music

Last December, Ravyn Lenae stood in the street and pointed her phone at herself to film a TikTok set to her song “Love Me Not.”

“Me after linking with him one last time cause I’m not bringing him into 2025,” she captioned the video — a cutesy kiss-off to a guy she’d clearly decided was holding her back from where she was meant to go.

Nearly a year later, it appears the singer was right: In early April, “Love Me Not” — a swinging, lightly psychedelic soul number about a hot-and-cold lover — gave Lenae her first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100; a week later, she made her debut at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Several months after that, she performed to an enthusiastic crowd at Lollapalooza just before “Love Me Not” peaked at No. 5 in mid-August.

Now, with one of 2025’s biggest hits under her belt, Lenae, 26, is winding down her breakout year by opening for Sabrina Carpenter as Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour wraps up this week with six sold-out shows through Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

“A lot of this period has been me asking other artists, ‘Is this how it normally is?’” Lenae tells me on a recent evening. “How do you balance the social aspect and the online aspect and the touring with also staying highly creative?”

Not to mention tending to a personal life.

“What’s that?” she asks with a laugh. “That’s literally nonexistent.”

The runaway success of “Love Me Not,” which has been streamed more than 700 million times on Spotify, is no doubt what’s put the breathy-voiced Lenae before many listeners for the first time. (A remix featuring Rex Orange County has another 164 million Spotify streams.)

At one point as the song was blowing up, she responded to a fan on TikTok who’d been surprised to learn that Lenae is Black — “Y’all didn’t read the name Ravyn Lenae and think, ‘Oh, that’s a Black girl?’” the singer asks in the clip — then went ahead and clarified that also she’s not British, as some evidently had assumed.

Yet “Love Me Not” actually comes a decade into a career that began while Lenae was still in high school. She signed to Atlantic Records at age 16 and soon was touring and working in the studio with the likes of SZA and Steve Lacy; “Hypnos,” her debut LP, came out in 2022 and made Pitchfork’s closely watched list of the year’s best albums.

“I’m pretty conceited about the fact that I’ve loved Ravyn for as long as I have,” says the singer and actor Reneé Rapp, who like Carpenter took Lenae out on the road this year as an opening act. Rapp discovered one of Lenae’s early EPs when she herself was in high school and has been a fan ever since. “I’m like, ‘You bitches are new, and don’t get me wrong — I’m so happy you’re here. But let’s get it right: I was boots on the ground first.’”

To Rapp’s ears, Lenae’s airy soprano “has this beautiful ping at the top that I’ve only ever heard in Minnie Riperton,” she says. “She’s just like a little fairy. She floats around, and her voice does the same thing.”

“Love Me Not,” which is still hanging out in the upper reaches of the Hot 100, is from Lenae’s sophomore album, “Bird’s Eye,” which came out in August 2024. She recorded the song with the producer Dahi, who’s known for his work with Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples; Dahi started the track years ago with Anderson .Paak then put it in a drawer before he’d finished it.

“At the time, I was really into MGMT,” Dahi says, referring to the alternative rock duo whose dreamy-jangly guitar sound echoes throughout “Love Me Not.” With Lenae, he pushed the song toward classic R&B — “something that would be played on ‘Happy Days’ or some s—,” he says — but retained a spacey vibe that keeps it from feeling rooted in any specific era or genre.

Lenae says her goal was to create something “soulful and Black but that transcends time and race”; the result can be heard in a lineage of enduring hard-to-classify hits like Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” that charm listeners across demographic lines.

“If you don’t like ‘Crazy,’ there’s something wrong with you,” Lenae says as a pedicurist exfoliates her feet in a West Hollywood hotel room. It’s the end of a long day that began with an early-morning flight from New York, where Lenae performed with Kali Uchis on “The Tonight Show” and at Madison Square Garden. Now, after a photo shoot, she’s changed into gray sweats to sneak in a moment of self-care during our chat.

“With the heels I’m wearing all the time, you can see the corns,” she says, looking down to check out the pedicurist’s progress. “I wonder what Beyoncé’s feet look like. ’Cause if mine look like this? She’s putting in work.”

Though “Love Me Not” was singled out by critics right away, the song really took off late last year after a DJ posted a viral TikTok that mashed it up with Solange’s “Losing You” as part of a series exploring “euphoric” breakup songs. An admiring post on X by SZA — “One of my fav albums this year,” she wrote of “Bird’s Eye” — helped bring more attention to Lenae’s music.

Ravyn Lenae in West Hollywood.

(Ian Spanier / For The Times)

The singer grew up in Chicago, where her mother’s parents landed in the late ’70s as immigrants from Panama. That’s their house on the city’s south side in the music video for “Love Me Not,” which Lenae directed and which shows her and her younger sister dancing just outside the bedroom where Lenae slept as a kid.

“I knew this song would be a lot of people’s introduction to me, so I wanted them to immediately jump into my world,” she says. “My grandparents are very shy people, and when my grandma saw the video, she was like, ‘Oh, Ravyn, baby …’”

Singing at talent shows as a 12-year-old, Lenae wanted to be a “a mix between Alicia Keys and Beyoncé,” as she puts it; later, she learned to perform Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and Rihanna’s “Take a Bow.”

“I was like, ‘I’m-a win ’em over with this one,’” she says of the dramatic ballads. “I’m sure I sound crazy on video.”

Lenae, who went on to study at the Chicago High School for the Arts, came to understand that the soft lilt of her voice distinguished her from those powerhouses; she found inspiration in “the sensuality and the femininity” of music by Diana Ross, Patrice Rushen and Janet Jackson, whose “All for You” album — released in 2001, when Lenae was 2 — would become a touchstone.

“There’s a lot to win by not being the loudest in the room,” says Rapp.

Lenae moved to L.A. in 2020. Her first year here was rough, she says — she missed her mom and felt the burden of a bank account with $100 in it. “I remember some crying in the shower,” the singer says now.

Her 2022 song “Skin Tight,” a yearning flirtation she wrote and recorded with Lacy, registered as a turning point; so did the success of Lacy’s quirky soul-rock hit “Bad Habit,” which topped the Hot 100 on its way to Grammy nominations for record and song of the year.

“That was a historical moment for artists like us that have been working at it for a long time — Black artists who’ve always been a little to the left of what was going on,” Lenae says. “Steve going No. 1 showed there really are no rules and that there’s space for all of us.”

Beyond “Love Me Not,” highlights on “Bird’s Eye” include an intimate acoustic number, “From Scratch,” that Lenae says she and Dahi modeled on Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s “Nothing Even Matters”; the lush and whispery “Dream Girl,” which features input by Jackson’s longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; and “Bad Idea,” a percussive electro-funk jam that interpolates Bow Wow and Ciara’s early-2000s “Like You.”

“All those Ciara hits, I had the choreo down,” Lenae says.

The album also contains the tender yet mournful “One Wish,” which Lenae wrote about her dad not being around as she was growing up.

“I never, ever thought I’d talk about that publicly, but I think I was just at a point in my life where it felt natural,” she says. “And me and him had just started reconciling, so it was very top of mind.” She invited her father to come to L.A. to appear in the song’s video, which depicts a young girl running after a car as a man angrily drives away; the day after the shoot, they went to Roscoe’s and had a long talk about her childhood.

“Yesterday was his birthday, and I forgot,” she tells me. “I felt horrible, but then I was like, Should I feel horrible? I go back and forth with it all the time.”

Lenae is extremely close with her mother, who’ll sometimes join her on the road “just to spend time with me or hold my hand — to sleep in the same hotel bed,” she says. “That’s the person I know I can keep counting on.”

After this week’s dates with Carpenter, Lenae will head east for a handful of shows on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour — one more chance to build upon “Love Me Not’s” Top 40 breakthrough. Then she and Dahi plan to focus on finishing her next album.

So far, Lenae says, it’s shaping up to be “a little more punchy and explosive” than “Bird’s Eye.” One of the new songs is about her mom; Lenae played it for her when she was here visiting not long ago.

“I had the lyrics up, and as she was reading it, she looked up at me and there was a tear in her eye,” she recalls. “Then we started bawling together. I think that one might end up her favorite.”

MUSIC legend Gary Numan has sparked concern after breaking down in tears on stage.

The 67-year-old is reported to have started weeping while performing  Please Push No More at the O2 Academy Birmingham on Saturday evening.

According to The Mirror, his wife Gemma O’Neil rushed onto the stage to comfort him. 

He is reported to have told the crowd he’d received the “worst news ever” that morning and would share it with fans once he had time to process it.

Gary is expected to appear on stage in Bristol tonight, but did cancel his meet and greet beforehand.

His fans rushed to comment on his wellbeing, with one person writing: Rough to see him so upset during PPNM – not looking forward to hearing the reason in the coming days. Can’t be good. Absolute pro to battle on.”

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Someone else remarked: “He broke down – he had some bad news yesterday. Gemma came onstage and hugged him. Crowd were amazing, so supportive.  Hope he’s ok.”

After it was revealed he would be playing again this evening, another person speculated: “I just hope he’s not overstretching by carrying on with the concert.”

Gary started his tour earlier this week, which celebrates the 45th anniversary of his seminal album Telekon. He is still due to play in Bournemouth, Brighton, London and various other venues.

The Cars singer and his wife, 55, married in 1997 and re-located to LA with their three children in 2012.

The move was the backdrop to documentary Android In La La Land, where cameras followed them and saw him open up about his Asperger’s and depression.

Gemma was originally a member of Gary’s fan club before they found love.

Gary previously said of their relationship: “This is going to sound corny, given that it’s 30 years and four days since our first date, but I miss her even when she’s in a different part of the house.

“She’s everything I am not – which is most things, really.”

SHE sang about the Hollywood icon on her new album – and now it seems Taylor Swift could pay homage to Elizabeth Taylor’s British roots by filming the music video here.

Hitmaker Tay is flying to the UK next week for a top-secret shoot.

And I have heard whispers that it is for her track Elizabeth Taylor, which features on her chart-topping record The Life Of A Showgirl.

Sixties acting legend Elizabeth — famous for her roles in Cleopatra and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — was born in 1932 in Hampstead, North London, where there is a plaque, right, on her childhood home. She moved to LA with her family when she was seven.

A source said: “Taylor is super excited to be back in London filming for her new music video.

‘Luxurious and feminine’

“Elizabeth Taylor is a British icon and Taylor wants to pay homage by shooting scenes in the capital.

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“Taylor has always written about her love for London, and the video will capture different locations around the city.”

Actress Elizabeth, who died aged 79 in 2011, was married eight times, including twice to British acting legend Richard Burton, and was often portrayed as searching for lasting love.

Speaking about the track for the official release party of her latest album, Taylor said: “It has got to do with fame, attention, love, notoriety, anxiety that this isn’t going to be forever — and how heartbroken would you be then?

“I wanted to tell a story that referenced some of the cool things about her life, but that are also parallel to mine.

“I used details from her life, but the feelings of what it kind of conveys are things I’ve absolutely experienced time and time again.

“The production of this is something that I’m so proud of because it’s luxurious and feminine and then goes really hard and tough in the chorus.

“It’s just one of my favourite songs.”

The track has gone viral on TikTok thanks to a remix with Backstreet Boys’ 1997  banger Everybody (Backstreet’s (Back).

Sounds like Taylor’s fans will be in for a treat.

RED-HOT MILLIE’S IN GOOD NICK

MILLIE BOBBY BROWN gave fans her Christmas presence by draping herself across a fireplace.

The Stranger Things star dazzled in tiny hot pants, a crop top, fur-trimmed boots and an oversized Santa hat in the shoot for fashion and beauty label Florence By Mills.

Sharing a snap of Millie on Instagram, the brand wrote: “Elf on the shelf? Try Mill on the sill.”

It will be Millie’s first Christmas as a mum after she and hubby Jake Bongiovi adopted a daughter this year. Looks like she’ll sleigh it.

IS IT GET BECK, MACCA?

CRUZ BECKHAM has hinted that he is hoping to work with Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.

The wannabe pop star and son of David and Victoria Beckham said he would love to collab with Macca, who he was introduced to when he was a kid.

Chatting to me at London’s Winter Wonderland, Cruz revealed: “There are so many people I would love to collaborate with.

“Paul McCartney – he’s such a legend. I’ve always been a huge fan – I met Paul when I was little.

“John Lennon is also a hero of mine.”

He added: “There’s more music coming out next year. Hopefully an album when the record label will let me.”

Cruz officially launched his music career last month by releasing singles Lick The Toad and Optics – the latter an explicit pop track about drugs and sex.

It includes the lyrics: “Take a thousand selfies in your bed while I trip in mine. I love me some mushrooms and good head.”

Cruz has also teamed up with The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard to work on some songs.

Earlier this year, Luke said: “He’s naturally going to come under criticism because of who his parents are. He’s aware of that.

“It was great when he said, ‘Jesus was a nepo baby too’. I thought that was quite a funny response.”

Meanwhile, Cruz was spotted kissing his girlfriend, songwriter Jackie Apostel at Winter Wonderland on Thursday.

They went Instagram official last year after they were first seen hanging out at Glastonbury in Somerset.

Cruz is clearly going to be a busy boy in the coming months, but hopefully baby Becks and Macca can Come Together at some point.

TELLY etiquette guru William Hanson said he declined to appear on BBC’s Celebrity Traitors after show bosses approached him earlier this year.

The final was watched by 12 million fans earlier this month, with comic ALAN CARR crowned the winner.

At Richmond Theatre, William told me: “They didn’t sell it brilliantly to me.

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“They were, like, ‘There is no hair and make-up, if you are in it, you have to film for 12 days, you need 406 different outfits, you are in the Travelodge by Inverness Airport and it is a 40-minute drive and the fee is rubbish.

“I thought, I don’t know if I really want to do this.”
William was a bit of a traitor after all.

HE’S a happily married dad of two but Olly Murs is still a lad at heart and he wanted his new album to reflect that fun part of his personality. 

And by laddish, the upbeat singer means a good old-fashioned knees up — the title of his eighth record. 

“There’s always a moment to be a lad, right?” he laughs. “And that’s what this album is about — I’m going back to my roots. 

“This was probably the kind of album that I wanted to launch my career with, but I didn’t.

“For a long time, I was making records for other people, my fans and what I thought they wanted to hear.

“This time I wanted to make an album for me.” 

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I meet the singer at his record label where he’s about to head into an afternoon of rehearsals.  

And, surprisingly, unlike most dads with newborn babies, he’s managed a full night’s sleep.  

“Albert — Alby — is a dream,” he says of his son, born in September. “I’ve had a really good time with him, it’s been lovely.

“I’ve been getting loads of time with him.”

“Cuddles, seeing him grow, that little smile. 

“He’s such a good baby and he sleeps, which is important because I need sleep.

“If sleeping was an Olympic sport, I’d be there. 

“Maybe he takes after me. 

“We’ve been blessed so far after ten weeks. 

“He’s giggling, he doesn’t really cry.  

“He had his vaccines this week which were horrible.

“I had to cancel work yesterday because [his wife] Amelia did it with [daughter] Madi and I never did, so I wanted to be there.  

“Bless him, he wasn’t in a good place, he was proper aggy.

“So, I cancelled a bit of work, which is unlike me, but family comes first.” 

For years, Murs put his career first and everything — and everyone — else came a distant second. 

“Now life is very different,” he tells me.

“Now Amelia and the kids are everything and my career is still there, but I have a different way of looking at life — and I love it.” 

He has no expectations for the new album, which makes the prospect of putting it out even more exciting. 

He says: “I’m out here doing my thing, and if people like it, great. If you don’t, it is what it is.  

“I’m just happy doing my thing. 

“I’ve got to a point where I want to try different things and musically this isn’t too far away from what I’ve done before – it feels authentic to me, and I’m enjoying it.  

“I’ve got to tell myself that more, because there is the other side of me that’s the ego.

“I want a number one, I want that trophy.

“I want that plaque on the wall. And I’ve got to keep that desire, otherwise, what’s the point?

“I want things to matter. Of course, I do. 

“My thing is that I don’t sit in one place.

“My unique selling point is that I can jump on radio or TV and present a show, and at the same time, I can release music and have success and also tour the country.  

Caroline was a good friend and she took her own life. The documentary has come out this week so it’s been difficult. It has brought things back.

Olly on Caroline Flack

“There is a uniqueness with me that I am proud of.” 

Knees Up draws heavily on the ska and pop influences of Madness and The Specials, the bands Murs adored as a kid. 

He says: “When I first started, I was asked to list all the songs I liked if I was to make the best album ever.  

“It was The Specials, Madness, a bit of Stevie Wonder, The Kooks who were my favourite band at the time, Robbie Williams and Paolo Nutini. 

“Save Me, the first song on the album is very Madness and that spearheaded which direction the music went in.

“I feel like it’s Madness meets The Streets, with a bit of Rizzle Kicks.

“This could be an album Heart Skips A Beat fits on.” 

There’s plenty of fun moments on the album.

Still Getting Used To The Ring is a mischievous song about settling into marriage.  

“That song is definitely the cheeky side of me,” laughs Murs.

“It came from a lyric I wrote on my phone.

“Sometimes when I’m writing songs, I will say to co-writers Ed Drewett and James New, ‘If I sing that the Mrs won’t be happy’, but then we’ll write it in a sense that I’m still getting used to being a husband, I’m still getting used to being dad.  

“So, I forget to do the little things and I might not be perfect, but I’m still getting used to the ring.” 

When it comes to choosing a favourite from Knees Up, Murs says Honest is the one he keeps coming back to. 

“Honest for me is every bloke’s nightmare,” he explains.

“It’s about when they walk in from a day at work and they just know that there’s a cloud upon the house. 

“There’s been times when I’ve got home and I just know that Amelia is annoyed about something I’ve done — but I don’t know what that is.  

“The song is about not knowing what you have done wrong.

“That song was fun to write.” 

Cut To The Chase, which Murs jokingly calls “my sexy song”, sees him tapping into a flirtier, more confident vibe. 

He says: “It is about how sometimes in life we are busy and with kids we don’t get any intimacy or moments together.  

“It’s about the cut to the chase which really resonated with me as we are always crossing paths.  

“It is also a fun song to sing and when I played it to Amelia she loved it.  

“She also thinks my fans will love that one, because it’s ‘big bandy’. 

“It’s got the brass and is very old school London with ukulele and banjo in it.  

“Like music from an old gentlemen’s club, or a cool bar with fancy tables. 

“It’s got a very classic feel to it.

“Classic AND classy — you’d never know it was about sex.” 

I’ve done a lot of tours in the last three years and I’ve got married. I’m now on Heart radio station every Saturday with Wrighty [Mark Wright], I’ve written an album and I just think I need a bit of time for me.

Olly on why he might not be doing many gigs for a while

Chin Up, the song that closes the album, carries a more serious tone.  

Murs says: “That’s about mental health and to do with what I went through with some friends in the last year.  

“It’s been a tough year for a lot of my friends who have reached out to me to chat and that song came from that. 

‘Her feelgood vibe’ 

“That song is about encouraging men to speak out and talk. And when we were writing it, we felt it was important to keep your chin up and everything is going to be fine. 

“I went to a charity dads’ club recently for a TV show — it was a Sunday club at a school where all the dads can turn up with their kids once a month and they play games and have a couple of hours together.  

“It’s important, because a lot of dads go to work in the week as of course woman do too, but it’s important for dads to come along and meet other dads and feel like they’ve got a group.  

“One guy was telling me about the positives but also that they’d lost one guy to suicide.

“A dad had taken his own life. And it really hit me.  

“So I’m glad I’ve written that song and hopefully it can help someone.” 

The subject is clearly a personal one for Murs, and it leads him to think about a loss closer to home, that of TV presenter Caroline Flack, who died in 2020.

The documentary Search For The Truth by her mum Christine premiered on Disney+ this week. 

“Caroline was a good friend and she took her own life. The documentary has come out this week so it’s been difficult,” he says, the emotion clear.  

“It has brought things back.

“I try and always remember the positive things with Caz.  

“I don’t try and think too much about the negative stuff, because if I do, I go down a rabbit hole of emotions, and unfortunately, it’s not going to bring her back.

“I just remember her laugh, her jokes and her feelgood vibe.

“I wish she was still here, of course, and it hurts to watch her old shows.” 

A different loss felt by Murs is that of his estranged twin brother Ben, who cut himself off from Murs and his parents when the singer missed Ben’s wedding in 2009 to perform in the live semi-finals of The X Factor. 

‘Always on the go’ 

Murs says: “I’m proud of Ben.

“I don’t see him, but I’m proud of him.  

“There isn’t any bitterness or anger there. 

“I’m just really proud of where my career is, and from what I hear, Ben’s doing great too, and that’s all I care about.  

“We’re older men now, we’re in our 40s, so I’m sure at some point we’ll figure it out.” 

Next month Murs plays a London show to celebrate the new album and he is excited about what might be his only gig in a while. 

He says: “The truth is I don’t even know what I’m doing next year.

“I don’t even know if I’m ever going to tour this album properly.  

“I’m doing this show at Kentish Town Forum and it might even be the only one I do for this album.  

“I’ve done a lot of tours in the last three years and I’ve got married.

“I’m now on Heart radio station every Saturday with Wrighty [Mark Wright], I’ve written an album and I just think I need a bit of time for me.”

“But then I’m always on the go and I like that.

“I don’t know what I’m doing next — I’ve got plans and ideas but I’m just going to see what happens. 

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“I’m going to roll with it.” 

• Knees Up is out on November 21. Olly Murs headlines Kentish Town Forum on December 8. 

KNEES UP  

Olly Murs 

★★★★☆

It takes a certain composure, as a teenager, to walk out onto Taylor Swift’s stage in a sold-out stadium and play an opening set to tens of thousands of fans who have never heard of you. But it takes even more conviction to use the occasion to play music almost guaranteed to leave them squirming — grimy, bloodletting noise-rock and electro about being a sexual menace and growing disillusioned with God.

The now-20-year-old singer-songwriter Sofia Isella did that last year, opening on the Australian run of Swift’s Eras tour. “Taylor was an angel for allowing me to share that stage,” L.A.-raised Isella said. “I wish I could have recorded that feeling. But the show itself is not as nerve-wracking as it is playing for 20 people. There’s something about a giant room that almost feels a little dissociative, like it’s not really happening or it’s not really there.”

“Dissociative” is a decent descriptor for Isella’s music, too — disorienting, unnerving, drawing out emotions you might not understand. But there’s so much skill in the performances and imagination in her arrangements that they may well get Isella — who plays the Fonda Theater on Nov. 16 — onto much bigger stages of her own, just as the world gets much bleaker around her.

“This next record, I’m having so much fun with s— that’s really f— dark,” Isella said. “It’s like, the only way to stop screaming about it is to have a moment laughing about it.”

Isella grew up in Los Angeles in a family with enough entertainment-biz acclaim to make being an artist feel like a viable career. Yet they still let her be feral and freewheeling in developing her craft. Her father, the Chilean American cinematographer Claudio Miranda, won an Oscar for 2012’s “Life of Pi” and shot “Top Gun: Maverick” and the recent racing hit “F1” (Her mom is the author Kelli Bean-Miranda). Looking back on her bucolic childhood in L.A., Isella recalled it filled with music and boundless encouragement, worlds away from her social media-addled peers.

“I’d been homeschooled my whole life,” Isella said. “My mom would leave little trails of poetry books for me to find, and my dad would set up GarageBand and leave me for hours with all the instruments and nothing but free time. I didn’t even have a phone until I was 16. When I first was on TikTok, I saw everyone had the same personality, because they had been watching each other for so long. Being around kids my age was so strange, because I’d grown up around adults — like, ‘Oh, these kids are so sweet and kind and adorable, but they think I’m one of them.’”

After her family temporarily moved to Australia during the pandemic and Isella began self-releasing music, it became clear that her talents set her very far apart. Drawing on her early background in classical music and a fascination with scabrous rock and electronic music, she found a sound that melded the Velvet Underground and Nico’s elegant miserablism, Chelsea Wolfe and Lingua Ignota’s doom-laden art metal and the close-miked , creepy goth-pop of Billie Eilish’s first LP.

Isella began self-releasing music during the pandemic. Since then, she’s landed opener spots on multiple high-profile tours.

(@okaynicolita)

Her early music showed a withering humor and skepticism of the culture around her (“All of Human Knowledge Made Us Dumb,” “Everybody Supports Women”), but singles came at rapid clip and translated surprisingly well on the social media platforms she loathed (she has 1.3 million followers on TikTok). It all got her onto stages with Melanie Martinez and Glass Animals and, eventually, Swift. (A Florence + The Machine arena tour opening slot is up next.)

On 2024’s writhing EP “I Can Be Your Mother,” songs like “Sex Concept” had the sensual fatalism of poets like Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, paired with the drippy erotic menace of Nine Inch Nails. “I’ll bend him over backwards, give him something to believe in,” she sings. “We’ll play the game, both go insane and then we’ll call it even … I’m the only god that you’ll ever believe in.”

“The first EP was this whole story of giving birth to yourself, this giant stretched-out muse,” Isella said, leaning into a stemwinder about the genesis of art. “It just doesn’t feel like it’s coming from me. It feels like it’s coming from some weird thing I somewhat worship.”

A May 2025 follow-up, “I’m Camera,” dealt with the depersonalizing effects of sudden attention. On “Josephine,” she makes tour life feel like a proverbial grippy-sock vacation to the breakdown ward — “I’m sock-footed, sick and selfish holding strangers’ hands … I lost something, I sold it, I only remember the ache.”

Isella’s wariness of institutions extends to her recording career. She’s still independent for now — surprising for an artist on Swift’s radar — and uncompromising about what a label would demand of her compared to what they can provide. “I’ve met with a lot of the big dogs, and they’re very kind people, but I just love the feeling of being independent,” Isella said. “Maybe I’ll change my mind on that, but I’m trying to fully understand a label and what its functions are, what it gives the artist in a social media day. I’m trying to fully assess that before I sign any magic papers.”

Her newest material (and her subversively eerie, Francesa Woodman-evoking music videos like “Muse”) feel perfectly timed to the apocalyptic mood in L.A. and the U.S. now, where an inexorable slide to ruin feels biblical. “Out In the Garden,” from September, hits some of the Southern gothic moods of Ethel Cain, but with a sense of acidic pity that’s all her own. “That there’s a small part of me that’s envious / That you full-heartedly believe someone is always there,” she sings. “That will always love you, and there’s a plan for you out there.”

Even at her bleakest, there’s a curdled humor underneath (her current tour is subtitled “You’ll Understand More, Dick”). But if this little sliver of young fame has taught Isella anything, it’s that even when everyone wants a piece of you, no one is actually coming to save any of us.

“There’s nothing with weight, nothing that’s meaningful, to blind faith,” Isella said. “On this next record, I’m about to go really angry because religion really pisses me off, it inflames me. But it’s the most beautiful placebo to imagine that there’s a father that loves you no matter what you do. I’m a really lucky person in that I’ve always been safe and protected, but if you’ve had a rough life, that is insanely powerful to imagine that and believe that.”

Director Kacho López Mari’s critically and culturally acclaimed portfolio includes over 40 music videos and short films that, if played at a YouTube watch party, could leave you and your primos feeling as if you just flip-booked through modern Latin music history.

Some of the music videos have captured the trophies of genres, like Tego Calderón’s “Abayarde” and Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” both essentials on any reggaetón playlist. Other visuals were works of activism — like Bad Bunny’s “El Apagón — Aquí Vive Gente,” the 22-minute music video and investigative short that shed light on the economic crisis that Puerto Ricans continued to face after Hurricane Maria.

A music video has the power to capture today’s culture, tomorrow’s stars, and yesterday’s immediacy. And thanks to López Mari’s legendary lens, we’re able to behold many iconic Latin music moments. Here are 15 of his must-see videos.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tego Calderón, “Abayarde / Gracias” (2003)

Filmed in Manatí, Puerto Rico

Before producing and directing music videos, López Mari produced “underground” parties in Puerto Rico — and commercials at Paradiso Films.

That changed when López Mari’s superior, Sigfredo “Freddy” Bellaflores, heard his young son, Sigfredo Jr. — who would go on to produce videos for Bad Bunny — listening to Tego Calderón’s music in the shower. The next day, Freddy came into the office and threw the Calderón CD at López Mari.

“ ‘If you can reach that guy, we’ll do a video for him for free,’ ” López Mari recalled Freddy telling him. “ And I’m like, OK, I’ll get that guy.”

A few days later, López Mari used his party-producing connections to set up a meeting with Calderón’s team, which told López Mari he could pick the song off Calderón’s debut album, since Paradiso Films was financing the video; the team then asked him to meld another song, “Gracias,” into the visual.

“ That’s why the video is a six-minute piece,” said López Mari. “Back in the day, the reggaetón videos would be two or three songs in each video.”

The young director scouted the location, created the storyline to connect the two songs and presented the treatment to Calderón. Soon afterward, López Mari shot his first music video.

“It was a big phenomenon,” he said. “When that came out, Tego was like a rocket going up to the moon.”

Ricky Martin, “Tal Vez” (2003)

Filmed in Buenos Aires

López Mari co-directed this video with Carlos Pérez, his childhood friend who would later direct the video for Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito.” Both 20-somethings at the time, López Mari and Pérez, recruited a “dream team” to execute it — including Andrzej Sekula, cinematographer for “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs,” as well as Brigitte Broch, Oscar-winning production designer and art director for “Amores Perros” and “Romeo + Juliet.” The editor was Jeff Selis, the most nominated editor in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards.

Ricky Martin needed ample star power for what would be his first Spanish release since “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” Martin liked López Mari’s treatment so much that he would commission the same crew to make the video for 2003’s “Jaleo.”

Daddy Yankee, “Gasolina” (2005)

Filmed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Released pre-YouTube, the original video for “Gasolina,” the lead single off Daddy Yankee’s 2004 album “Barrio Fino,” maximized MTV’s four-minute allotment by mixing in two additional songs into the same visual: “No Me Dejes Solo” (which featured Wisin y Yandel) and “King Daddy.”

Yet when the song blew up, Daddy Yankee needed a longer video — and fast. However creatively edited, the visual actually loops the minute-and-a-half of material originally shot, making it a controversial piece for the co-directors.

In a phone interview, Pérez said that he values the song’s cultural and historical impact, but the video “never felt reflective of our work.” López Mari agreed it wasn’t his finest piece, but it did introduce the world to reggaetón and helped establish an aesthetic for the genre.

Calle 13, “Adentro” (2014)

Filmed in Arizona and Puerto Rico (Barriada Morales in Caguas and Cantera Roca Dura in Manatí)

From Calle 13’s final album, the video for “Adentro” earned López Mari a Latin Grammy nomination for best short form music video. In it, frontman René Pérez Joglar, or Residente, raps regretfully about buying a Maserati as baseball legend Willie Mays hands him a bat, which he then uses to smash the car. It’s later pushed off a cliff.

“For me, it’s a work of art,” said López Mari. “It’s basically a piece to destroy a half-million-dollar car — that [Residente] bought as an anti-capitalist statement.”

Calle 13, “Multi_Viral” featuring Julian Assange, Kamilya Jubran, Tom Morello (2014)

Filmed in the West Bank

Art is a weapon for López Mari and Calle 13, who sympathized with the Palestinian struggle. López Mari told me he considered the “Multi_Viral” video, which was filmed in the West Bank in 2013, was “one of the most important projects” he’s ever worked on.

The video follows Palestinian children as they build a guitar from parts of a gun. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who’s featured on the song, joined them onset in the West Bank. López Mari’s brother, Santiago “Chago” Benet Mari, who served as deputy photographer, told me how filmmaking has taken him and his family places he would have likely never otherwise visited.

“Film is a universal language,” said Benet Mari.

Calle 13, “Ojos Color Sol” featuring Silvio Rodríguez (2014)

Filmed in Buenos Aires

“Ojos Color Sol” was filmed the same day as the memorable 2014 World Cup semifinal match in which Germany thrashed Brazil, 7-1, so concentration levels onset were “fragile” among die-hard soccer fans that day, López Mari recalled.

Still, López Mari’s video would go on to win him his first Latin Grammy for best short form music video, alongside Tristana Robles, López Mari’s life partner, as well as the producer and co-founder of Filmes Zapatero. The song featured Cuban musical legend Silvio Rodríguez, and the video starred Golden Globe Award-winning Mexican actor Gael García Bernal and Spanish actress María Valverde, who share a powerful kiss.

Juanes, “Loco de Amor (La Historia)” (2014)

Filmed in Puerto Rico (San Juan, Río Piedras, Bayamón)

The 16th annual Latin Grammy Awards were historic. After “Ojos de Sol” won best short form music video, “Loco de Amor (La Historia)” won best long form music video — a 16-minute project visualizing four of Colombian superstar Juanes’ songs. This made López Mari the winner of both categories in the same night — a feat never accomplished before or repeated since.

“I like the aesthetics of [López Mari]’s work and his way of working,” Juanes told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2014.

Calle 13, “La Vida (Respira el Momento)” (2015)

Filmed in Salinas, Puerto Rico

“La Vida (Respira el Momento)” was the final video López Mari released with Calle 13 before they disbanded. It featured López Mari’s daughter and nephew, Residente’s nephew, as well as pro boxer Miguel Cotto and MLB player Ángel Pagán. But there’s an even buzzier person who makes an appearance in this video — filmmaker, actor and poet Jacobo Morales, the director behind the 1989 film “Lo Que le Pasó a Santiago,” the only Puerto Rican film to earn an Oscar nomination to date.

Morales sits down in the middle of a road to look through a handful of photos, reflecting on his life’s most precious moments — inadvertently foreshadowing his later role in videos from Bad Bunny’s 2025 album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” such as “Baile Inolvidable,” which were also directed by López Mari.

Juanes, “Mis Planes Son Amarte” (2017)

Filmed in Mexico (Veracruz, Mexico City and its outskirts) and Medellín, Colombia

“Mis Planes Son Amarte” directly translates to “My Plans Are to Love You.” A play on words in Spanish, it could also be heard as “My Plans Are to Mars.” Using that double meaning, Juanes and López Mari innovated what’s considered to be Latin music’s first major visual album (every song has a video): a one-hour film of 12 songs that follows Juanes’ character as an archaeologist and astronaut, exploring the dimensions of life and love.

Chayanne, “Di Qué Sientes Tú” (2018)

Filmed in Mexico City

In 2018, López Mari added the actor and pop balladeer Chayanne to his roster of Puerto Rican icons he’s collaborated with. For the making of Chayanne’s music video for “Di Que Sientes Tú” (Say What You Feel), López Mari took the crew to Mexico City.

“It came at a time when I was falling in love with books again,” said López Mari. “I was surrounded by literature [by Gabriel García Márquez], [Jorge Luis] Borges, Luis Rafael Sánchez — and that literary energy made its way into the set. It all came together in a way that was beautiful and poetic.”

Bad Bunny, “Callaíta” (2019)

Filmed in Puerto Rico (Arecibo, Hato Rey neighborhood of San Juan, Guaynabo)

In the first of many collaborations between Bad Bunny and López Mari, they created a “dream-like atmosphere” of summertime in Puerto Rico. In a 2023 video interview with Vanity Fair, Bad Bunny said it successfully conveyed the feeling of a “hug.” Bad Bunny also said he knew the actress, Natalia L. Garcia, was the right woman for the project as soon as he saw her.

López Mari discovered Garcia on Instagram. “I [loved] her look,” he said. “She reminded me of Uma Thurman in ‘Pulp Fiction’ because of the haircut.”

López Mari’s brother Benet Mari, served as the director of photography — and happened to have the resources to get a carousel on the beach. “Everything was perfect,” said López Mari, calling it a “beautifully executed video” that hit all the notes and goals of marrying image and song.

Don Omar, Residente, “Flow HP” (2021)

Filmed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles

In the video for their first-time collaboration, “Flow HP,” Don Omar and Residente, both Puerto Rican industry veterans, amplify their pride for the motherland by rapping in front of the island’s flag, resulting in an unforgettably powerful visual. López Mari and Residente actually directed the video together.

Bad Bunny, “El Apagón — Aquí Vive Gente” (2022)

Filmed in Puerto Rico (San Juan, Güajataca, Rincón)

“[Taylor Swift] fills it [her videos] with Easter eggs,” said López Mari. “So, what does Benito do? He fills it with Puerto Rican history.”

In nearly six months, López Mari and his team worked to produce what began as a Bad Bunny video and expanded into a hard-hitting documentary. In collaboration with Puerto Rican investigative journalist Bianca Graulau, the short film shed light on the recurring blackouts in Puerto Rico after 2017’s Hurricane Maria and how the government’s lackluster recovery efforts exacerbated the greater infrastructural crisis — all of which they strongly consider to be byproducts of U.S. colonialism.

(Fun fact: This video also featured clips from López Mari’s directorial debut with Calderón.)

Juanes, “Canción Desaparecida” featuring Mabiland (official video) (2023)

Filmed in Medellín, Colombia, and rural outskirts

In this video, Juanes and singer-MC Mabiland call to mind more than 121,000 people forcibly disappeared between 1985 and 2016 in their native Colombia. After long shying away from political and social content that colored his first album, Juanes knew he wanted to make an impactful video with López Mari, who felt connected to the story because of his own political inheritance.

Bad Bunny, “Baile Inolvidable” (2025)

FILMING LOCATION: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Normally, López Mari listens to a song several times before he writes a treatment for the direction of a music video. Yet for “Baile Inolvidable,” he only got to listen to it once. He happened to be in the room when Bad Bunny presented the album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” to Apple Music executives and his crew for the first time.

López Mari says he met with Bad Bunny weeks later, in the Río Piedras music studio where the artist had recorded the song. There, López Mari presented his storyboard drawings and location ideas for the video and listened to the song “like 20 times,” he said.

López Mari shot the dance class portion at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios, a famous school for classic salsa in San Juan. The live performance portion of the video was filmed at the University of Puerto Rico’s auditorium, where Robles and López Mari had recently creative directed a Concert for Energy Independence for Casa Pueblo.

“As every artist evolves, the same happens to us directors,” said López Mari. “We keep learning… [And] hopefully, more videos will be made that are more relevant, [that] contribute more to the cultural exchange, [and] that aren’t just a bunch of flashy visuals and bells and whistles.”

Soundgarden, the seminal Seattle grunge rock group, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony at the Peacock Theater on Saturday night. Before they accepted their awards from comedian Jim Carrey and ripped into “Black Hole Sun,” and “Rusty Cage,” the band reflected together backstage on their topsy turvy journey into the ranks of rock’s immortals and the lasting impact of their departed frontman Chris Cornell.

“I like the honor of it and I’m really happy for our fans,” bassist Ben Shepherd said. “I can’t wait to play.”

For guitarist Kim Thayil, there’s a measure of validation in their induction which he recalled from conversations with Cornell. “Chris would say, ‘Remember how you and I, and [bassist] Hiro [Yamamato] would sit around in a room and talk about the bands we really liked…and that influenced us to play together?” It’s like, ‘Well, that’s the kind of band we should be. The band that makes us want to get together and play music.’”

Soundgarden members (from left) Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell and Ben Shepherd in 2014.

(Jack Plunkett / Jack Plunkett/invision/ap)

The induction was a long-time coming for Soundgarden. They originally formed in 1984 and steadily moved to the forefront of underground indie rock scene on labels like Sub Pop and SST while touring the country in a red Chevy van. “It was almost like a camping trip with sleeping bags,” Cameron recalled. “I remember I brought this one blue blanket to sleep on.”

“I’d bring my own breakfast. I’d bring a cooler, and I’d put cereal and yogurt in there,” Yamamoto said. “These guys would go to Denny’s every day. I can’t do that!”

After moving to A&M Records, Soundgarden spent the 1990s crafting some of the most innovative, heavy and dynamic albums of their generation. Groundbreaking records like “Badmotorfinger,” “Superunknown” and “Down on the Upside.” Soundgarden disbanded in 1997 but got back together 13 years later in 2010 and resumed working on music and touring.

As rewarding as the Rock Hall honor is, the absence of Cornell –- who took his own life after a concert in Detroit in 2017 – carried a bit of somber note into the festivities. “It’s nice to hear the power of the music that we created, but it’s extremely bittersweet as well that we don’t have [Chris] with us,” drummer Matt Cameron said. “In the few instances where we have performed this music since his passing — it’s only been a few occasions — it’s empowering, but it’s also really, really bittersweet.”

In the meantime, Cornell’s bandmates are continuing to work on a collection of tunes they were recording with him just before his passing. “Once we were able to work on the music again, it all just kind of came back to just how powerful the music still is and how meaningful it still is to us,” Cameron said. “I think we’re going into it with just those types of intentions of trying to make it natural and real, which at this stage of the game, there’s a few things that sound amazing.”

The reunion with Yamamoto – who left Soundgarden around 1989 — for the Rock Hall show went a long way to livening the festivities. As soon as the band kicked into one of their early cuts, “Entering,” during rehearsals in Seattle, Shepherd recalled with a hint of awe that, “It instantly sounded like Soundgarden.”

“That was one of those things where I might have gone to YouTube and had somebody else teach me how to play it again,” Yamamoto said with a laugh. Nevertheless, Shepherd snapped a picture of the moment and gleefully sent it around to friends.

“We weren’t sure how it would work, but Hiro’s so adaptable and he’s such an amazing musician that it sounded great from the get-go,” Cameron said. “A lot of low end, but the band has always had a pretty sizable bass presence in our sound. It was just nice.”

Inductee Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Taylor Momsen and inductee Matt Cameron of Soundgarden perform onstage during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Peacock Theater on November 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

(Amy Sussman/WireImage)

To bring Cornell’s vocals to life at the Peacock Theater, Soundgarden turned to a pair of younger powerhouses. Brandi Carlile and the Pretty Reckless frontwoman Taylor Momsen. Both are tried and true Soundgarden fans and represent the group’s impact on the next generation of musicians that followed in their wake. It’s something they are particularly proud about.

“It’s still surprising, but it is something that was probably on our wishlist as something we would hope to expect,” Thayil said. “If we’re honest with ourselves and we’re honest with what we’re creating and honest in how we communicate together, then this should happen. But it’s still a surprise and still heartwarming.”

“It is sort of nice to be able to contribute to that continuum of music and have younger generations hopefully be inspired by what we were grooving on with the band, which was you know, self-expression and collaboration and trusting your own instincts and things like that,” Cameron said. “I think is a nice thing to impart on other young musicians.”

As for who they think should follow Soundgarden into the Hall next, Thayil has some thoughts. “Alice in Chains is the first thing that comes to mind, of course,” he said. “I’m surprised to learn that these six people aren’t in the Hall of Fame: Sonic Youth, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, the Pixies, the New York Dolls and the Black Crows.”

“And the Melvins!” Cameron added.

Opera has housed a long and curious fetish for the convent. Around a century ago, composers couldn’t get enough of lustful, visionary nuns. Although relatively tame next to what was to follow, Puccini’s 1918 “Suor Angelica” revealed a convent where worldly and spiritual desires collide.

But Hindemith’s “Sancta Susanna,” with its startling love affair between a nun and her maid servant, titillated German audiences at the start of the roaring twenties, and still can. A sexually and violently explicit production in Stuttgart last year led to 18 freaked-out audience members requiring medical attention — and sold-out houses.

Los Angeles Opera got in the act early on. A daring production of Prokofiev’s 1927 “The Fiery Angel,” one of the operas that opened the company’s second season in 1967, saw, wrote Times music critic Martin Bernheimer, “hysterical nuns tear off their sacred habits as they writhe climactically in topless demonic frenzy.”

Now we have, as a counterbalance to a lurid male gaze as the season’s new opera for L.A. Opera’s 40th anniversary season, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s sincere and compelling “Hildegard,” based on a real-life 12th century abbess and present-day cult figure, St. Hildegard von Bingen. The opera, which had its premiere at the Wallis on Wednesday night, is the latest in L.A. Opera’s ongoing collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects, which commissioned the work.

Elkhanah Pulitzer’s production is decorous and spare. Snider’s slow, elegantly understated and, within bounds, reverential opera operates as much as a passion play as an opera. Its concerns and desires are our 21st century concerns and desires, with Hildegard beheld as a proto-feminist icon. Its characters and music so easily traverse a millennium’s distance that the High Middle Ages might be the day before yesterday.

Hildegard is best known for the music she produced in her Rhineland German monastery and for the transcriptions of her luminous visions. But she has also attracted a cult-like following as healer with an extensive knowledge of herbal remedies some still apply as alternative medicine to this day, as she has for her remarkable success challenging the patriarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

She has further reached broad audiences through Oliver Sacks’ book, “Migraine,” in which the widely read neurologist proposed that Hildegard’s visions were a result of her headaches. Those visions, themselves, have attained classic status. Recordings of her music are plentiful. “Lux Vivens,” produced by David Lynch and featuring Scottish fiddle player Jocelyn Montgomery, must be the first to put a saint’s songs on the popular culture map.

Margarethe von Trotta made an effective biopic of Hildegard, staring the intense singer Barbara Sukowa. An essential biography, “The Woman of Her Age” by Fiona Maddocks, followed Hildegard’s canonization by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

Snider, who also wrote the libretto, focuses her two-and-a-half-hour opera, however, on but a crucial year in Hildegard’s long life (she is thought to have lived to 82 or 83). A mother superior in her 40s, she has found a young acolyte, Richardis, deeply devoted to her and who paints representations of Hildegard’s visions. Those visions, as unheard-of divine communion with a woman, draw her into conflict with priests who find them false. But she goes over the head of her adversarial abbot, Cuno, and convinces the Pope that her visions are the voice of God.

Mikaela Bennett, left, as Richardis von Stade and Nola Richardson as Hildegard von Bingen during a dress rehearsal of “Hildegard.”

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

Hildegard, as some musicologists have proposed, may have developed a romantic attachment to the young Richardis, and Kirkland turns this into a spiritual crisis for both women. A co-crisis presents itself in Hildegard’s battles with Cuno, who punishes her by forbidding her to make music, which she ignores.

What of music? Along with being convent opera, “Hildegard” joins a lesser-known peculiar genre of operas about composers that include Todd Machover’s “Schoenberg in Hollywood,” given by UCLA earlier this year, and Louis Andriessen’s perverse masterpiece about a fictional composer, “Rosa.” In these, one composer’s music somehow conveys the presence and character of another composer.

Snider follows that intriguing path. “Hildegard” is scored for a nine-member chamber ensemble — string quartet, bass, harp, flute, clarinet and bassoon — which are members of the L.A. Opera Orchestra. Gabriel Crouch, who serves as music director, is a longtime member of the early music community as singer and conductor. But the allusions to Hildegard’s music remain modest.

Instead, each short scene (there are nine in the first act and five — along with entr’acte and epilogue — in the second), is set with a short instrumental opening. That may be a rhythmic, Steve Reich-like rhythmic pattern or a short melodic motif that is varied throughout the scene. Each creates a sense of movement.

Hildegard’s vocal writing was characterized by effusive melodic lines, a style out-of-character with the more restrained chant of the time. Snider’s vocal lines can feel, however, more conversational and more suited to narrative outline. Characters are introduced and only gradually given personality (we don’t get much of a sense of Richardis until the second act). Even Hildegard’s visions are more implied than revealed.

Under it all, though, is an alluring intricacy in the instrumental ensemble. Still with the help of a couple angels in short choral passages, a lushness creeps in.

The second act is where the relationship between Hildegard and Richardis blossoms and with it, musically, the arrival of rapture and onset of an ecstasy more overpowering than Godly visions. In the end, the opera, like the saint, requires patience. The arresting arrival of spiritual transformation arrives in the epilogue.

Snider has assembled a fine cast. Outwardly, soprano Nola Richardson can seem a coolly proficient Hildegard, the efficient manager of a convent and her sisters. Yet once divulged, her radiant inner life colors every utterance. Mikaela Bennett’s Richardis contrasts with her darker, powerful, dramatic soprano. Their duets are spine-tingling.

Tenor Roy Hage is the amiable Volmar, Hildegard’s confidant in the monastery and baritone David Adam Moore her tormentor abbot. The small roles of monks, angels and the like are thrilling voices all.

Set design (Marsha Ginsberg), light-show projection design (Deborah Johnson), scenic design, which includes small churchly models (Marsha Ginsberg), and various other designers all function to create a concentrated space for music and movement.

All but one. Beth Morrison Projects, L.A. Opera’s invaluable source for progressive and unexpected new work, tends to go in for blatant amplification. The Herculean task of singing five performances and a dress rehearsal of this demanding opera over six days could easily result in mass vocal destruction without the aid of microphones.

But the intensity of the sound adds a crudeness to the instrumental ensemble, which can be all harp or ear-shatter clarinet, and reduces the individuality of singers’ voices. There is little quiet in what is supposed to be a quiet place, where silence is practiced.

Maybe that’s the point. We amplify 21st century worldly and spiritual conflict, not going gentle into that, or any, good night.

‘Hildegard’

Where: The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills

When: Through Nov. 9

Tickets: Performances sold out, but check for returns

Info: (213) 972-8001, laopera.org

Running time: About 2 hours and 50 minutes (one intermission)

SPICE Girl Mel C has cranked up the heat and put her rock hard abs on display during a shoot for her new music video – Sweat.

The toned 51-year-old star gave fans a glimpse at work behind-the-scenes of her latest musical offering.

She told followers alongside the footage: “Little SWEAT shoot BTS clip now live on YouTube.”

Jumping around on an exercise bike, the sports-lover showed off her enviable muscles in a variety of show-stopping outfits and shades.

She looked pumped in a selection of wardrobe changes including a string-tied bra top and cut-out bikini-style cover up with black trousers.

Proving she still lives up to her Sporty Spice persona, the singer looked incredibly toned, while exuding girl power in her ab-flashing workout gear.

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The mum-of-one’s new track Sweat is an electro-house single that samples Diana Ross’s iconic hit Work That Body.

It’s set to feature on Mel’s upcoming ninth studio album due to drop on May 1, 2026.

Speaking of her dance single Sweat, she wrote: “I’m so happy this track is finally all yours. Dance to it. Run to it. Lift to it. SWEAT to it.”

Although the singer missed her fellow bandmate’s wedding in July, Mel C issued a sweet message to her friend Mel B.

The popstar was absent from Mel’s happy day at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday, which saw Emma Bunton, 49, the sole other girl group member in attendance.

The Sun revealed earlier in the year how the Spice Girls are planning a massive tour in 2026 to celebrate 30 years since debut single Wannabe was released.

Sporty Spice had her say, revealing certain members needed more “convincing” than others, with Victoria Beckham currently not set to take part.

She is expected to keep out of it just like she did with their sell-out 2019 reunion tour, while Geri Halliwell-Horner may also need some persuading.

The Liverpudlian previously appeared on the No Filter with Kate Langbroek podcast and Mel said: “Next year is a big year for us and we have to acknowledge it in some way.

“So we are talking about what that’s going to look like and for me, Melanie, I know for sure, and Emma [Bunton], we’d be back on stage. But sometimes other people need a little bit more convincing.”

On the prospect of all five members being back on stage together for the first time since 2012, she said: “It would be the best thing ever, ever, ever. And sometimes it feels like a duty to the world.

“When we did the shows in 2019, it brought so much joy to so many people. Not everybody likes the Spice Girls but loads of people do.

JUNGLE READY

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“We’re living in this weird world right now. There’s so much negativity and mad s**t going on. Let’s all spice up our lives.”

And talking about Mel B, she added, ironically: “We’ve decided now we’re not going to tell Mel anything because she can’t keep her mouth shut.

IRON Maiden rocker Bruce Dickinson says he took up fencing to help him fend off sex-hungry groupies. 

The heavy metal star, 67, turned to the sword-fighting sport to keep a clear mind — but ended up as one of Britain’s best competitors. 

Run to the Hills singer Bruce — worth about £100million – was at one point ranked No7 in the UK and an outside contender for the Olympics. 

He tried fencing as a teenager and then took it up as a hobby in 1983 to distract himself from the temptations of sex, booze and drugs after finding fame. 

He spent months training with Team GB and represented a semi-pro club.  

Asked why he picked up the blade, he told Classic Rock mag: “I was busy sh*****g everything that moved and none of it was healthy.  

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“I remember something that (The Who guitarist) Pete Townshend once said about groupies — ‘The moment you realise you can click your finger and manipulate people into having sex with you, that’s the moment you’re going down the slippery slope’. 

“You can’t believe women are throwing themselves at you. You think, ‘Well this is nice’. And it is. It’s f*****g great. But there’s a dark side to this.  

“Where do you stop? When does it become a prop, like alcohol or cocaine?

“So that’s when I started doing extracurricular activities like fencing.  

“I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to do something to keep my brain clean’.”  

Bruce, also a qualified pilot who flies Iron Maiden’s private 747 on tour, still takes part in fencing competitions for his age group.  

The band has sold more than 130million albums since forming in London in 1975. 

When Xavier “X” Atencio was plucked by Walt Disney in 1965 to be one of his early theme park designers, he was slotted on a number of projects that placed him out of his comfort zone.

Atencio, for instance, never would have envisioned himself a songwriter.

One of Atencio’s first major projects with Walt Disney Imagineering — WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney), as it was known at the time — was Pirates of the Caribbean. In the mid-’60s when Atencio joined the Pirates team, the attraction was well underway, with the likes of fellow animators-turned-theme park designers Marc Davis and Claude Coats crafting many of its exaggerated characters and enveloping environments. Atencio’s job? Make it all make sense by giving it a cohesive story. While Atencio had once dreamed of being a journalist, his work as an animator had led him astray of a writer’s path.

Atencio would not only figure it out but end up as the draftman of one of Disneyland’s most recognizable songs, “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).” In the process, he was key in creating the template for the modern theme park dark ride, a term often applied to slow-moving indoor attractions. Such career twists and turns are detailed in a new book about Atencio, who died in 2017. “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of an Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” (Disney Editions), written by three of his family members, follows Atencio’s unexpected trajectory, starting from his roots in animation (his resume includes “Fantasia,” the Oscar-winning short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” and even stop-motion work in “Mary Poppins”).

For Pirates of the Caribbean, Atencio is said to have received little direction from Disney, only that the park’s patriarch was unhappy with previous stabs at a narration and dialogue, finding them leaning a bit stodgy. So he knew, essentially, what not to do. Atencio, according to the book, immersed himself in films like Disney’s own “Treasure Island” and pop-cultural interpretations of pirates, striving for something that felt borderline caricature rather than ripped from the history books.

Xavier “X” Atencio got his start in animation. Here, he is seen drawing dinosaurs for a sequence in “Fantasia.”

(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)

Indeed, Atencio’s words — some of those quoted in the book, such as “Avast there! Ye come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye?” — have become shorthand for how to speak like a pirate. The first scene written for the attraction was the mid-point auction sequence, a section of the ride that was changed in 2017 due to its outdated cultural implications. In the original, a proud redheaded pirate is the lead prisoner in a bridal auction, but today the “wench” has graduated to pirate status of her own and is helping to auction off stolen goods.

At first, Atencio thought he had over-written the scene, noticing that dialogue overlapped with one another. In a now-famous theme park moment, and one retold in the book, Atencio apologized to Disney, who shrugged off Atencio’s insecurity.

“Hey, X, when you go to a cocktail party, you pick up a little conversation here, another conversation there,” Disney told the animator. “Each time people will go through, they’ll find something new.”

This was the green light that Atencio, Davis and Coats needed to continue developing their attraction as one that would be a tableau of scenes rather than a strict plot.

Tying it all together, Atencio thought, should be a song. Not a songwriter himself, of course, Atencio sketched out a few lyrics and a simple melody. As the authors write, he turned to the thesaurus and made lists of traditional “pirating” words. He presented it to Disney and, to Atencio’s surprise, the company founder promptly gave him the sign off.

“Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me),” Atencio would relay, was a challenge as the ride doesn’t have a typical beginning and ending, meaning the tune needed to work with whatever pirate vignette we were sailing by. Ultimately, the song, with music by George Bruns, underlines the ride’s humorous feel, allowing the looting, the pillaging and the chasing of women, another scene that has been altered over the years, to be delivered with a playful bent.

The song “altered the trajectory” of Atencio’s career. While Atencio was not considered a musical person — “No, not at all,” says his daughter Tori Atencio McCullough, one of the book’s co-authors — the biography reveals how music became a signature aspect of his work. The short “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom,” for instance, is a humorous tale about the discovery of music. And elsewhere in Atencio’s career he worked on the band-focused opening animations for “Mickey Mouse Club.”

“That one has a pretty cool kind of modern instrument medley in the middle,” Kelsey McCullough, Atencio’s granddaughter and another one of the book’s authors, says of “Mickey Mouse Club.” “It was interesting, because when we lined everything up, it was like, ‘Of course he felt like the ride needed a song.’ Everything he had been doing up to that point had a song in it. Once we looked it at from that perspective, it was sort of unsurprising to us. He was doing a lot around music.”

Xavier “X” Atencio contributed concepts to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, including its famous one-eyed cat.

(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)

Atencio would go on to write lyrics for the Country Bear Jamboree and the Haunted Mansion. While the Haunted Mansion vacillates between spooky and lighthearted imagery, it’s Atencio’s “Grim Grinning Ghosts” that telegraphs the ride’s tone and makes it clear it’s a celebratory attraction, one in which many of those in the afterlife prefer to live it up rather than haunt.

Despite his newfound music career, Atencio never gave up drawing and contributing concepts to Disney theme park attractions. Two of my favorites are captured in the book — his abstract flights through molecular lights for the defunct Adventure Thru Inner Space and his one-eyed black cat for the Haunted Mansion. The latter has become a fabled Mansion character over the years. Atencio’s fiendish feline would have followed guests throughout the ride, a creature said to despise living humans and with predatory, possessive instincts.

In Atencio’s concept art, the cat featured elongated, vampire-like fangs and a piercing red eye. In a nod to Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” it had just one eyeball, which sat in its socket with all the subtlety of a fire alarm. Discarded eventually — a raven essentially fills a similar role — the cat today has been resurrected for the Mansion, most notably in a revised attic scene where the kitty is spotted near a mournful bride.

Xavier “X” Atencio retired from Disney in 1984 after four-plus decades with the company. He drew his own retirement announcement.

(Reprinted from “Xavier ‘X’ Atencio: The Legacy of An Artist, Imagineer, and Disney Legend” / Disney Enterprises Inc. / Disney Editions)

Co-author Bobbie Lucas, a relative of Atencio’s colloquially referred to by the family as his “grandchild-in-law,” was asked what ties all of Atencio’s work together.

“No matter the different style or no matter the era, there’s such a sense of life and humanity,” Lucas says. “There’s a sense of play.”

Play is a fitting way to describe Atencio’s contributions to two of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions, where pirates and ghosts are captured at their most frivolous and jovial.

“I like that,” Lucas adds. “I like someone who will put their heart on their sleeve and show you that in their art.”

Rapper RBX has sued Spotify, alleging that the Swedish audio company has failed to stop the artificial inflation of music streams for artists like Drake and is hurting the revenue other rights holders receive through the platform.

RBX, whose real name is Eric Dwayne Collins, is seeking a class-action status and damages and restitution from Spotify. RBX, along with other rights holders, receive payment based on how often their music is streamed on Spotify, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in L.A. on Sunday.

Spotify pays rights holders a percentage of revenue based on the total streams attributed to them compared with total volume of streams for all songs, the lawsuit said.

The Long Beach-based rapper said that rights holders are losing money on Spotify because streams of some artists are being artificially inflated through bots powered by automated software, even though the use of such bots is prohibited on the platform, according to the lawsuit.

For example, the lawsuit notes that over a four-day period in 2024 there were at least 250,000 streams of Drake’s “No Face” song that appeared to originate in Turkey, but “were falsely geomapped through the coordinated use of VPNs to the United Kingdom in attempt to obscure their origins.”

Spotify knew or should have known “with reasonable diligence, that fraudulent activities were occurring on its platform,” states the lawsuit, describing the streamer’s policies to root out fraud as “window dressing.”

Spotify declined to comment on the pending litigation but said it “in no way benefits from the industry-wide challenge of artificial streaming.”

“We heavily invest in always-improving, best-in-class systems to combat it and safeguard artist payouts with strong protections like removing fake streams, withholding royalties, and charging penalties,” Spotify said in a statement.

Last year, a U.S. producer was accused of stealing $10 million from streaming services and Spotify said it was able to limit the theft on its platform to $60,000, touting it as evidence that its systems are working.

The platform is also making efforts to push back against AI-generated music that is made without artists’ permission. In September, Spotify announced it had removed more than 75 million AI-generated “spammy” music tracks from its platform over the last 12 months.

A representative for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.

RBX is known for his work on Dr. Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album “Doggystyle.” He has multiple solo albums and has collaborated with artists including on Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” and Kris Kross’ “Da Bomb.” RBX is Snoop Dogg’s cousin.

Artificial intelligence continues to change the way that the entertainment industry operates, affecting everything from film and TV production to music. In the music industry, companies have sued AI startups, accusing the businesses of taking copyrighted music to train AI models.

At the same time, some music artists have embraced AI, using the technology to test bold ideas in music videos and in their songs.

In the working-class city of Commerce, where cars speed past on highways and the Citadel Outlets tower over neighborhoods, there is a steakhouse named Stevens. By day, it’s a classic and charming old restaurant where working people go for quiet, hearty meals.

But every Sunday night, the outside world disappears.

As waiters whisk about in starched button ups, couples lead each other by the hand toward the dance floor in the restaurant’s ballroom, where Stevens’ tradition of Salsa Sundays has been bringing the community together for 73 years.

At 7 p.m. every Sunday, beginner lessons start at Stevens Steakhouse.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

An eight-piece band plays brass, electric guitar, bongos and timbales, filling the room with music as dancers twirl in a dizzying array. One attendee, 29-year-old Amy Hernandez, greets a few familiar faces before she steps onto the dance floor, spinning in confident steps with a wide smile on her face.

Hernandez is part of a revival that’s been getting younger people excited about salsa music — and flocking to Stevens. She grew up watching her father dance salsa, but started diving back into the genre on her own to find comfort during the L.A. wildfires earlier this year. She credits Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” for re-sparking her interest.

“It was very healing for me,” she says of the album, which blends old-school Puerto Rican boricua samples with Latin dance and reggaeton influences for an emotional imagining of Puerto Rican identity.

For decades, Stevens has brought friends, couples, and families together for live music and dance.

(Emil Ravelo/For The Times)

When college friends recommended Stevens as an affordable place to dance, Hernandez mentioned it in passing to her dad. “He laughed and said, ‘I remember that place. I used to dance there too,’” Hernandez says.

The increasingly mainstream artists of Latin fusion genre reggaeton are returning to tradition. Along with the music of Bad Bunny, who’s headlining the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, you can find classic salsa references in reggaeton star Rauw Alejandro’s latest album “Cosa Nuestra,” and in Colombian pop star Karol G’s multi-genre summer album “Tropicoqueta,” which will be at the center of her headlining Coachella set.

“You can feel the younger energy,” says longtime Stevens salsa instructor Jennifer Aguirre. “It makes me really happy to see a younger generation take on salsa. Because I was worried for a bit. I didn’t know how salsa is going to continue.”

Los Angeles has a unique relationship with salsa, the Afro-Caribbean dance born from Cuban mambo. In cities like Miami and New York, salsa arrived with Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants. Instead, L.A.’s salsa influence came from Golden Age Hollywood, where Latin dance in movies produced a singular, flashier Angeleno style, characterized by quick turns and theatrical movement, according to salsa historian Juliet McMains.

The 1990s were another high for the genre, when West Coast pioneers like the Vazquez brothers and their first-of-its-kind dance team Salsa Brava sparked a local dance craze. The Vazquezes introduced the “on-1” step and innovated a flashier, dramatic style of salsa in L.A. that brought crowds to competitions and congresses through the 2000s. Legendary late promoter Albert Torres founded the L.A. Salsa Congress in 1999, the first congress on the West Coast, drawing a worldwide audience for Angeleno salsa.

Opened in 1952 by Steven Filipan (and located on Stevens Place), Stevens in Commerce became a local hub for Latin music. “The interesting part was that the area wasn’t Latin at all,” says Jim Filipan, Steven’s grandson and now the third-generation owner of the restaurant. “My grandfather had a foresight that this genre would be the future.”

Jim recalls his childhood growing up in the restaurant. “We would have hundreds of people on Sundays,” he says. “The ballroom, the restaurant, everyone was dancing salsa, and it was incredible. My dad took over in the ‘70s, and I was running it with him in the ‘90s.”

Yet by the 2010s it was apparent that another genre was taking hold of the Latin dance scene: bachata, ushered in by smooth-singing New York stars like Prince Royce and Romeo Santos. Salsa quickly went from being considered hip to rather old-fashioned.

During a Stevens dance lesson, guests learn how to spin on the dance floor.

(Emil Ravelo / For The Times)

Aguirre witnessed the genre lose interest firsthand. “It was like an immediate switch,” Aguirre says. “Salsa just wasn’t as popular anymore, and people would walk over to the other side of the restaurant to take the bachata lessons.”

The pandemic also dealt a large blow to local salsa clubs, as peers in the long-standing dance club industry fell to lower attendance rates and rising rent. And in the last year, two historic venues, the Conga Room and the Mayan, closed permanently.

Stevens almost had the same fate. The financial burdens during the pandemic made Jim consider closing for good. But he couldn’t help but consider the responsibility of his family’s legacy and the special place Stevens holds for local dancers.

“It’s very emotional for me because I have four generations in this restaurant, and now my daughter works here,” he says.

When Stevens reopened, the community came back in droves, ushering in a new era of excitement for salsa.

These days, at the beginning of every class, dance instructor Miguel “Miguelito” Aguirre announces the same rule.

“Forget about what happened today, forget about your week, forget about all the bad stuff. Leave it at the door,” Aguirre says. “It’s going to be better because we’re going to dance salsa.”

Dance instructor, Miguel Aguirre, right, mans the DJ booth alongside DJ Pechanga, another longtime employee of Stevens. Every weekend, the duo brings Latin music to the forefront of the space.

(Emil Ravelo/For The Times)

Aguirre has taught salsa at Stevens for 30 years. In many ways, the steakhouse has shaped his life. It’s where he discovered his love for teaching dance and much more.

“I started coming here in the ‘90s, sneaking in through the back door. I was a teenager, so not old enough to show my ID, but one day, Jim just said, ‘You guys cannot come in through the back anymore. You can come into the front,’” Aguirre says. “And then one day he said, ‘Hey, we are missing the instructors. They’re not coming in. Can you guys teach the class?’ And, I’m still here.”

Jennifer Aguirre, a fellow dance teacher at Stevens, is his wife. She met him one day at Stevens’ annual Halloween party.

“He asked me to join his class because they ‘needed more girls,’” Jennifer says, laughing.

Now Jennifer teaches the beginner’s class, while Miguel is on intermediate. But once 10 p.m. hits, it’s social dancing time. The whole floor comes together and a familiar community converges. If attendees are lucky, they might catch Jennifer and Miguel, a smooth-dancing duo, letting loose, stepping and dipping effortlessly.

On a recent Sunday night, the low-lighted ambience of the restaurant met the purple lights of the dance room, with people sitting all around for a peek at the moves on display. Buttery steaks and potatoes cooking in the kitchen tinged the air as the dance floor came alive with women spinning in dresses and men in shining shoes gliding to the rhythm of the music. Miguel Aguirre manned the DJ stand, asking two singles if they knew each other and encouraging them to dance.

Gregorio Sines was one of the solo dancers on the floor, swaying partners easily under Miguel’s encouragement. Years ago, his friend, who frequented Stevens, dragged Sines out to dance socials, telling him it would be the best way to meet people and open up.

As someone who began with anxiety to dance in front of others, Sines now performs in Stevens’ dance showcases. He says consistently returning to the steakhouse’s historic floor and immersing himself in the supportive community not only changed his dance game, but brought him out of his shell.

“I tell anyone, if you’re scared to dance, you just have to get out there,” Sines says. “There’s a community waiting for you.”

Universal Music Group said Wednesday it has reached licensing agreements with artificial intelligence music startup Udio, settling a lawsuit that had accused Udio of using copyrighted music to train its AI.

Users create music using Udio’s AI, which can compose original songs — including voices and instruments — from text prompts.

Udio has agreed with UMG to launch a new platform next year that is only trained on “authorized and licensed music,” and will let users customize, stream and share music.

“These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what’s right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond,” Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Udio declined to disclose the financial terms of the settlement and licensing agreements. UMG did not immediately return a request for comment on the terms.

Artificial intelligence has brought new opportunities as well as challenges to the entertainment industry, as AI startups have been training their models on information on the internet, which entertainment companies say infringes on their copyrighted work.

In the music industry, music businesses have accused New York City-based Udio and other AI music startups of training on copyrighted music to generate new songs that are based on popular hits without compensation or permission.

UMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and other music businesses sued Udio last year. In the lawsuit, Udio was accused of using hits like The Temptations’ “My Girl,” to create a similar melody called “Sunshine Melody.” UMG owns the copyright to “My Girl.”

“A comparison of one section of the Udio-generated file and ‘My Girl’ reflects a number of similarities, including a very similar melody, the same chords, and very similar backing vocals,” according to the lawsuit. “These similarities are further reflected in the side-by-side transcriptions of the musical scores for the Udio file and the original recording.”

Udio said on its website at the time that it stands by its technology and that its AI model learns from examples, similar to how students listen to music and study scores.

“The goal of model training is to develop an understanding of musical ideas — the basic building blocks of musical expression that are owned by no one,” Udio had said in a statement. “We are completely uninterested in reproducing content in our training set.”

On Wednesday, Udio’s CEO and co-founder, Andrew Sanchez, said he was thrilled at the opportunity to work with UMG “to redefine how AI empowers artists and fans.”

The collaboration is the first music licensing agreement that Udio has reached with a major music label.

“This moment brings to life everything we’ve been building toward — uniting AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists,” Sanchez said in a statement. “Together, we’re building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what’s possible in music creation and engagement.”

Udio said that artists can opt in to the new platform and will be compensated, but declined to go into the specifics or the artists involved.

Udio, launched in 2024, was co-founded by former Google DeepMind employees. Udio’s backers include music artist will.i.am, Instagram co-founder and Anthropic’s chief product officer Mike Krieger and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Udio said millions of people have used Udio since it launched in 2024. Users can access the platform through its app or website. The company did not break out specifically how many downloads or website users it has.

Udio has had 128,000 app downloads in Apple’s App Store since its app was released in May, according to estimates from New York-based mobile analytics firm Appfigures.

On Thursday, UMG also announced a partnership with London-based Stability AI to develop music creation tools powered by AI for artists, producers and songwriters.