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The best Maroon 5 songs trace the band’s evolution from pop-rock ones-to-watch to a genre-defying act that continues to surprise us.

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Songs About Jane may have marked the first time the wider world had heard of Maroon 5 , but it offered only a small taste of what would come from one of the most consistently inventive bands of the 21st Century. Few groups have lasted as long as M5 have while continuing not only to create chart-storming hits, but also to find new ways to surprise their fans. Maroon 5, however, have built an enviable career on making creative shifts without sacrificing the core of what makes them a great band: their dedication to classic songwriting. The best Maroon 5 songs prove exactly why the band have amassed one of the most enviable bodies of work in pop history – all while making it seem so easy.

Think we’ve missed some of your best Maroon 5 songs? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Listen to the best of Maroon 5 on Apple Music and Spotify .

Empire Of The Sun, Weezer, And Lee Greenwood: Currently Trending Songs

Cian ducrot shares new single ‘something i can’t afford’, 20: love somebody.

The final single from the Overexposed album, “Love Somebody” builds up from a synth-heavy base into a perfectly-pitched pop cut that made the Billboard Top 10 in the summer of 2013. It was surprisingly overlooked as a single in many European markets, but this co-write with OneRepublic ’s Ryan Tedder packed dancefloors around the globe and also made the US club charts.

19: If I Never See Your Face Again (featuring Rihanna)

Maroon 5 would develop stellar form with star-turn duets, but “If I Never See Your Face Again” was an early flirtation with the format. The track was included in the reissue of It Won’t Be Soon Before Long and also made it onto Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad : Reloaded . By reworking the song with the biggest female singer of the moment, it elevated an album cut into a Grammy nominee, while the steamy video helped develop Adam Levine’s heartthrob status.

Picked as the lead single from the band’s fifth studio release, V , “Maps” helped the album hit the top spot. By now the band had built a solid reputation for stop-you-in-your-tracks videos, and the explicit clip for “Maps” is particularly strong; its edgy narrative about a house party that ends in tragedy plays out the chronology of events backwards to dynamic effect. The single did Top 10 business everywhere and marked the return of Jesse Carmichael to the team after taking a two-year hiatus. Pop legend Ammar Malik, who helped shape many of the band’s biggest hits, as well as smashes for Clean Bandit and Ariana Grande , earns a credit here and the song became a fan favourite on the tour to support V .

17: Sunday Morning

It’s hard to imagine a time when Maroon 5 weren’t reliable chart hitmakers, but despite the impact of Songs About Jane , there were no guarantees that the band’s momentum would continue. “Sunday Morning” amped up Maroon 5’s soulful heart and deepened the public’s curiosity about this new group that was proving increasingly hard to pigeonhole. The track’s midtempo groove also sounded great on radio and helped the single into the Top 40 on both sides of the Atlantic.

16: Wake Up Call

Drafting in Mary J Blige and producer Mark Ronson was a smart move for a song that, in truth, didn’t need much help to start with. The “Wake Up Call” remix adds a sharp urban twist to a sturdy pop-rock track and was the highlight of the band’s Call And Response: The Remix Album , released the year after “Wake Up Call” first hit the market. Jonas Åkerlund directed the video, another clip that amped up the drama with a dark, domestic menace.

Launching Hands All Over , “Misery” was written by Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael and Sam Farrar, and was given a glossy pop-rock sheen by producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. This perky 2010 release did respectable business and, though the Hands All Over era would prove a testing time for the band, a stronger fighting spirit soon emerged.

14: Animals

As Maroon 5 moulded their sound into a contemporary pop-dance style, they would inevitably look to collaborate with the production titans of the moment. Benny Blanco and Shellback had worked with Britney Spears, Adele and Katy Perry , and joined Adam Levine in creating “Animals” (which Shellback would produce for V ). It gave Maroon 5 their tenth Top 10 single in the US and would be promoted across multiple guest appearances on international TV shows. It was also a high point of the Maroon V Tour, which lasted for almost three years as the band’s global profile exploded.

13: Cold (featuring Future)

If there’s an award for the greatest Maroon 5 video – who would like to call that contest? – this clip is an obvious contender. It elevates a sturdy midtempo pop groove into something extra special. Lifted from the Red Pill Blues sessions, the single made the US Top 20 and was boosted by a suite of hot remixes, with the Gucci Mane treatment probably the standout.

12: What Lovers Do (featuring SZA)

This sugar-sweet melody offers Maroon 5 at, perhaps, their lightest, and demonstrates how effortlessly classic-pop writing comes to Adam Levine. Lifting elements from Neiked’s “Sexual,” it was a signal that Red Pill Blues was perfectly positioned to capitalise on the booming pop-dance market, but the credibility of the band’s blend of urban and rock influences was never far away. Featured artist SZA enjoyed her first US Top 10 appearance with this track.

11: Daylight

A late single release from Overexposed , “Daylight’ had a steady climb up the Billboard charts, made the US Top 10 and has since lasted the course. Jonas Åkerlund was brought in to helm a clever video made with the band’s fans, while Adam Levine says “Daylight,” created with legendary hitmaker Max Martin, is his favourite track on the album.

10: This Love

The one that made the band household names, “This Love” is certainly the first Maroon 5 classic from a lengthy line of them. Adam wrote the track with keyboardist Jesse Carmichael and it ended up becoming the third-most played song of 2004, earning a Grammy for Best Pop Performance. Everything you needed to know about the band was in place here: soulful top-notes, a grittier rock core and those once-heard, never-forgotten vocals. Even the video won an award. It wasn’t their first single, but the Maroon 5 rollercoaster started here.

9: Payphone (featuring Wiz Khalifa)

Rapper Wiz Khalifa added some ballast to this melodic gem, and the video pitched Maroon 5 into the premier league. It had a huge budget and demonstrated how effectively the band could use a clever video to enhance a great song. “Payphone” played just as well on radio, however, its platinum sales taking it to No.2 in the US, while the song became the band’s first chart-topper in the UK.

A song that always brings a smile to your face. The band ditched the high-concept drama for this clip and went with a simpler (but super-sharp) idea instead: Maroon 5 cast as the ultimate wedding band. Taken from 2014’s V , “Sugar” would become its biggest hit. It was written with Mike Posner and remains a radio staple to this day, despite being issued way back at the start of 2015.

7: Don’t Wanna Know (featuring Kendrick Lamar)

Why guest artist Kendrick Lamar decided not to appear in the bizarre Pokémon-inspired video is anyone’s guess… but here was a band with a sense of humour. TV show Ellen hosted the debut live performance of the cut, which went on to be a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in late 2016. Benny Blanco helped produce the studio version, which was given a standalone release ahead of Red Pill Blues .

6: She Will Be Loved

Most classic bands have one standout ballad in their catalogue. For Maroon 5, this was the first of many. After the huge success of “This Love,” “She Will Be Loved” was an early indicator of the band’s appetite for brave development, finding them confident enough to mix up the formula at the earliest opportunity. It was also one of their first chart-toppers, hitting No.1 in Australia, three years before they reached the same position in their homeland.

5: One More Night

You can’t really talk about Maroon 5 without focusing on the band’s charismatic frontman. “One More Night” is perhaps the point when Adam Levine’s sex appeal was pushed centre-stage, in a video treatment of a bitter domestic drama. Do their great videos ever overshadow the songs? Almost, but not quite… these guys know what they are doing. This was the second single from Overexposed , recorded as Jesse Carmichael took a break from the band, with PJ Morton stepping in after a spell on tour.

4: Memories

The one that caught us all by surprise. The sudden release of this brand-new track in September 2019 has all the makings of an enduring Maroon 5 song. This stripped-back, gently lilting pop cut has a gorgeous melody and is going to be all over radio across the autumn. You know that early-evening moment on an idyllic beach as the sun slowly sets at the end of summer? It sounds like this.

3: Makes Me Wonder

This record-breaking song was the band’s first domestic chart-topper and launched It Won’t Be Soon Before Long in 2007. It scored one of the biggest-ever jumps to the top spot in history when it leapt stateside from No.64 to No.1, securing another Grammy win for Best Pop Performance along the way. The soul-funk influences were clear and “Makes Me Wonder” startled critics who had already decided the group was firmly fixed to the pop-rock market. Not for the first time were Maroon 5 able to show they can keep everyone guessing…

2: Moves Like Jagger (featuring Christina Aguilera)

Now recognised as one of the biggest songs of all time, this hit duet was initially released as a standalone single following Hands All Over . The Voice coach Christina Aguilera left her red chair to join fellow judge Adam Levine on this homage to The Rolling Stones ’ frontman. What makes it work? A hypnotic pop-dance groove that just burns into the memory, two great vocal performances and an inspired lyric that’s clever but ever so simple.

1: Girls Like You (featuring Cardi B)

Sometimes timing is everything, and this sharp cut – Maroon 5’s fourth domestic chart-topper, recorded with rapper Cardi B – was lifted from Red Pill Blues to huge radio support in 2018. It seemed like the perfect celebration of women in that moment when so many stories of long-veiled abuse were finally being exposed. A neat video with celebrity cameos helped, but this nagging, hook-heavy earworm is the sort of a tune you can’t easily shake off. And its phenomenal sales are still building.

Commercial success aside, why does this hit end up triumphantly on top of a demanding list of the best Maroon 5 songs? Because, at the end of the day, “Girls Like You” is simply a classic pop song and, for all the theatricality of the band’s visual presentation, classic songs are what they are truly all about.

Looking for more? Discover our essential Maroon 5 album guide .

September 30, 2019 at 6:52 pm

Best ever songs! Memories such a beauty! Everytime there’s one special one that pops out. Wow wow wow. Just love you guys. Please come to South Africa for a tour! Love much Di xxx SA

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Maroon 5 tour dates 2024

Maroon 5 is currently touring across 2 countries and has 19 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas, after that they'll be at Dolby Live at Park MGM again in Las Vegas.

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Upcoming concerts (19) See nearest concert

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Maroon 5 Expand World Tour With New North American Dates

By Larisha Paul

Larisha Paul

Maroon 5 are extending their ongoing world tour with 13 additional stops at arenas across North America.

After some scattered dates in the Middle East, as well as California and Canada through May and June, the pop-rock band will officially kick off a North American tour July 30 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The new set of dates will stretch through Aug. 20 when Maroon 5 will wrap things up with a performance at Montreal’s Centre Bell Arena.

Tickets for the newly announced dates go on sale via Ticketmaster on Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. local time.

The extensive tour is in support of Maroon 5’s seventh studio album Jordi , released last year. The LP features “Memories” and the Megan Thee Stallion-assisted “Beautiful Mistakes.” The trek also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the group’s debut album, Songs About Jane .

Maroon 5 North American Tour Dates: July 30 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center Aug. 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena Aug. 3 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome Aug. 5 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place Aug. 6 – Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre Aug. 8 – Billings, MT @ MetraPark – First Interstate Arena Aug. 10 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena Aug. 12 – Fargo, ND @ Fargodome Aug. 13 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center Aug. 15 – Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center Aug. 17 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena Aug. 19 – Ottawa, ON @ Richcraft Live at Canadian Tire Centre Aug. 20 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell

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Maroon 5’s Top 20 Songs on the Billboard Hot 100

The biggest hits from Adam Levine & co.

By Joe Lynch

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A lot of people don’t realize it, but Maroon 5 actually got its start way back in the ‘90s, when frontman Adam Levine was just a teenager, as a group called Kara’s Flowers. After some lineup shifts, a mostly ignored major-label debut (1997’s The Fourth World on Reprise) and a name change, Maroon 5 emerged with Songs About Jane (Octone/J Records) in 2002, a soul-influenced collection of alt-rock that became a sleeper hit when lead single “Harder to Breathe” began to pick up steam on alternative radio, eventually helping the band crossover into the mainstream.

They didn’t look back, kicking off a fruitful period of blockbuster albums, Billboard Hot 100 hit singles and Grammy wins (three so far). When radio and mainstream tastes began shifting away from rock bands in the early ‘10s, Maroon 5 deftly evolved, expanding their sonic palette while working alongside top 40 pop producers and A-list rappers. Unlike many rock bands who broke through in 2002, Maroon 5 is still a commercial force, aided, in part, by Adam Levine’s long tenure on the NBC singing competition The Voice, where his “bromance” with fellow coach Blake Shelton helped propel the show to monster ratings.

But before the TV cameras, there was the music. The band – which consists of Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, PJ Morton, Matt Flynn and Sam Farrar (shoutout to former members Ryan Dusick and Mickey Madden) – has scored four No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. Separate from the band, Levine charted as a featured artist on Gym Class Heroes’ “Stereo Hearts” (which reached No. 4 in 2011) and R. City’s “Locked Away (No. 6 in 2015).

Below, we’ve rounding up Maroon 5’s 20 biggest Billboard chart hits as a band, from “This Love” to “Girls Like You” and beyond. The ranking is based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 (from its inception on Aug. 4, 1958, through March 18, 2023.). Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates during various periods.

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 24, Peak Date June 9, 2018

Listen here .

"Harder to Breathe"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 18, Peak Date: Nov. 1, 2003

"Wake Up Call"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 19, Peak Date: Oct. 6, 2007

"Beautiful Mistakes" feat. Megan Thee Stallion

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 13, Peak Date: July 3, 2021

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 14, Peak Date: Oct. 9, 2010

"Love Somebody"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 10, Peak Date: Aug. 17, 2013

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 7, Peak Date: Feb. 23, 2013

"What Lovers Do" feat. SZA

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 9, Peak Date: Nov. 25, 2017

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 6, Peak Date: Aug. 9, 2014

"Don't Wanna Know" feat. Kendrick Lamar

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 6, Peak Date: Feb. 18, 2017

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 3, Peak Date: Nov. 22, 2014

"Makes Me Wonder"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 1 (three weeks), Peak Date: May 12, 2007

"She Will Be Loved"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 5, Peak Date: Sept. 25, 2004

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 2, Peak Date: Jan. 11, 2020

"This Love"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 5, Peak Date: April 24, 2004

"Payphone" feat. Wiz Khalifa

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 2, Peak Date: May 26, 2012

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 2, Peak Date: March 28, 2015

Listen here.

"One More Night"

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 1 (nine weeks), Peak Date: Sept. 29, 2012

"Moves Like Jagger" feat. Christina Aguilera

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 1 (four weeks), Peak Date: Sept. 10, 2011

"Girls Like You" feat. Cardi B

Hot 100 Peak Position: No. 1 (seven weeks), Peak Date: Sept. 29, 2018

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• All setlist songs  ( 1290 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 14 )
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'Absolute chaos': Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Lisbon delayed as fans waited to enter

LISBON — Chaos and madness. Two words that fans may fit into "Blank Space" lyrics were instead two words frantic Swifties used to describe Taylor Swift’s first-ever show in Portugal.

“I’m just sad,” says Noelle Vavuris who went to the Eras Tour in Santa Clara, California, and wanted to see the new “Tortured Poets Department” addition at the Estadio da Luz. “I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars to see Taylor. Please. I just want to be inside.”

Vavuris lives in Amsterdam and came to the concert with three of her best friends. 

“We’ve been waiting in line for an hour and a half and we just got all the way to the stadium and then got sent all the way outside,” she says, trying to find her correct gate after multiple attempts. “We’re herded cattle. There’s absolute chaos.”

Show opener Paramore went on after 7 p.m. The tickets said the show was supposed to begin at 6 p.m. You could hear Hayley Williams singing her last song “This is Why” booming from the open-roofed stadium as Vavuris made it past security. 

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“There was a massive bottleneck at the security checkpoint to get rid of water bottles,” says Malika Nunes, who lives in Lisbon and was in the same line as Vavuris. “And then people were jumping over the barricade, pulling them apart. We stood behind a post."

Security opened the gates to more areas and fans ran by the hundreds to the stadium doors.

"They finally got more police and more security people," Nunes says. "There's soccer games here weekly with as many people, and those are organized. This is chaos. I've never seen anything like this."

Temperatures hovered in the mid-70s. When Swift took the stage at 8 p.m., the temperature was 66 degrees. In a last-minute change by producer Last Tour, fans were allowed to bring a plastic water bottle into the open-roofed stadium up to 50 centiliters (about 16 ounces). No glass, hard plastic or metal containers were allowed inside according to an informational packet released .

When Swift came on stage, she didn't mention the delay or the wait. Her team didn't respond to an email asking about the late start.

"This is my first time getting to come to Portugal, and this is how you welcome us," she said, and the crowd went wild. "When I first walked out in the show and I looked out and saw the crowd, you took my breath away. My heart was beating so fast. You just made me feel so loved. Thank you so much."

Swift will play one more night in Lisbon before going to Madrid.

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Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .

Taylor Swift adds surprise songs to every Eras Tour setlist. See all the songs she's played so far

One of the most anticipated moments of each night of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is her acoustic set .

At the far end of her stage, the singer-songwriter plays two different songs, one on the guitar and one on the piano.

Throughout 2023, fans from all over the globe tuned into social media to see which songs Swift would choose . She developed rules around the set. Each song could only be played once on the tour, unless she screwed it up. Oh, and she decided to start it all over again this year.

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"I decided that in 2024, when we go back on tour, I'm just gonna open back up all the songs for surprise songs,” Swift said during her final 2023 performance in Sao Paulo, Brazil . “For one year, we've really gotten through a lot of songs, so I'm just gonna make all the songs fair game when we go back on tour."

That day has arrived. Swift performed her first show of 2024 in Tokyo on Wednesday . Throughout the year, she will travel to 23 different cities around the world. Follow along here to see which surprise songs she plays at each tour stop. Below, see what she played — and didn't — in 2023.

Year 2 of Eras Tour Surprise Set Songs

• Lisbon, May 25: “The Tortured Poets Department”/“Now That We Don’t Talk” and “You’re On Your Own Kid”/“Long Live”
• Lisbon, May 24: "Come Back...Be Here"/"The Way I Loved You"/"The Other Side of the Door" and "Fresh Out the Slammer"/"High Infidelity"
• Stockholm, May 19: “Message in a Bottle”/“How You Get the Girl”/“New Romantics” and "How Did It End?"
• Stockholm, May 18: “Guilty as Sin” and “Say Don’t Go”/“Welcome to New York”/“Clean”
• Stockholm, May 17: "I Think He Knows"/"Gorgeous" and "Peter"
• Paris, May 12: "The Alchemy"/"Treacherous" and "Begin Again"/"Paris"
• Paris, May 11: "Hey Stephen" and "Maroon"
• Paris, May 10: "Is It Over Now?"/"Out of the Woods" and "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"
• Paris, May 9: "Paris" and "loml"

Year 1 of Eras Tour Surprise Set Songs

Swift performed 17 international shows in 2024.

• Singapore, Mar. 9: "Tim McGraw"/"Cowboy Like Me" and "Mirrorball"/"Epiphany"
• Singapore, Mar. 8: "Sparks Fly"/"Gold Rush" and "False God"/"Slut!"
• Singapore, Mar. 7: "Death By A Thousand Cuts"/"Babe" and "Fifteen"/"You're On Your Own Kid"
• Singapore, Mar. 4: "Foolish One"/"Tell Me Why" and "This Love"/"Call It What You Want"
• Singapore, Mar. 3: "Long Story Short"/"The Story of Us" and "Clean"/"Evermore"
• Singapore, Mar. 2: "Mine"/"Starlight" and "I Don't Wanna Live Forever"/"Dress"
• Sydney, Australia, Feb. 26: "Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve"/"Ivy" and "Forever and Always"/"Maroon"
• Sydney, Australia, Feb. 25: "Is It Over Now?"/"I Wish You Would" and "Haunted"/"Exile"
• Sydney, Australia, Feb. 24: "Should’ve Said No"/“You’re Not Sorry” and "New Year’s Day"/“Peace”
• Sydney, Australia, Feb. 23: "How You Get the Girl" and "White Horse"/"Coney Island" ft. Sabrina Carpenter
• Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 18: "Come Back...Be Here"/"Daylight" and "Teardrops On My Guitar"
• Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 17: "Getaway Car"/"August"/"The Other Side of the Door" and "This Is Me Trying"
• Melbourne, Australia, Feb. 16: "Red” and "You’re Losing Me"
• Tokyo, Feb. 10: “Come In With The Rain” and “You’re On You’re Own, Kid”
• Tokyo, Feb. 9: "Superman" and "The Outside"
• Tokyo, Feb. 8: "Eyes Open" and "Electric Touch"
• Tokyo, Feb. 7: "Dear Reader" and "Holy Ground"

Swift performed 66 shows in 2023:

• São Paulo, Nov. 26: "Say Don't Go" and "It's time to go"
• São Paulo, Nov. 25: "Safe & Sound" and "Untouchable"
• São Paulo, Nov. 24: "Now That We Don't Talk" and "Innocent"
• Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 20: "ME!" and "So It Goes…"
• Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 19: "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" and "Bigger Than the Whole Sky"
• Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 17: "Stay Beautiful" and "Suburban Legends"
• Buenos Aires, Nov. 12: "Better Than Revenge" and "Slut!"
• Buenos Aires, Nov. 11: "Is It Over Now?"/"Out of the Woods" and "End Game"
• Buenos Aires, Nov. 9: "The Very First Night" and "Labyrinth"
• Mexico City, Aug. 27: "Afterglow" and "Maroon"
• Mexico City, Aug. 26: "Cornelia Street" and "You're On Your Own, Kid"
• Mexico City, Aug. 25: "Tell Me Why" and "Snow on the Beach"
• Mexico City, Aug. 24: "I Forgot That You Existed" and "Sweet Nothing"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 9: "New Romantics" and "New Year's Day"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 8: "I Know Places" and "King of My Heart"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 7: "Dress" and "Exile"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 5: "Death By A Thousand Cuts" and "You're On Your Own, Kid"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 4: "Our Song" and "You Are In Love"
• Los Angeles, Aug. 3: "I Can See You" and "Maroon"
• Santa Clara, California, July 29: "Stay Stay Stay" and "All of the Girls You've Loved Before"
• Santa Clara, California, July 28: "Right Where You Left Me" ft. Aaron Dessner and "Castles Crumbling"
• Seattle, July 23: "Message In A Bottle" and "Tied Together With A Smile"
• Seattle, July 22: "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" and "Everything Has Changed"
• Denver, July 15: "Starlight" and "Back To December"
• Denver, July 14: "Picture To Burn" and "Timeless"
• Kansas City, Missouri, July 8: "Last Kiss" and "Dorothea"
• Kansas City, Missouri, July 7: "Never Grow Up" and "When Emma Falls in Love"
• Cincinnati, July 1: "Ivy" ft. Aaron Dessner, "I Miss You, I’m Sorry" ft. Gracie Abrams and "Call It What You Want"
• Cincinnati, June 30: "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" and "Evermore"
• Minneapolis, June 24: "Dear John" and "Daylight"
• Minneapolis, June 23: "Paper Rings" and "If This Was A Movie"
• Pittsburgh, June 17: "Seven" ft. Aaron Dessner and "The Story of Us"
• Pittsburgh, June 16: "Mr. Perfectly Fine" and "The Last Time"
• Detroit, June 10: "All You Had To Do Was Stay" and "Breathe"
• Detroit, June 9: "Haunted" and "I Almost Do"
• Chicago, June 4: "Hits Different" and "The Moment I Knew"
• Chicago, June 3: "You All Over Me" ft. Maren Morris and "I Don't Wanna Live Forever"
• Chicago, June 2: "I Wish You Would" and "The Lakes"
• East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 28: "Welcome To New York" and "Clean"
• East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 27: "Holy Ground" and "False God"
• East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 26: "Getaway Car" ft. Jack Antonoff and "Maroon"
• Foxborough, Massachusetts, May 21: "I Think He Knows" and "Red"
• Foxborough, Massachusetts, May 20: "Question...?" and "Invisible"
• Foxborough, Massachusetts, May 19: "Should've Said No" and "Better Man"
• Philadelphia, May 14: "Hey Stephen" and "The Best Day"
• Philadelphia, May 13: "Forever & Always" and "This Love"
• Philadelphia, May 12: "Gold Rush" and "Come Back...Be Here"
• Nashville, Tennessee, May 7: "Would've, Could've, Should've" ft. Aaron Dessner and "Mine"
• Nashville, Tennessee, May 6: "Out of the Woods" and "Fifteen"
• Nashville, Tennessee, May 5: "Sparks Fly" and "Teardrops On My Guitar"
• Atlanta, April 30: "I Bet You Think About Me" and "How You Get The Girl"
• Atlanta, April 29: "High Infidelity" and "Gorgeous"
• Atlanta, April 28: "The Other Side of the Door" and "Coney Island"
• Houston, April 23: "Begin Again" and "Cold as You"
• Houston, April 22: "A Place In This World" and "Today Was A Fairytale"
• Houston, April 21: "Wonderland" and "You're Not Sorry"
• Tampa, Florida, April 15: "Mad Woman" ft. Aaron Dessner and "Mean"
• Tampa, Florida, April 14: "The Great War" ft. Aaron Dessner and "You're On Your Own Kid"
• Tampa, Florida, April 13: "Speak Now" and "Treacherous"
• Arlington, Texas, April 2: "Jump Then Fall" and "The Lucky One"
• Arlington, Texas, April 1: "Death By a Thousand Cuts" and "Clean"
• Arlington, Texas, March 31: "Sad Beautiful Tragic" and "Ours"
• Las Vegas, March 25: "Cowboy Like Me" ft. Marcus Mumford and "White Horse"
• Las Vegas, March 24: "Our Song" and "Snow on the Beach"
• Glendale, Arizona, March 18: "State of Grace" and "This Is Me Trying"
• Glendale, Arizona, March 17: "Mirrorball" and "Tim McGraw"

Songs Swift has never performed on Eras Tour

• "Taylor Swift" (debut album): "Mary's Song" and "A Perfectly Good Heart"
• "Fearless": "Change," "Superstar," "We Were Happy," "That's When," "Don't You" and "Bye Bye Baby"
• "Red": "Girl At Home," "Ronan," "Forever Winter" and "Run"
• "1989": "Sweeter Than Fiction"
• "Reputation": "I Did Something Bad"
• "Lover": "London Boy," "Soon You'll Get Better" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend"
• "Folklore": "Hoax"
• "Evermore": "Happiness" and "Closure"
• "Midnights": "Glitch"
• "The Tortured Poets Department": "The Tortured Poets Department," "So Long, London," "Fresh Out The Slammer," "Florida!!!" "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)," and "Clara Bow"
• "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology": "The Black Dog," "imgonnagetyouback," "The Albatross," "Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus," "I Hate It Here," "​​thanK you aIMee," "I Look in People's Windows," "The Prophecy," "Cassandra," "The Bolter," "Robin," and "The Manuscript"

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Taylor Swift adds surprise songs to every Eras Tour setlist. See all the songs she's played so far

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Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation

Lady Gaga's Biggest Songs: 15 Tracks That Show Her Avant-Garde Pop Prowess

As fans relive the exhilarating spectacle of Lady Gaga's 2022 stadium tour with a new HBO Max concert film, 'GAGA CHROMATICA BALL,' jam out to 15 of her signature songs, from "Poker Face" to "Rain on Me."

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 .

Explore The World Of Lady Gaga

Watch Lady Gaga Bring "Born This Way" To Life On The GRAMMYs Stage | GRAMMY Great Performance

For The Record: The Liberating Joy Of Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' At 10

10 Reasons Why 'ARTPOP' Is Lady Gaga’s Bravest Album

How Lady Gaga Changed The Music Industry With Dance-Pop & Unapologetic Feminism | Run The World

What Is Lady Gaga's Real Name? 7 Facts To Know About The GRAMMY-Winning 'Chromatica' Singer

Watch Lady Gaga Advocate For Mental Health Awareness During Her Win For "Shallow" In 2019 | GRAMMY Rewind

Photo: Chris Polk/FilmMagic

How Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' Changed Pop Music Forever

Ahead of the new Amy Winehouse biopic 'Back To Black,' reflect on the impact of the album of the same name. Read on for six ways the GRAMMY-winning LP charmed listeners and changed the sound of popular music.

When Amy Winehouse released Back To Black in October 2006, it was a sonic revelation. The beehive-wearing singer’s second full-length blended modern themes with the Shangri-Las sound, crafting something that seemed at once both effortlessly timeless and perfectly timed. 

Kicking off with smash single "Rehab" before blasting into swinging bangers like "Me & Mr. Jones," "Love Is A Losing Game," and "You Know I’m No Good," Black To Black has sold over 16 million copies worldwide to date and is the 12th best-selling record of all time in the United Kingdom. It was nominated for six GRAMMY Awards and won five: Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album. 

Winehouse accepted her golden gramophones via remote link from London due to visa problems. At the time, Winehouse set the record for the most GRAMMYs won by a female British artist in a single year, though that record has since been broken by Adele , who won six in 2011.

Written in the wake of a break-up with on-again, off-again flame Blake Fielder-Civil, Black To Black explores heartbreak, grief, and infidelity, as well as substance abuse, isolation, and various traumas. Following her death in 2011, Back To Black became Winehouse’s most enduring legacy. It remains a revealingly soulful message in a bottle, floating forever on the waves. 

With the May 17 release of Sam Taylor-Johnson’s new ( and questionably crafted ) Winehouse biopic, also titled Back To Black , it's the perfect time to reflect on the album that not only charmed listeners but changed the state of a lot of popular music over the course of just 11 songs. Here are five ways that Back To Black influenced music today.

She Heralded The Arrival Of The Alt Pop Star

When Amy Winehouse hit the stage, people remarked on her big voice. She had classic, old-time torch singer pipes, like Sarah Vaughn or Etta Jones , capable of belting out odes to lost love, unrequited dreams, and crushing breakups. And while those types of singers had been around before Winehouse, they didn’t always get the chance — or grace required — to make their kind of music, with labels and producers often seeking work that was more poppy, hook-packed, or modern.

The success of Back To Black changed that, with artists like Duffy , Adele , and even Lady Gaga drawing more eyes in the wake of Winehouse’s overwhelming success. Both Duffy and Adele released their debut projects in 2007, the year after Back To Black , bringing their big, British sound to the masses. Amy Winehouse's look and sound showed other aspiring singers that they could be different and transgressive without losing appeal.

Before she signed to Interscope in 2007, "nobody knew who I was and I had no fans, no record label," Gaga told Rolling Stone in 2011 . "Everybody, when they met me, said I wasn’t pretty enough or that my voice was too low or strange. They had nowhere to put me. And then I saw [Amy Winehouse] in Rolling Stone and I saw her live. I just remember thinking ‘well, they found somewhere to put Amy…’" 

If an artist like Winehouse — who was making records and rocking styles that seemed far outside the norm — could break through, then who’s to say someone else as bold or brassy wouldn’t do just as well? 

It Encouraged Other Torch Singers In The New Millenium

Back To Black might have sounded fun, with swinging cuts about saying "no" to rehab and being bad news that could seem lighthearted to the casual listener. Dig a little deeper, though, and it’s clear Winehouse is going through some real romantic tumult. 

Before Back To Black was released, Fielder-Civil had left Winehouse to get back together with an old girlfriend, and singer felt that she needed to create something good out of all those bad feelings. Songs like "Love Is A Losing Game" and "Tears Dry On Their Own" speak to her fragile emotional state during the making of the record, and to how much she missed Fielder-Civil. The two would later marry, though the couple divorced in 2009.

Today, young pop singers like Olivia Rodrigo , Taylor Swift , and Selena Gomez are lauded for their songs about breakups, boyfriends, and the emotional damage inflicted by callous lovers. While Winehouse certainly wasn’t the first to sing about a broken heart, she was undoubtedly one of the best.

It Created A Bit Of Ronsonmania

Though Mark Ronson was already a fairly successful artist and producer in his own right before he teamed with Winehouse to write and co-produce much of Back To Black, his cred was positively stratospheric after the album's release. Though portions of Back To Black were actually produced by Salaam Remi (who’d previously worked with Winehouse on Frank and who was reportedly working on a follow-up album with her at the time of her death), Ronson got the lion’s share of credit for the record’s sound — perhaps thanks to his his GRAMMY win for Best Pop Vocal Album. Winehouse would even go on to guest on his own Version record, which featured the singer's ever-popular cover of "Valerie."

In the years that followed, Ronson went on to not only produce and make his own funky, genre-bending records, but also to work with acts like Adele, ASAP Rocky , and Paul McCartney , all of whom seemingly wanted a little of the retro soul Ronson could bring. He got huge acclaim for the funk-pop boogie cut "Uptown Funk," which he wrote and released under his own name with help from Bruno Mars , and has pushed into film as well, writing and producing over-the-top tracks like A Star Is Born ’s "Shallow" and Barbie ’s "I’m Just Ken."  To date, he’s been nominated for 17 GRAMMY Awards, winning eight.

Ronson has always acknowledged Winehouse’s role in his success, as well, telling "BBC Breakfast" in 2010 , " I've always been really candid about saying that Amy is the reason I am on the map. If it wasn't for the success of Back To Black , no one would have cared too much about Version ."

Amy Showcased The Artist As An Individual

When the GRAMMY Museum hosted its "Beyond Black - The Style of Amy Winehouse" exhibit in 2020, Museum Curator and Director of Exhibitions Nicholas Vega called the singer's sartorial influence "undeniable." Whether it was her beehive, her bold eyeliner, or her fitted dresses, artists and fans had adopted elements of Winehouse’s Back To Black style into their own fashion repertoire. And though it’s the look we associate most with Winehouse, it was actually one she had truly developed while making the record, amping up her Frank -era low-slung jeans, tank tops, and polo shirts with darker eyeliner and much bigger hair, as well as flirty dresses, vibrant bras, and heels.

"Her stylist and friends were influential in helping her develop her look, but ultimately Amy took bits and pieces of trends and styles that she admired to create her own look," Vega told GRAMMY.com in 2020. While rock ‘n’ rollers have always leaned into genre-bending styles, Winehouse’s grit is notable in the pop world, where artists typically have a bit more of a sheen. These days, artists like Miley Cyrus , Billie Eillish , and Demi Lovato are willing to let their fans see a bit more of the grit — thanks, no doubt, to the doors Winehouse opened.

Winehouse also opened the door to the beauty salon and the tattoo studio, pushing boundaries with not just her 14 different vintage-inspired tattoos — which have become almost de rigeur these days in entertainment — but also with her signature beehive-like bouffant, which hadn’t really been seen on a popular artist since the ‘60s.It’s a frequent look for contemporary pop divas, popping up on artists like Ariana Grande , Lana Del Rey , and Dua Lipa .

The Dap-Kings Got The Flowers They Deserved

Six of Back To Black ’s 11 songs , including "Rehab," got their "retro" sound via backing from t he Dap-Kings , a Brooklyn-based soul act Ronson recruited for the project. 

While Winehouse’s lyrics were mostly laid down in London, the Dap-Kings did their parts in New York. Ronson told GRAMMY.com in 2023 that the Dap-Kings "brought ['Rehab'] to life," saying, "I felt like I was floating because I couldn’t believe anybody could still make that drum sound in 2006." Winehouse and the Dap-Kings met months later after the record was released, and recorded "Valerie." The band later backed Winehouse on her U.S. tour. 

Though the Dap-Kings were known in hip musical circles for their work with late-to-success soul sensation Sharon Jones , Back To Black ’s immense success buoyed the listening public’s interest in soul music and the Dap-Kings' own profile (not to mention that of their label, Daptone Records).

"Soul music never went away and soul lovers never went away, but they’re just kind of closeted because they didn’t think it was commercially viable," Dap-Kings guitarist Binky Griptite said in the book It Ain't Retro: Daptone Records & The 21st Century Soul Revolution . "Then, when Amy’s record hit, all the undercover soul fans are like, I’m free. And then that’s when everybody’s like, Oh, there’s money in it now."

The success of Back To Black also seems to have firmly cemented the Dap-Kings in Ronson’s Rolodex, with the group’s drummer Homer Steinweiss, multi-instrumentalist Leon Michaels, trumpeter Dave Guy , and guitarist/producer Tom Brenneck appearing on many of his projects; the Dap-Kings' horns got prominent placement in "Uptown Funk."

Amy Exposed The Darker Side Of Overwhelming Success

Four years after Winehouse died, a documentary about her life was released. Asif Kapadia’s Amy became an instant rock-doc classic, detailing not only Winehouse’s upbringing, but also her struggles with fame and addiction. It won 30 awards after release, including Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards and Best Music Film at the 58th GRAMMY Awards.

It also made a lot of people angry — not for how it portrayed Winehouse, but for how she was made to feel, whether by the British press or by people she considered close. The film documented Winehouse’s struggles with bulimia, self-harm, and depression, and left fans and artists alike feeling heartbroken all over again about the singer’s passing. 

The documentary also let fans in on what life was really like for Winehouse, and potentially for other artists in the public eye. British rapper Stormzy summed it up well in 2016 when he told i-D , "I saw the [documentary, Amy] – it got me flipping angry... [Amy’s story] struck a chord with me in the sense that, as a creative, it looks like on the outside, that it’s very ‘go studio, make a hit, go and perform it around the world, champagne in the club, loads of girls’. But the graft and the emotional strain of being a musician is very hard. No one ever sees that part." 

These days, perhaps because of Winehouse’s plight or documentaries like Amy , the music-loving population seems far more inclined to give their favorite singers a little grace, whether it’s advocating for the end of Britney Spears ’ conservatorship or sympathizing with Demi Lovato’s personal struggles. Even the biggest pop stars are still people, and Amy really drove that point home.

We Only Said Goodbye With Words: Remembering Amy Winehouse 10 Years Later

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Lady Gaga Advocate For Mental Health Awareness During Her 2019 Win For "Shallow"

Lady Gaga accepts the Best Pop/Duo Group Performance award for "Shallow" from 'A Star Is Born' at the 2019 GRAMMYs while encouraging the audience "to take care of each other."

Between two award seasons, A Star Is Born received seven nominations — including Record Of The Year and two nods for Song Of The Year — and four wins for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Song Written for Visual Media twice, and Best Pop/Duo Group Performance.

In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind , travel to 2019 to watch Lady Gaga accept one of the album's first GRAMMY wins for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance for "Shallow."

After thanking God and her family for their unwavering support, Lady Gaga expressed gratitude for her co-star, Bradley Cooper . "I wish Bradley was here with me right now," Gaga praised. "I know he wants to be here. Bradley, I loved singing this song with you."

Gaga went on to express how proud she was to be a part of a movie that addresses mental health. "A lot of artists deal with that. We've got to take care of each other. So, if you see somebody that's hurting, don't look away. And if you're hurting, even though it might be hard, try to find that bravery within yourself to dive deep, tell somebody, and take them up in your head with you."

Press play on the video above to hear Lady Gaga's complete acceptance speech for A Star Is Born 's "Shallow" at the 2019 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

Run The World: How Lady Gaga Changed The Music Industry With Dance-Pop & Unapologetic Feminism

Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Released in 2013 and following the iconic 'Born This Way,' Lady Gaga's 'ARTPOP' was maligned and misunderstood. Yet the avant garde album took admirable leaps in genre, style and presentation — and deserves serious applause.

A decade ago, the music industry was practically eulogizing Lady Gaga ’s career. Cause of death: her fourth album, ARTPOP .

Universally deemed a misfit (even among Gaga’s off-kilter discography), it was all too easy to crack “artflop” jokes as the record’s reception paled in comparison to the thunder of 2011’s Born This Way . In addition to Billboard -charting bangers aside, Born This Way pledged to be a champion for LGBTQIA+ rights, employing the word “bravery” so frequently that the two are now inextricably bound. The album’s daring demeanor had created a tough spectacle to follow, even for the shock-pop maven.

But rebukes of ARTPOP ’s avant-garde concepts and stylings, disregard the record’s brazen interweaving of music, fashion, technology, and digital art. Released after Gaga broke her hip and canceled the  Born This Way Ball tour, ARTPOP was a canvas of earth-shattering bursts of pain and passion, and an electronic confessional.

For her efforts and vision, Gaga's maligned 2013 album would become a blueprint for contemporary alt-pop artists — not just with its experimental clash of genres, but through its winking subversion of industry expectations.  

In honor of ARTPOP ’s tenth anniversary this month, read on for 10 reasons why  the overlooked outcast of Gaga’s catalog is actually the bravest album of them all.

It Prioritized Creativity Over Sales And Charts

When the public slams an artist for “only” selling one million copies of an album in a week, record sales lose their shine. After facing flack for her Born This Way numbers in 2011, Lady Gaga entered the ARTPOP era with clear intentions: creativity for creativity’s sake.

“Really, it’s about freeing yourself from the expectations of the music industry and the expectations of the status quo,” she explained during an interview at SXSW. And you know she meant it, because that same week she bucked those pressures by climbing atop a mechanical bull , where she served as the human canvas for the "creative output” of vomit artist Millie Brown.

“I write for the music not for the charts,” she tweeted , addressing a comparison between her lead single “Applause” and Katy Perry ’s song “Roar,” which outperformed “Applause” on the Billboard charts. The singles were released days apart, stirring up a heated conversation about which singer was a more powerful pop star. Gaga was, of course, quick to crush the debate.

“Applause” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and despite being released in mid-November, ARTPOP nabbed 2.3 million album sales worldwide by the end of 2013. In contrast, Born This Way sold 2.1 million copies between its May 2011 release and the end of its debut year in the United States alone. 

It Put Gaga In The Producer's Seat — Alone 

By 2013, Lady Gaga boasted an impressive list of co-producing credits from working alongside collaborators like RedOne, DJ White Shadow, and Fernando Garibay. Yet ARTPOP marks the first time she slipped behind the soundboard by herself.

For "Venus," an intergalactic ode to lust that blossoms into starry-eyed infatuation, she saluted the titular goddess of love and pushed the men out of the room, folding a hybrid Sun Ra reference/Zombie Zombie sample into her sexually-emboldened EDM. Gaga cites "Venus" as the first song she ever self-produced , a major milestone for the multi-hyphenate and for women producers as a whole.

It Wasn't Afraid To Get Messy

One decade’s definition of "sloppy" is the next decade’s epitome of style. In 2013, the general consensus among critics was that ARTPOP ’s sound was often too messy to take seriously. Their examples were copious; "Aura," for instance, dedicates 15 seconds to nothing but hysterical, autotuned laughter over an unraveling country western guitar riff. Manic deep cuts "MANiCURE" and "Jewels N’ Drugs" were labeled choppy and sonically inconsistent, as Gaga allegedly struggled to find common ground between rock, trap, and electronic music.

Compared to the streamlined pop sound of the time — including some of Gaga’s prior hits — ARTPOP ’s frenetic mishmash of sounds felt totally alien. "I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could find," Gaga reflected , explaining her need for catharsis over catchiness (a choice that she was lambasted for at the time). 

Ten years later, her avant garde approach to pop suddenly seems remarkably en vogue, as genre-hopping and highly-textured sonic palettes become the norm — especially in the alt-pop sphere. In hindsight, it’s apparent that ARTPOP was ridiculed so artists like SOPHIE, Charli XCX , and Dorian Electra could rave.

It Was, Literally, Designed To Be Out Of The World

ARTPOP prioritized pushing art into uncharted territory, and not just on Earth.In addition to a naked Jeff Koons sculpture of Gaga herself, the album’s release was feted with the debut of a flying dress named Volantis . The original creation from Gaga’s TechHaus (a branch of her Haus Labs team) is technically an "electric powered hover vehicle" that fits around Gaga’s body to hoist her into the air. Gaga offered a less technical term for it, calling the dress a metaphor. "I will be the vehicle of their voices," she said during a press conference, sharing her vision for representing young fans in the sky.

Volantis arrived alongside news that Gaga would become the first musician to perform in space aboard a Virgin Galactic ship. The flying dress successfully cleared its first flight; the Virgin ship unfortunately did not. After a fatal test flight , the plans for Gaga’s galactic debut were canceled.

It Crushed Tabloid Trash-Talking  

It’s admittedly hard to recall ARTPOP ’s ill-conceived R. Kelly collaboration "Do What U Want" without wincing. Beyond Kelly’s unnerving presence on the track, his lone sexually-charged verse ultimately skewed the true message of the song, transforming a kiss off to tabloid journalism into randy radio fodder.

Gaga scrubbed the song from streaming services in 2019, sparing the alternative version that instead features Christina Aguilera . Here, Gaga’s intended retaliation shines: "You can’t have my heart / and you won’t use my mind / but do what you want with my body," she taunts on the chorus, welcoming the public’s superficial — and therefore meaningless — judgments.  

When unveiling the track in October of 2013, she took to X (then named Twitter) to trounce a litany of rumors and nitpicks about her weight, likeness to Madonna , and erroneous identity as a hermaphrodite. At its core, "Do What U Want" proved that the only gesture more pointed than a middle finger is cackling while inviting the world to do its worst. 

It Invented A New Artistic Concept 

Lady Gaga can’t take credit for the notion of art-pop, but she did coin a new phrase, calling the conceptual glue of ARTPOP a " reverse Waholian expedition. " Translation: if Andy Warhol transformed mass-produced items like Campbell’s soup into high art, then Gaga wanted to flip the process, placing high art where it could be easily accessible to the public.

As a result, the visual aspects of ARTPOP present a mosaic of the most esteemed masterpieces of all time. The busy album cover fuses the brilliance of American sculptor Jeff Koons with fragments of Sandro Boticelli’s magnum opus "The Birth of Venus," while her outfits for public appearances nodded to greats like Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali with brash makeup and fake mustaches. The concept opened her up to mockery — including from Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine — but introduced the basics of art history to millions of listeners worldwide.

It Openly Examined Gaga's Relationship With Drugs And Alcohol

Many of ARTPOP ’s most exuberant moments orbit high or drunken states, such as Gaga sneaking around Amersterdam while stoned and incognito on "Mary Jane Holland." Trap outlier "Jewels N’ Drugs," which collects verses from T.I., Twista, and Too $hort, packs the same giddy punch despite its somewhat awkward execution. Yet the party pauses on "Dope," ARTPOP ’s sole piano ballad.

The sobering single gazes inward, where Gaga finds a startling void, her spirit gutted after years of addiction. While the song’s lyrics vow to prioritize loved ones over drugs and liquor, Gaga revealed the most personal promise during her album release show.

"I do not have to be high to be creative," she professed from behind her piano, hand raised in the air as if taking an oath. "I do not need to be drunk to have a good idea. I can sit with my thoughts and not feel crazy." On an album bursting with innovation, "Dope" is her firmest pledge to self-improvement, delivered with aching sincerity.

It Ventured Into The Tech World 

Designing mind-bending art? There’s an app for that. Or there was, anyways. ARTPOP arrived with a supplemental app , designed to enhance Gaga’s multimedia approach to the album’s release. As a way to empower fans to dabble in digital art, one of the app’s main features was a gif and still image generator that allowed users to choose from a rainbow of gyrating geometric shapes and backgrounds. Most creations straddled the line between optical illusion and Tumblr-ready art. The app also offered fans the ability to stream the album and chat with each other.

It was an entertaining endeavor, albeit ultimately a short-lived one. Despite an in-app countdown for other features, including a stream of new behind the scenes videos and a digital audio workshop called TrakStar, neither element came to fruition. Due to Gaga’s shift in management, the project was never developed further. 

Still, the ARTPOP app remains a unique addition to pop’s first brushes with modern tech, long predating crossovers like Charli XCX performances on Roblox and AI-created music.

It Refused To Shy Away From Themes Of Sexual Assault

When ARTPOP hit shelves, the world was still three years away from the awareness about pervasive sexual assault revealed by the #MeToo movement. But a hush around the topic didn’t stop Gaga from eeking out a screech or two about her own experiences with abuse in 2013. While Gaga has since divulged more information about her unfortunate experiences with predators as a fledgling popstar, the ARTPOP track "Swine" dropped some of the first angsty breadcrumbs about her survival story.

"I know you want me / You’re just a pig inside a human body / Squealer, squealer, squealer, you’re so dis-GUS-ting," she practically spits with revulsion on the chorus. The deep cut is an exorcism dressed up as a rave, revealing a gut-churning snapshot of a woman publicly processing her own violation years before the act was deemed acceptable.

It Was Her First Record After Canceling The Born This Way Ball 

Scrapping a major tour over an injury shouldn’t warrant a comeback, but that’s what the world demanded of Lady Gaga when her Born This Way Ball hit the brakes. Gaga was forced to end the tour early in February 2013 when she broke her hip, thwarting her ability to walk, let alone dance. As she underwent surgery and paparazzi vied for photos of her in a Louis Vuitton wheelchair, the public largely viewed the truncated Born This Way Ball as a personal failure on Gaga’s part. 

By the time ARTPOP arrived, the expectations for her next move couldn’t have been higher — which made Gaga’s spasmic, genre-jumping, vomit-covered return to pop all the more daring.

10 Reasons Why Outkast's 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' Is One Of Rap's Most Influential Double Albums

Photo: Gotham/WireImage

New Music Friday: Listen To New Music From Jungkook & Jack Harlow, PinkPantheress, *NSYNC And More

As September comes to a close, listen to these new songs, albums and collaborations from Ed Sheeran, Lil Wayne and more.

As we close out the month, this New Music Friday has loads of fresh beginnings and highly anticipated reunions.

Several big-name collaborations dropped on Sept. 29, from an electric team-up of the Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga to an R&B and rap fusion from Jungkook and Jack Harlow . 

Two nostalgic releases arrived as well, with Lil Wayne 's new album Tha Fix Before Tha Vi continuing his "Tha Carter" series, while *NSYNC fans were treated to the boy band's first new song in 20 years with "Better Place."

Dive into these seven new releases that blend the old generation with the new. 

Jungkook ft. Jack Harlow — "3D"

BTS singer Jungkook takes us through a nostalgic journey with "3D," a song reminiscent of an early 2000s boy band hit. The hypnotizing lyrics illustrate his close connection to someone he can't reach, so he'll watch them in 3D.

"So if you're ready (So if you're ready)/ And if you'll let me (And if you'll let me)/ I wanna see it in motion/ In 3D (Uh-uh)," he sings in the chorus. 

Jack Harlow pops in, dropping a few verses boasting about his global attraction with women. "Mr. First Class" claims he can "fly you from Korea to Kentucky," as he closes out the song.

With an addictive chorus and groovy baseline, this track has a different vibe from his "Seven" collaboration with Latto . The song marks Jungkook's seventh solo single and second of 2023.

Rolling Stones & Lady Gaga ft. Stevie Wonder — "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"

The Rolling Stones , Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder blended their talents, to create a harmonic symphony of a song that lives up to its heavenly title. Seven minutes of gospel- and blues-inspired rhythms, enriched by Gaga and Mick Jagger 's distinct riffs, make this collaboration an immersive experience. Stevie Wonder grounds the track with his command of piano and melodic tempo.

The track is the second peek of the Rolling Stones' upcoming album, Hackney Diamonds , their first LP release in 18 years; their first release, "Angry," arrived Sept. 6. With production from GRAMMY-winning Andrew Watt , the soulful essence makes "Sweet Sounds of Heaven" an exciting taste of the long-overdue album.

*NSYNC — "Better Place"

Yes, you read correctly. After two decades and a recent reunion at the 2023 MTV Video Music awards, *NSYNC is back with a new single, "Better Place," appearing in the new animated Trolls movie (due Nov. 17). With a nostalgic dance-pop beat, familiar production and breezy lyrics, this single is a remarkable comeback.

"Just let me take you to a better place/ I'm gonna make you kiss the sky tonight," they sing in the chorus. 

The reunion was first teased Sept. 14, through a video of the group's emotional studio session, as Justin Timberlake shared on Instagram . "When the stars align… got my brothers back together in the studio to work on something fun and the energy was special," he wrote in the post. 

PinkPantheress — "Mosquito"

Dive into this musical daydream as PinkPantheress serenades us on her new single, "Mosquito," a dreamy, lucid song reminiscent of old-school R&B. After recently hopping on the energetic remix of Troye Sivan's "Rush" and teaming up with Destroy Lonely on "Turn Your Phone Off," PinkPantheress is transporting us through a new era, full of charm and surprises.

"Cause I just had a dream I was dead/ And I only cared 'cause I was taken from you/ You're the only thing that I own/ I hear my bell ring, I'd only answer for you," she sings in the chorus. 

Co-crafted by GRAMMY-winning producer Greg Kurstin , this song is a transcending, surreal experience. This single isn't about romance, instead she takes us through her entanglements with treasures and money. That's further portrayed in the lavish video, which features a European shopping spree starring "Bridgerton" stars Charithra Chandran, India Amarteifio and "Grown-ish" star Yara Shahidi.

Ed Sheeran — Autumn Variations

The era of mathematical-themed albums seems to be over, as Ed Sheeran has entered a new chapter with Autumn Variations, his second project this year. Sheeran is singing from his heart, sharing soulful tales from emotional events in his life including the death of his dearest friend Jamal Edwards and his wife's health challenges during pregnancy — an extension of the stories he told with May's Subtract .

Autumn Variations is very raw, stripped down and authentic as he takes us through his personal journey. Amidst this, Sheeran still brings in some buzzing tracks including catchy songs like "American Town," "Paper Bag" and "Amazing."

Lil Wayne — Tha Fix Before Tha Vi

Lil Wayne celebrated his 41st birthday with a special present to his fans: the release of a new album two days later. The alluring 10-track project,"Tha Fix Before Tha Vi" dives into past vibes with songs like "Tity Boi," a reference to 2 Chainz's initial stage name, which may be a reference to the upcoming joint album between the two. Each song has a different feel including "Tuxedo," which features a more punk-rock melody and "Chanel No.5 ft. Foushee," which features a sensational beat.

His first album since 2020, Tha Fix Before Tha Vi features rather unexpected collaborators, including Jon Batiste, Fousheé and euro. With different sounds and features than past projects, we could possibly be entering a new Weezy era. 

Thomas Rhett & Morgan Wallen — "Mamaw's House"

Country superstars Morgan Wallen and Thomas Rhett unite for "Mamaw's House," a country-folk track relishing the memories of their grandparents' home and cozy fireplace tales.  

" It's where I spent my summers and she put me to work/ Shellin' peas and shuckin' corn until my fingers hurt/ No tellin' who I'da been without Mamaw's house," Rhett sings in the second verse. 

Rhett said the duo decided to write about their small-town culture — Rhett is from Valdosta, Georgia, while Wallen hails from Sneedville, Tennessee — and the significant presence of grandparents brought to their upbringings. 

"This song just kind of brings up how our mamaws used to act when we were little kids," Rhett told Audacy. . "It's an ode to all the grandmas out there."

10 Ways Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" Changed Pop Music Forever

• 1 Lady Gaga's Biggest Songs: 15 Tracks That Show Her Avant-Garde Pop Prowess
• 2 How Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' Changed Pop Music Forever
• 3 GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Lady Gaga Advocate For Mental Health Awareness During Her 2019 Win For "Shallow"
• 4 10 Reasons Why 'ARTPOP' Is Lady Gaga’s Bravest Album
• 5 New Music Friday: Listen To New Music From Jungkook & Jack Harlow, PinkPantheress, *NSYNC And More