find me in all previous episodes, and you can give them a listen. So thank you so much for listening. Keep on tuning in to 88.9 The Bridge.