MARINA's 'PRINCESS OF POWER' Is Here: 5 Songs To Get Into The Pop Heroine | GRAMMY.com (2025)

Marina Diamandis has always wielded time. The South Wales-born pop auteur creates and recreates dazzling new personas and styles with each album, ideas that draw from the past and envision the future, all while being firmly in the now. This journey began in an electro bubblegum wonderland under the name Marina and the Diamonds on 2010 debut The Family Jewels, and now cements her pure pop royalty on the new PRINCESS OF POWER.

Diamandis is the kind of natural that knew she was destined for the stratosphere long before she released her first song. As she explained to the Guardian in 2009, she spent her younger years hunting for auditions to get her foot in the door, with most resulting in rejection. So in 2005, she decided instead to focus on crafting her own musical experience, becoming one of the bounciest, quirkiest, most fascinating voices in pop.

Fans in the U.K. quickly embraced that energy, rocketing The Family Jewels to No. 5 on the Official Albums Chart, with 2012's followup Electra Heart reaching No. 1. International audiences caught on by 2015, as her third album, Froot, reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 in the U.S., and her thrilling live shows boosted her fan base around the world. Since then, she has continued to refine and reinvent her ecstatic approach to songwriting, bringing rapturous fans to the dance floor.

By 2019, she had grown so fully into herself that she decided to drop the "and the Diamonds," releasing Love + Fear as MARINA. The record's bass-heavy synths and thrumming beats accentuate the two massive emotions of the record's title in split halves, MARINA showcasing her empathetic strength. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land followed in 2021, with MARINA presenting an even stronger vision of danceable electropop peppered with more political messages of environmentalism and equality, in addition to her intimate storytelling. Throughout it all, MARINA has exercised her impressive creative vision live as well, presenting expressive performances in captivating costumes, including the glam punk pink plaid, ruffled white skirt, and Marilyn Monroe blonde curls she sported at this year's Coachella.

From strength to strength, it's impossible to sum up the sprawling universe of MARINA, but these five tracks offer a handy road map.

"I Am Not A Robot" ('The Family Jewels,' 2010)

This is the track that encapsulates everything we love about MARINA: her striking presentation, her dynamic enthusiasm, her fully developed characters and concepts, and her knack for inescapable hit-making. There's an obvious smirk to her delivery on "I Am Not A Robot," ingenuously channeling that universal sense of feeling detached from reality.

While the song — which first appeared on her 2009 EP The Crown Jewels — flirts with high-gloss bubblegum pop, it's the furthest thing from pastiche. "But inside, you're just a little baby, oh/ It's okay to say you've got a weak spot," she sings, the words bustling with both hedonism and self-realization — as if MARINA herself is about to leap out of the track.

"I Am Not a Robot" bubbles with an incredible depth rarely seen in mass-market pop at the time. While many others were still trying to present a polished perfection, MARINA reckons here with the need to act tough on the outside, masking your pain but still feeling it even when pushed down into the deep. Even this early in her career, MARINA immediately embraces imperfection and encourages us to embrace the same.

The rest of the record pulses with that same raw energy as well. The massive "Numb" is another fan favorite thanks to its Kate Bush push-pull piano, airy falsetto, and tender understanding of anxiety and depression, not to mention other album highlights like "Mowgli's Road," "Obsessions," "Hollywood," and "Oh No!"

"Primadonna" ('Electra Heart,' 2012)

The lead single to sophomore album Electra Heart, "Primadonna" builds from the strengths of other fan favorite hits like "Bubblegum B—" and "Lies" and draws listeners ever deeper into the MARINA orbit. There's her voice from the moment the song starts, cutting through the air and pulling the listener close. "All I ever wanted was the world/ I can't help that I need it all," she sings, openly proclaiming a longing she no longer needs to hide.

That openness is particularly affecting, a dominant defiance that calls into question both relationship dynamics and, well, the entire history of idol worship in pop music. "Would you get down on your knees for me?" she asks, playing on adoration, traditional proposals, sexuality. There's agony and ecstasy intertwined, the interlaced DNA that MARINA straddles so well.

"Froot" ('Froot,' 2015)

MARINA has never been one to shy away from some cheeky wordplay or sex jokes, and the deliriously fun "Froot" features some of the best of both — with, of course, some danger lurking around the corner.

Over the thumping beat, MARINA dances through lines as if they were potential partners, each one bouncing between metaphors for being ready for the bedroom and the ripeness of fruit. But then, in the core of the song, there is a reminder that she's not just something to be plucked: "I'm your deadly nightshade, I'm your cherry tree/ You're my one true love, I'm your destiny."

For those that don't know, nightshade (scientific name belladonna, Italian for beautiful woman, in another layer of brilliance) and cherry trees are toxic, so beware. This track shows MARINA amping up the glitz, glam and lust, while cleverly undercutting the sweetness with just enough venom.

"Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land" ('Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land,' 2019)

Just when the MARINA formula started to seem comfortable in its bubbly technicolor, the title track to Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land reinvents everything, without losing an ounce of the inescapable bouncy fun. The synth-heavy track breathlessly ratchets, riding a rhythmic pulse that's closer to the dizziness of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion than to anything her pop contemporaries were doing.

And that's not to mention the lyrics, where MARINA dissects the very concept of existence: "I am not my body, not my mind or my brain/ Not my thoughts or feelings, I am not my DNA/ I am the observer, I'm a witness of life/ I live in the space between the stars and the sky." The heady existentialism lands perfectly sweetly — and that's just the chorus.

The track posits a need to embrace one's weirdest truth, to be the "eye of the storm" in this tornado we call modernity, and this is the ideal heart-racing soundtrack to that journey. That confidence builds perfectly to PRINCESS OF POWER, a record that wields refined muscly electronics and more provocative lyrics.

"CUNTISSIMO" ('PRINCESS OF POWER,' 2025)

While today's pop stars now lean into the fascinatingly raw delivery MARINA has long channelled, she reinvents the vibe with PRINCESS OF POWER, daubing things in a heightened elegance. That surprising fusion vaults listeners directly into the pop star's sun on "CUNTISSIMO." "I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a star/ I'll be shining wherever you are," she skewers through a thick haze of techno beat, reminding us of who she is.

MARINA is downright intoxicating as she sings about the power she has walking down the street, wielding "cuntissmo" that no-one can "dull." Arriving just ahead of PRINCESS OF POWER's release, the song immediately set the tone for an album brimming with beguiling, shuddering rhythms and lithe lyricism.

"CUNTISSIMO" quickly races into a rousing pop anthem, the kind of playfulness that makes MARINA's music suited for a dance-floor takeover. It's a call to command the sexuality women possess, an extra kick asserting her own personal strength — affirming both who she is and the heights she knows she can reach.

Whether viewed via a cardboard sleeve, plastic jewel case, or online thumbnail, the album cover can be pivotal to the perception of the music it envelops. After all, long before a single note has been played, it essentially serves as a record's first taster. None more so than in the pre-streaming, crate-digging age when consumers had to venture into brick-and-mortar stores, often relying on little more than an eye-catching image to choose their latest pet sound. Now, in time for the 2026 GRAMMYs, the Recording Academy has added a new Category celebrating what is very much an art form in its own right.

The concept of adding artwork to an album cover is credited to Alex Steinweiss, an art director hired in 1938 by Columbia Records to make the typical brown paper bags a little more aesthetically pleasing. By the end of the following decade, the practice had become commonplace, and pretty soon, creatives such as Neil Fujita, Bob Cato and Reid Miles were able to build entire careers on making vinyl pop off the shelf.

Of course, it was when the album format began to take precedence over the hit single that cover art entered its dominant era. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and every other artist that spearheaded the rock and roll revolution recognized the power that a 12" sleeve could hold. The psychedelic, prog-rock and heavy metal scenes became particularly enamored, too, adorning their musical masterpieces with elaborate imagery left open to copious amounts of interpretation.

Although much smaller in size, the album cover continued to thrive throughout the advent of the cassette tape and then the compact disc, with designers — including portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, Dutch film director Anton Corbijn, and kitsch guru David LaChapelle — simply adopting different techniques to wow the crowds. And while the rise of the internet has reduced the eyeball space even further, artists are still keen to ensure that their visual representation aligns with their sonic.

No doubt that the debate over who should win Best Album Cover at the 2026 GRAMMYs is already starting. In honor of the new Category — as well as some other exciting changes for next year's telecast — GRAMMY.com revisits some of the covers that have made a mark on pop culture since the first GRAMMYs in 1959. From simple portraits to fantastical collages, here's a look at 34 that are arguably just as memorable, if not more, than the albums themselves.

Read More:

Jimi Hendrix — Are You Experienced

The Jimi Hendrix Experience gave us two classic album covers for the price of one with their game-changing 1967 debut. Shot by Bruce Fleming, the original U.K. sleeve featured its eponymous frontman adopting a Dracula-like stance next to bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. But for its North American release, Karl Ferris repositioned the trio as a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth." Taken at Kew Gardens via the du-jour style of the fisheye lens, its deeply psychedelic aura was considered a much better fit for the Summer of Love.

The Beatles — Abbey Road

The Beatles literally stopped traffic while shooting the cover that turned an otherwise unremarkable London street into a tourist landmark. The Fab Four had initially planned to hike up the Himalayas for their 11th LP, but eventually decided a zebra crossing walk outside their EMI recording studio would suffice. Photographer Iain MacMillan was given just 10 minutes to capture the legends in all their sharp-suited — and in Paul McCartney's case, barefoot — glory. Of course, the Merseysiders' entire back catalog could have graced this list. But despite their label's concerns over the lack of a title or band name, it's Abbey Road's portrait of both unity and individuality that remains the group's defining image..

The Doors — Morrison Hotel

In one of those remarkable twists of popcultural fate, Ray Manzarek just happened to stumble across an L.A. establishment with the exact same name of the album he was scouting cover locations for. It needed a spot of subterfuge, however, for the stars to truly align. Indeed, with its front-of-house receptionist unwilling to play ball, The Doors and photographer Henry Diltz had to wait until he was called away, and in a matter of just seconds, snap the contemplative window gaze that ironically would put the Morrison Hotel on the global map.

Velvet Underground & Nico — Velvet Underground & Nico

No-wave pioneers Velvet Underground and self-proclaimed "Chelsea Girl" Nico also omitted their names on the cover to their seminal self-titled debut, allowing its designer to take full credit instead. After all, it was Andy Warhol's idea to represent their magnum opus with the image of a moldy banana, and on its early pressing, tempt record buyers to "peel slowly and see." It was a typically playful approach that counterbalanced the dark and discordant sounds hidden within. This is the moment where modern art and modern pop truly collided.

Cream — Disraeli Gears

Australian artist Martin Sharp certainly ensured that Cream's second album Disraeli Gears stood out from the crowd. The multi-talent, who also co-wrote Side B's opener "Tales of Brave Ulysses," attempted to capture its fluorescent sound with a decidedly trippy collage of colors, florals and photos taken in London's Hyde Park and Scotland's Ben Nevis. Presiding over all the organized chaos are the trio themselves, including an atypically clean-shaven Eric Clapton, positioned like the Mount Rushmore of psychedelic rock.

Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures

The Cambridge Encylopaedia of Astronomy might not initially appear to be the stuff of British post-punk history. But it was while perusing the 1977 tome that Joy Division guitarist Bernard Sumner spotted a series of pulsar radio waves that subsequently became the scene's defining image. With a little help from Factory Records designer Peter Savile, who reversed the original's black and white lines to make it look 'sexier,' the cover perfectly encapsulated the stark, atmospheric and curious nature of the Mancunians' cult classic Unknown Pleasures, and nearly a half-century on, it remains a T-shirt favorite.

Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of the Moon

A Black Magic chocolate box was the brief given to album cover maestros Hipgnosis for Pink Floyd's pièce de résistance The Dark Side of the Moon. Just as they'd done with their previous collaborations with the prog-rockers, designers Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson thought completely outside the box — or should that be prism — using a striking combination of colors and physics for a sleeve that perfectly reflected the group's visually dazzling live shows. It's an image that has become synonymous with the Brits more than any other, proving that sometimes, the simplest ideas really are the best.

The Clash — London Calling

"Unfortunately, you always sort of tend to destroy the things you love," bassist Paul Simonon once remarked, referring to the iconic cover of The Clash's London Calling. The bassist had smashed his guitar to smithereens during a 1979 gig at New York's Palladium in frustration of some overzealous security. And while photographer Pennie Smith believed her snap — accompanied by green and pink lettering inspired by Elvis Presley's self-titled debut — was too out of focus to grace the double album, it proved to be the perfect visualization of punk rock's defiance.

The Rolling Stones — Sticky Fingers

Four years after his banana peel stunt, Andy Warhol once again toyed with the concept of the album sleeve for the Rolling Stones' ninth LP Sticky Fingers. This time, he incorporated a working zipper and perforated belt buckle which, when opened, revealed a pair of white briefs emblazoned with his famous name. Contrary to popular belief at the time, the crotch in question didn't belong to the group's rubber-lipped frontman. Not that designer Craig Braun was forthcoming in quashing the rumor: "If girls think that that's Mick's d—, we're going to sell more albums," he later admitted about the gimmick, which took cover artwork to new provocative heights.

Willie Colón — La Gran Fuga

"Armed with Trombone and Considered Dangerous," cautions the cover of Willie Colón's collaborative album La Gran Fuga (The Big Break) in an inspired mock-up of a Most Wanted poster. Committing to the bit, designer Izzy Sanabria also throws in a cheap "mugshot"-style photo of the salsa pioneer, a series of fingerprints, and a warning that his musical partner in crime, Puerto Rican singer Héctor Lavoe, is on the run, too. In fact, the whole charade was so convincing that the very real FBI insisted their name be removed from the sleeve. This was album artwork at its most tongue-in-cheek.

Bruce Springsteen — Born in the USA

Sporting the classic white T-shirt and denim jeans (alongside a pocketed red baseball cap), Bruce Springsteen embodied the All-American hero while posing in front of the Stars and Stripes for his seventh LP Born in the USA. Much to photographer Annie Leibovitz's chagrin, however, The Boss' brooding features remained entirely out of view. "In the end, the picture of my ass looked better than the picture of my face," he later admitted about the cheeky artwork that found its way into 30 million homes.

N.W.A. — Straight Outta Compton

Firmly living up to their tag of the "world's most dangerous group," the cover of N.W.A.'s debut, Straight Outta Compton, saw the rappers in full-on gangster mode. All six members look ready and willing to send their unseen victim — "I just lay on the ground and they pointed what hopefully was an unloaded gun down at the camera," photographer Kevin Poppleton later quipped — sleeping with the fishes. But it's Eazy-E who's got his hands on the trigger in a truly menacing cover that foreshadowed all the lyrical and sonic aggression ahead.

Run-D.M.C. — Raising Hell

"I hate to admit it but there wasn't a 'concept' concept for that album," art director Janet Perr has admitted about her work on Run-D.M.C.'s mainstream breakthrough. Yet it was by capturing the hip-hop pioneers at their true essence, without any bells or whistles, that made Raising Hell's artwork so authentic. Although their signature Adidas trainers are out of sight, Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels (not officially signed to their Profile Records label, Jam Master Jay was restricted to the back cover) still ooze Hollis cool.

Talking Heads — Remain in Light

Talking Heads' Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth drew upon the knowhow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create one of the first computer-generated album covers. Relegating their initial plans of a warplane collage to the back, Remain in Light instead splashes portrait photos of all four members with crude red 'paint' for a disturbing image that makes them resemble bloodied bank robbers. The inverted "A"s in the group's name only adds to the sense of unease.

2 Live Crew — Banned in the USA

From a distance, there's nothing particularly remarkable about the artwork for 2 Live Crew's fourth album. It's essentially just the group standing in front of the American flag in typical hip-hop attire. But shift your gaze toward the bottom right-hand corner and you'll notice a black and white sticker designed to ward off, but which only ever really enticed, the young and impressionable. Indeed, Banned in the USA was the first ever album to come equipped with a parental advisory sticker. By 1992, another 224 records had joined the potty-mouthed club; the sticker is still used in today's physical market, while streaming services will apply a similar "Explicit" tag to any tracks considered family-unfriendly.

blink-182 — Enema of the State

blink-182 promoted their second album Enema of the State with a blend of toilet humor and scantily clad visuals that perfectly aligned with the success of American Pie. The Californians apparently didn't know that model Janine Lindemulder — who they also chased in the promo for "What's My Age Again" — was in the adult entertainment industry when she was selected to brandish the blue glove in a provocative nurse's outfit. But a generation of hormonal teens, who ensured the cover art adorned more bedroom walls than any other at the turn of the century, thanked them anyway.

Britney Spears — ...Baby One More Time

While most international audiences saw a solemn Britney Spears praying angelically for the cover of her all-conquering debut album, her homeland's fans were treated to a more carefree image that better reflected her Mickey Mouse Club past. The teen princess looks the height of innocence as she kneels down smiling while surrounded by pastel pink. ...Baby One More Time's cover art essentially signaled an era in which pop became a playground for the girls (and the boys) next door.

Jay Z — Reasonable Doubt

Photographer Jonathan Mannion had planned to give Jay-Z's debut album a "Miami Vice meets the monarchy" look when it was titled Heir to the Throne. But on rechristening its vivid hustler tales Reasonable Doubt, it was decided that instead of flashy Versace suits, the Jigga Man should adopt a classic mafia persona instead. You might not be able to clearly see the rapper's face, but his hat, scarf and cigar instantly prove that he means business. And as Jay's first official studio album, Reasonable Doubt's powerful cover set the tone for how he would soon revolutionize the hip-hop world.

Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill went back to school to help sell the solo debut that promised a glittering career ahead. Indeed, alongside photographer Eric Johnson, the ex-Fugees singer returned to her New Jersey alma mater for a series of hallway, classroom and bus shots that tied in with the album title's theme. But it was the woodshop that appeared to inform The Miseducation's front cover, with Hill's familiar face cleverly made to look as though it had been etched on a timber desk. It's still one of the hip-hop scene's most unique covers, and perhaps all the more special because the multiple GRAMMY winner has still never been properly followed up.

Nirvana — Nevermind

Spencer Elden became the world's most famous baby in 1991 when an image of his naked four-month-old self swimming underwater (and chasing a string-tied dollar bill) adorned grunge's ultimate blockbuster.Nirvana's defiant Kurt Cobain, who'd conceived the idea after watching TV footage of water births, refused to cover the youngster up, insisting the only sticker he'd allow is one reading, "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile." Unfortunately, despite previously celebrating his contribution to Nevermind's success, the grown-up Elden is now trying to sue the band for "lifelong damages." Even so, it remains one of rock music's most striking (and unforgettable) images.

Amy Winehouse — Back to Black

"Amy was four hours late. She'd been partying all night. But she still managed to be cool and crazy." Photographer Mischa Richter certainly appeared to get the full Amy Winehouse experience when shooting the soul singer for the future GRAMMY-winning Album Of The Year Back to Black. Without knowing it, she also brilliantly captured the record's essence in a snap at her very own London home. Richter had no idea of the album's title when she snapped Winehouse in a darkroom adorned with blackboard paint. Showing little sign of the troubles ahead, the simple but effective image remains one of the most indelible of her tragically short career.

Gnarls Barkley — St. Elsewhere

Super producer Danger Mouse and soul man Cee Lo Green concocted a wild backstory for their chart-topping side project, claiming that Gnarls Barkley was a pal of Isaac Hayes, a former boyfriend of Mariah Carey, and a one-time English teacher for electro wizards Kraftwerk. Little surprise, therefore, that the cover for their debut album St. Elsewhere is similarly madcap, its nuclear explosion producing a cloud filled with everything from skyscrapers and speared army helmets to palm trees and purple tigers. It's a piece of art that practically demands listeners to give it their undivided attention.

Kanye West — The College Dropout

Conceptualized by Roc-A-Fella's in-house designer Eric Duvauchelle, The College Dropout promoted Kanye West's cuddly yet despondent looking mascot from single ("Through the Wire") to album cover. The Dropout Bear would also grace the rapper's follow-ups Late Registration and Graduation, the latter in animated form. But it's on the bleachers of a high school gym, surrounded by an array of 16th century gold ornaments, where the bear subverted hip-hop's typically macho posturing the most effectively.

*NSYNC — No Strings Attached

No one could accuse *NSYNC of failing to commit to their sophomore's puppet-master concept. As well as playing marionettes in the video for third single "It's Gonna Be Me," the boy band also tied themselves up by strings on its theatrical cover art. Justin Timberlake and co. were, of course, alluding to the domineering presence of RCA and their controversial former manager Lou Pearlman, both of whom they'd also been involved in lengthy lawsuits with. More than 2.5 million Americans instantly bought into No Strings Attached's metaphor, breaking a Billboard record for first-week sales.

Outkast — Stankonia

The American flag once again adorned an iconic album in 2000, although it looked noticeably different to the one raised for Born in the USA. Outkast not only inverted its famous stars, they also swapped out its red and blue for black, a monochromatic color scheme that helped the hip-hop duo take center stage. A shirtless, leather pants-clad André 3000, very much looking like a Jimi Hendrix-esque rock star, and a more casually dressed Big Boi adopt very different poses, perhaps reflecting Stankonia's billing as a utopia where "you can open yourself up and be free to express anything." It takes a brave act to tamper with the Stars and Stripes, but the sleeve proved that few hip-hop acts are as fearless.

Shakira — Fijación Oral, Vol. 1

Who better to take inspiration from than the universe's first ever woman? Shakira was so enamored with the idea, she played Eve on the cover of Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and its swiftly issued sequel. It was the former's more grounded cover that packed the biggest punch, however, as the Colombian, donning a see-through gown while holding a baby girl in her arms, fought back against the idea that women can't balance motherhood with a career. . And though there wasn't an opportunity for Shakira to win a GRAMMY for Best Album Cover back then, Fijacion Vol. 1 did earn her both GRAMMYs and Latin GRAMMYs in 2006, including Album Of The Year at the latter.

Billie Eilish — WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

Taken on her 17th birthday, the cover for her debut album instantly confirmed that Billie Eilish wasn't your average teen starlet. Sporting pure white contact lenses while posing demonically on a bed that had been plunged into darkness, the deliberately eerie artwork looked more suited to a classic '70s horror than a '10s big pop girl. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Eilish asked. This pure nightmare fuel suggests we didn't want to know the answer.

Katy Perry — Teenage Dream

After approaching the aptly named confectionary-based artist Will Cotton with the sole intention of buying a painting, Katy Perry was then persuaded to pose for one instead. The result, which sees the chart-topper lying nude in a cloud of pink cotton candy, ended up gracing the cover of the seven-time GRAMMY nominee Teenage Dream. Committing even further to the sweet concept, a limited number of sleeves were also sprayed with a bubblegum-like scent. Perry continued to apply its vivid color scheme throughout her imperial phase, inspiring numerous other big pop girls to embrace their playful, irreverent side, too.

Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly

Just as provocative, thought-provoking, and proudly confrontational as the Best Rap Album GRAMMY winner itself, the cover for To Pimp a Butterfly transports the hip-hop house party to the ultimate house. "Just taking a group of homies who haven't seen the world and putting them in these places that they haven't necessarily seen ... and them being excited about it," is how Kendrick Lamar described the monochromatic snap taken on the presidential lawn. The fact that the rapper's shirtless, cash-waving posse (and a baby) are surrounding a dead white judge, however, suggests that their jubilance is far more politically charged.

Rihanna — Anti

It's now been nine years since Rihanna committed to a full-length studio effort. But if Anti does prove to be Rihanna's last ever album cover, then she sure went out in style. Roy Nachum's striking artwork presents the Barbadian not as a world-famous adult, but a balloon-holding girl attending her first trip to daycare while blindfolded by a gold crown. "Sometimes the ones who have sight are the blindest," the superstar explained about the sleeve, which also came accompanied with a Chloe Mitchell poem written in Braille. It was a design that expertly reflected Rihanna's evolution from teen R&B princess to serious artiste.

Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti

Designed in conjunction with the L.A. graphic artist known as Ugly Primo, the cover for Bad Bunny's Un Verano Sin Ti is perhaps best described as "happy sad." On one hand, there are palm trees, sun rays, and dolphins gliding through the air. On the other, there's a despondent, one-eyed heart who looks like they'd rather be anywhere else. Adopting a coloring book visual style, the sleeve perfectly encapsulated the record's concept of "a summer without you." Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the album's (and it's cover's) melancholic themes is its juxtaposing success: Un Verano Sin Ti went on to become the first entirely Spanish album to top the year-end Billboard 200, and the first to receive an Album Of The Year GRAMMY nod.

Beyoncé — RENAISSANCE

Having recently appeared to ditch the concept of music videos, the album cover has now become Beyoncé's dominant method of expressing herself visually. And she certainly pulled out all the stops for her dance floor-focused seventh LP, RENAISSANCE, straddling a horse constructed from mirrored disco balls while sporting a silver, helix-shaped bodysuit. Shot by Dutch fashion photographer Carlijn Jacobs, the sleeve inevitably drew comparisons with both Lady Godiva and Bianca Jagger's iconic equine entrance at Studio 54, cementing Beyoncé as today's ultimate style icon.

Charli xcx — brat

There's not many album covers that can claim to have owned an entire season. But the lime green (Pantone 3507C, to be precise) artwork for Charli xcx's zeitgeist-defining sixth LP did just that, spearheading what would become known as Brat Summer. "I wanted to go with an offensive, off-trend shade of green to trigger the idea of something being wrong," the party starter explained about the remarkably effective sleeve that, despite its apparent simplicity, took five months to execute. The fact that everyone from the London Mayor to Kamala Harris adopted the same aesthetic proved it was very right.

The Weeknd — After Hours

The Weeknd certainly committed to the visual concept for fourth LP After Hours, which began with the red-suited star staggering around Vegas in the video for "Heartless" and concluded alongside an army of bandaged dancers at the Super Bowl. The R&B lothario also portrayed the character "having a really bad night out" on its cover, hence the blood, bruises and slightly Joker-esque grin that suggests he's actually reveling in all the chaos. Ultimately, it proved that the humble album cover could still cause a stir.

There's a cinematic inevitability to Role Model's rise into the pop pantheon. The singer/songwriter born Tucker Pillsbury launched his musical journey nearly a decade ago — and while he was initially interested in rap, he's since gone on to become a TikTok-adored bedroom pop star.

As would befit someone so superbly cool, Role Model stumbled into a hit-making career almost literally by accident. After breaking his wrist not once but twice in quick succession during college (first in a skiing accident, then skateboarding), he found a deep boredom while recovering for months. During that time, some friends decided to use his college dorm to record some music. When they were done, the gear was left behind for safe-keeping — leading to a life-changing discovery. "I spent two weeks completely obsessed, skipping classes and learning how to use Logic," he told Nylon in 2020.

Pillsbury started using those burgeoning music skills as a rapper, first under the mononym Tucker and then under the name Dillis. But switching to a more pop-friendly sound in early 2017, adopting the Role Model moniker, and singing softly in his closet unlocked a new formula that would help rocket his music to international attention. The debut Role Model EP, 2017's Arizona in the Summer, gained a quick following, leading to a deal with Interscope. In the following years, he's released two beloved albums: 2022's Rx and last year's Kansas Anymore, the latter of which embraces folk influences and light western warmth to further round out his highly personal lyrics.

Each record seemed to expand on the Role Model mythos, his boyish charm and quirky creative approach bringing life to lyrics that refuse to follow expectations. Only Pillsbury can deliver a love song called "die for my b—," or fight against his introversion as the homies try to get him to the strip club on "Going Out." And he does it all with the perfectly messy hair, spray of tattoos, and heartthrob smile.

"I love having very just raw, depressing lyrics and then throwing in things about sex and s— like that, and having the juxtaposition or talking about sex over what should be a piano ballad about how you're dying on the inside," he explained to Ladygunn magazine in 2022.

That approach is on full display on his most recent viral hit "Sally, When the Wine Runs Out." Over choppy acoustics and barroom piano, Pillsbury's deceptively cheery-sounding tale of a lover who wavers when they get a bit tipsy has become the soundtrack to summery TikToks the world over.

As he spends this summer opening for the last stretch of Gracie Abrams' world tour, more and more fans will get to experience that swanky idiosyncrasy themselves. With Role Model continuing to bring new color into his palette, GRAMMY.com rounded up everything you need to know about the pop provocateur, from his film school origin story to the iconic rapper who inspired his rise.

He's Role Model, But Not Yours

Releasing music under the name Role Model should either come across as someone with a massive ego or someone obnoxiously ironic. While Pillsbury is certainly in on the satire of having his slick songs about love, depression and sex under that moniker, the knowing smile is far more charming than it has any right to be. And it might have something to do with how much that choice seemed to have come on a whim.

After multiple name changes in his rap life, he decided to try a new name out as he uploaded a track with woozy singing instead of his usual bars. "I changed it to Role Model because at the time, I just thought it was ironic to me and funny, and I was kind of a trash human being," he told Ladygunn. When that song, the hazy and lush "Cocaine Babe," outpaced anything he'd done previously, he knew the name had stuck.

He Could've Been A Director

Without falling into a music career, Pillsbury may have been well on his way to superstardom in film instead. The Maine native started studying film at Point Park University in Pittsburgh in 2016, imagining that his future might lead to Hollywood.

"I always loved film and my parents wanted me to go to school, so I was like, this is the only thing I like," Pillsbury told Ladygunn. But in true precocious genius fashion, waiting around and learning the basics wasn't appealing: "I didn't want to start from the beginning and learn every button on the camera." Thankfully, his discovery of music production hit at the precise right moment.

But that's not to say that film has completely faded from the Role Model world. Instead, he infused his vision into music videos, where songs like "neverletyougo" gain an even more intimate excitement via immaculately shot and choreographed clips. What's more, Pillsubry is set to make his own film debut when he appears in the upcoming Good Sex, a romantic-comedy from Girls' Lena Dunham also starring Natalie Portman, Rashida Jones, and Mark Ruffalo.

Mac Miller Thought He Was Pretty GO:OD

As Role Model was first starting out, he benefited majorly from a Pittsburgh legend who was on the lookout to support his community. Just one year into making music and still in Pittsburgh himself, Pillsbury released his debut EP as Role Model, Arizona in the Summer. It got some listens from internet buzz, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep trying to make a music career happen. Then social media did its magic.

"I was like, give it two months, a month and a half, and if nothing happens, if nothing great happens, then I need to move on," he told the Zach Sang Show in 2023. And in the middle of that stretch, he happened across his own music on an Instagram story from Quentin "Q" Cuff, longtime friend and manager of Mac Miller. As it turned out, Mac dug Arizona highlight "stolen car," and invited Pillsbury out to Los Angeles to meet and work on music. Not long later, Role Model landed a major label deal, and has since remained inspired by his Pittsburgh mentor: "Not to be corny, [he] saved my life."

He's Experienced The Highs And Lows Of Love In The Limelight

By the time Role Model released his debut album, Rx, in 2022, the rumor mill had been running at high voltage for a while. And as fans dug into the dizzying songs of love and lust on the record, they eagerly dissected on the hunt for details of his then-still-theorized relationship with influencer/model/host Emma Chamberlain. Eventually they shared a GQ photoshoot, and she would appear center-frame (though back turned) in the video for Rx highlight "neverletyougo."

But as with most celebrity relationships, the rocky end winds up being as much creative fodder as the giddy start. While the lyrics for Kansas Anymore remain intimate and compelling, they hint at the outline of heartbreak — one that was otherwise reported, though not in the same emotional depth as songs like "Oh, Gemini": "And, oh, we're hanging on by threads/ And I can't hold it any harder on my end, no/ Oh, I'm something to regret."

And as always, Pillsbury somehow pulls off self-awareness and the direct emotional hit. "Artists are just annoying … We capitalize off of trauma and tragedy, and we're like, 'Yes! A breakup, finally! That's what I needed!'," he quipped to InStyle Australia last year.

He Has An Alter Ego On TikTok

Being an artist in 2025 means being chronically online — and at this point, Pillsbury is doubling down on that assertion. In addition to mostly posting short clips of himself and celebrity friends dancing along to Role Model tracks on his artist TikTok, Pillsbury's alter ego Saint Laurent Cowboy lives a life of his own on the platform.

That character takes constant potshots at Role Model as if he were another person, but also crediting Role Model songs and actions as if they were his own — and oh yeah, they're often riddled with a sleepy approximation of youth slang. "There is an account on here called Saint Laurent Cowboy, and he's impersonating me, or trying to be me, and I don't love it. And I also don't get it," he deadpans on his Role Model account.

Cut to the Cowboy account, and he's saying "Role Model is having a little moment again" and that his fame is running out so he "better start putting them fries in ze bag." Whatever the game is, Pillsbury seems to be having a blast playing it — and it makes for two wonderful TikTok follows.

He Expanded His Collaborative Circle To Reach New Heights

Despite Kansas Anymore's place as a breakup album — the story of some of his darkest feelings — Role Model delivers an album of intimate passion rather than mere pain. Instead of presenting a simple story of good and evil, he plays more true to humanity, inspired in part perhaps by his choice of collaborators.

Throughout this third record, Pillsbury runs his ideas through a diverse collaborative team, including more women than he's previously worked with. "Growing up, I would always go to my mom and my sister for anything, whether it was talking about a girl or crying to them," he told Nylon. "I try to surround myself with people that feel like that, and I'm just comfortable with them." Songwriter Annika Bennett lends some folksy depth to tracks like "Look at the Woman," while singer/songwriter Lizzy McAlpine provides the perfect vocal counterpoint on "So Far Gone."

Pillsbury's characters and stories have always felt fully fleshed out. But processing his real relationships alongside this team have helped Role Model boldly engage his pain and unleash his most passionate delivery yet — and it's all helping him become a pop music mainstay.

In the midst of brat summer, Addison Rae strutted onto the stage at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium. Joining her headlining friend Charli xcx for their "Von Dutch" remix, Rae's guest appearance was much more than just unabashed, spontaneous fun — it marked the beginning of a liberating new chapter.

Along with being Rae's first-ever live performance, the surprise moment set the tone for the confident singer/songwriter that would arrive with the sultry hit "Diet Pepsi" two months later. And almost exactly one year since her cameo with Charli, Rae is doubling down on her self-assured star power with her debut album, Addison.

Reflected by its colorful, kaleidoscopic album cover, Addison renders the vivid nature of Rae's artistic vision. Though she first saw success as a dancer (and one of the world's most famous at that, with more than 110 million followers and five billion likes across social media platforms collectively), Rae has focused more on music in recent years — and Addison epitomizes her multifacetedness.

"It's all under this one big umbrella of entertainment and performance: acting, dance, writing music," Rae tells GRAMMY.com. "Provoking people and getting them to feel things and question things and almost have an unexplainable feeling or desire to think about something deeper… it all kind of guides me in the same way. It's like, how can that feeling be activated the most intensely?"

Rae has been chasing that feeling ever since she moved to Los Angeles in 2019

Yet, Rae didn't let the pressure creep into her head or heart, and she devoted herself to honing her sound and style. After a series of her rough demos leaked online in early 2022, the reaction indicated that she was doing something right: not only did listeners love them, they wanted more.

Along the way, Rae had met Charli xcx, who further helped her gain confidence in her artistry. By the end of 2023, Rae's musical dreams weren't so far off; she released her EP AR to positive reviews and scored a deal with Columbia Records. And once she wrote "Diet Pepsi" with songwriters Elvira Anderfjäard and Luka Kloser, Addison Rae the pop star was fully formed.

Swirling with hypnotic vocals and synths, "Diet Pepsi" captures the essence of Addison; the album spirals with an alluring desire and an untethered, joyful spirit. "I'm the ray of light/ I'm transforming and realigning/ I'll take you with me, high," she sings in the dreamlike "Aquamarine," embodying her metamorphic creative journey. Addison is a showcase of Rae's intense magnetism that comes with not just charisma and talent, but a hard-won belief in herself.

While the album is undoubtedly the product of the work she's put in, Rae insists that the people around her — Anderfjäard and Kloser, along with everyone from her stylist Dara to her choreographer Danielle Polanco to music video directors Mitch Ryan and Sean Price Williams — have been key to making her vision a success.

"We all have this equal desire to move people and to get people to connect and feel something deeply," the multi-hyphenate shares. "I think that is truly the magic of it all."

How did Rae manage to flip her narrative from underestimated social media star to one of pop's most engaging new voices? Below, Rae discusses her journey to her debut album, how she protects her peace, and what she's manifesting for 2025.

What was on your album inspo mood board? What does the world of Addison look and feel like to you?

Before I made any of the music, I was like, "What colors do I want to feel from the album?" Really early on — before "Diet Pepsi," the first song we made for the album — I had found shades of colors that I liked, and I printed them out and put them in a binder. It was this pretty aqua, then it was hot pink, super sunshiny yellow, a tone of green, and then a really beautiful vibrant blue. That told me that I wanted the album to be a lot of different things and not just one thing, and so that gave me a weird sense of guidance.

That happened naturally. We didn't really have a plan for what the album cover was gonna be, and then we shot it and printed the photos out, and that one just spoke to me so strongly, of what every song individually made me feel, [all] in one [photo]. It was just this rainbow energy that really inspired the songwriting — how can I encapsulate every shade, every feeling, every emotion, every sound that gave me enough to feel everything?

Tell me about an "aha" moment you had about the direction of your album when you were working on one of your singles.

To be honest, I think before I even started writing the album, [the] "Von Dutch" remix had happened, and that was my first "aha" moment as a songwriter, which was only last year.

When Charli and I did the session for "Von Dutch," she had sent me the track and was like, "I really want you to be on the remix of this song that I have coming out"... She prefaced what the song was about like, "Oh, it's kind of like to the haters and like 'you're just jealous.'" I was like, "Oh my God, I love this."

I told her, "I have a note [in my notes app with the lyric], 'You're sitting in your dad's basement, while I'm just doing me and following my dreams.'" I sent that to her and I was like, "How funny, this is kind of around that concept," and she was like, "Oh my gosh, we have to put that lyric in the song, like we have to keep it exactly the way you said it."

I was like, "Okay, perfect. I'm just gonna write down some other stuff and I'll send it to you and like let me know what you think," and I mindlessly wrote down a bunch of stuff that was inspiring to me, elaborating on that feeling of judgment from other people. It's such an old thing to say "when people are mean, they're just jealous," but I leaned into that…I sent [Charli] all of that and she was like, "Incredible, come to the session tomorrow and let's record the song."

I was so shocked to have Charli trust me so much with the lyrics that I was writing. It was really the first time that I felt confidence in myself as a songwriter, because obviously Charli is so incredibly talented and has been in this industry for so long. I['ve] started to lean on myself as a songwriter since that moment.

Some people might have the misconception that you suddenly discovered a passion for music recently. How long have you been wanting to pursue singing and songwriting, and what inspired you to fully pursue music? Was it that moment with Charli?

Because I grew up in competitive dance and [started dancing] at 6 years old, I think dance was always a really big motivation for me wanting to make music and to be a singer and an artist. When you dance to songs, you really get to learn a lot about music and musicality and rhythm, and I was always intrigued by the bigger picture of that and why I felt a certain way when I danced to songs, or why it made me want to move in a certain way. And since I was little, I loved to sing.

What I lean on in myself in my singing is being able to create some sort of world or energy or magic in vocal layering and harmonizing and really interesting ad-libs, and songwriting and melody being so strong that it's almost like this gravitational pull and makes you move… I love playing with different deliveries of lines, and I love pushing myself to explore new ranges that I have. I feel really confident in the way that I sound and the way that I sing, and I feel really confident in the imperfections in that as well.

It's been 4 years since your debut single. What have you learned about yourself as a singer or just about the music industry in the years since you released your debut single?

I learned that If you want something, you just have to keep working at it every single day. I love "Obsessed"... obviously my first single [is] always going to have a really special place in my heart. [But] at the time, I definitely had less confidence in myself as a songwriter, and I think I was a little bit more afraid of being vulnerable and raw.

I've learned that growth takes time and experience takes time. When "Obsessed" came out, a lot of people were like, "Why are you releasing music? You haven't struggled in music, you haven't put in the years that it takes to become an artist!" and I'm like, Well then, I'm gonna put in the years of the years of work!

So after "Obsessed" came out, I took a break from releasing music and I was in the studio all the time. I was writing and forcing myself to feel uncomfortable in writing alone, and then I slowly started eliminating elements of the room. [Meaning] I started off writing music in rooms of four people — it'd be me, two songwriters and a producer, and I think initially that felt like the right thing for me to do, to learn the ropes and to learn how people write. When I first came [to LA] I was like, I don't even know how to write songs in the right way. Or is there a right way?

Growing up, I always thought music was so magic and I could never understand the intricacies of going to a session and writing music with people. When I was little, I was like, Hannah Montana wrote it all and did it all, you know what I mean? As a kid, you don't think about the fact that there's a million moving pieces inside of a song.

There's so many different parts to it. Since you mentioned collaboration, you worked a lot with Luka and Elvira, and you've spoken a lot about your amazing creative team as well. What's most important to you when it comes to collaboration, and what sort of creatives do you like to surround yourself with?

I got really lucky meeting Luka and Elvira because we had such a quick spark of inspiration and passion and comfortability that I think is really hard to find, and I can't believe we found it so quickly. We made "Diet Pepsi" the same day that we had met each other and first worked together, so it was really this cosmic, beautiful, magical thing that is so unexplainable. It doesn't even make sense to us — we're like, How did we even get there?

But the entire album is [written by] just me, Luka, Elvira, with one additional girl that's [a co-writer] on "High Fashion." That is so rare in itself to have a room of women in a studio, creating something so freely, and [something so] feminine and deep and beautiful and magical, and [that's] such a reflection of womanhood and my experiences and their experiences combined. We really leaned on each other, and that came so naturally. My other creative relationships [are the same way].

I'm so lucky that I get to work with people that I consider my best friends… For me, it was making sure everybody I brought into the project felt really strongly about the music first, and then as a result, we really came together and created something that reflected the music. Obviously, like I said, I work with a team of artists that are artists on their own, and having them there to bounce ideas off of and brainstorm and really just make it as beautiful and multi-perspective as possible.

It makes me so happy that you're surrounded with so many amazing friends that share that similar passion.

I know, I really am lucky. It feels like we're in school and somehow found our group of people that just love creating things really passionately and intensely, [especially] every single person that is involved in the music videos.

The music videos are such a huge part for me; that was an essential component, creating music with a visual world and a visual language and dance incorporated into that, and being able to act in my videos and really put on a true performance in a lot of ways.

A really powerful relationship in my life is my relationship with a camera. And I think it's been very obvious that that's been a thing for a while. Since I started on TikTok, all of these things come together as a way that I can connect with a camera and really convey emotions through the screen. That is a tool that I love to use. It's a natural gift for me to be able to communicate through that, so the music being so close to my heart and me really opening up and sharing my feelings in a songwriting sense could really aid and be a companion to the visuals.

Speaking of your relationship with the camera, you don't post as much online as you used to — but at the same time, your album does share insight into your life. Was that intentional, like you wanted to let the album do the talking instead of your socials?

Yeah, definitely. Early on in my career, I had a bit of time where I was very open to sharing every detail of my life and putting myself on display, and I realized pretty quickly that although I was posting a lot and sharing a lot, I wasn't actually sharing my perspective or my feelings towards things in my life. The music became such a strong outlet for that because I could do it in a way that I felt comfortable and safe and protected, and allow it to connect with people in a way that wasn't so direct, maybe, but still very truthful.

I also was posting so much that didn't really say a lot, and I think the music says so much. I therefore don't think I need to be posting, you know, the intricacies and the ins and outs of everything. I do think the music should speak for itself.

In order to put the emphasis and the value on the music and the visuals that my team and I have so carefully crafted and put our hearts and passions into, I want to give that all the attention that I can because of how much hard work has gone into it. I don't need to distract from it.

When you first started getting followers in college, did it take you a while to adjust to the fame? How do you preserve your peace today? Is it through making music?

It's always a work in progress, preserving your peace. Growing up is an interesting experience, and sometimes I'm like, How do people do this? Like, how do people navigate life? I have no idea.

But yeah, music has been such a safe space for me, and so I've gone into the studio with an open heart and an open mind… it's almost like therapy in those moments to be able to really express yourself in ways that you feel comfortable in. Music was always an escape for me and such a comfort space. I really lean on music to give myself that peace and expression, and to feel like I'm working through things slowly but surely.

What are some of the most special moments for you since you've officially launched your music career?

Obviously performing with Charli was such an eye-opening experience. My first ever time performing was with Charli, and so was my second time performing. Having someone like her to show me how much hard work and dedication and being true to yourself pays off has been incredible. I really appreciate everyone that I collaborate with because they are so open and willing to hear me spill out all my wildest dreams, and they are willing to and excited to be a part of making those things happen.

What are your biggest goals for your music career, and what are you manifesting for 2025?

I'm a big believer in manifestation and speaking things into existence, and I think I've done that throughout my whole career this far.

I'm hoping that I will get to do a lot more live performances and my interpretation of my music for people in-person, and I'm hoping that the album is received really well. For me, it's less about the way that it performs number-wise or on the charts — it's really about people connecting with it, and being open to receive the music and feel it for what it is, which is a reflection of my life experiences and my heart, and growing up and understanding this crazy world a little bit more every day.

I hope I get to spend a lot more time with the people that I create with and love. That's kind of my goal for 2025, to continue growing as an artist. This is my first album, and I think there's a lot of high expectations for me, which I really appreciate and love because I do think that it helps me to push myself for greatness.

But I also do have understanding of the fact that it is my first album, so I try not to put too much pressure on myself. I'm growing as an artist and I'm developing every single day… so I'm giving myself grace and time.

From the outside looking in, it would seem like the past seven years have been the best of Jon Bellion's life. Along with co-writing/producing hits by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Jungkook, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, and Selena Gomez — and earning four GRAMMY nominations for his work with Jon Batiste, Justin Bieber, and Lizzo — he became a father to three boys. But it was also the singer/songwriter/producer's most treacherous stretch.

Since releasing his last album, Glory Sound Prep, in November 2018, Bellion has been fighting to buy himself out of his Live Nation contract and reclaim his masters. For a time, he relinquished any hope of resuming his solo career and even considered walking away from music altogether.

Bellion founded Beautiful Minds Records and Beautiful Minds Publishing in 2019, from which he and his peers dispatched some of the hottest records of the past several years, but he didn't finalize owning his masters until 2024. Even after winning his legal battle, he warred internally over putting out solo music again. Ultimately, he realized he had experienced a luxury most artists in his position don't have time to experience: Normal life.

"Nobody walks away for six years and then comes back and says, 'This is what I've learned in six years of being away from the machine,'" Bellion tells GRAMMY.com. "To walk away for six years, develop myself as a person, and then come back? People don't get that opportunity. Ever! It almost provides this cheat code perspective because I've seen the tops of the mountaintops. I've seen the worried king on the throne. I've seen his anxiety, and I dodged that bullet."

So, his first move after gaining control over his artistry was self-funding Father Figure, his third solo LP out now.

Father Figure captures Bellion in his rawest form. It's still packed with his genre-defying, fantastical production style, but this time, the beat pad is secondary to his voice. Bellion has always penned exceptionally human lyricism, and after having his world blown wide open, his vulnerability crescendos with his most biographical music yet. He lets his story guide him across 14 tracks — and piercing, tangible emotion is the album's sweetest sound.

"WASH" has layers and loops galore, but at its core, it's just a man singing about how overwhelmed he is by his wife's beauty. "GET IT RIGHT" and "ITALIA BREEZE" reinforce that Bellion's bag of bars is as deep as anyone's, while "HOROSCOPE" (with Pharrell Williams) is primarily a piano ballad. The Luke Combs-featuring "WHY," which was written two days before his first son's birth, is fueled by Bellion's soaring vocals about his fear of loving someone so much it could destroy him.

The title track comes from a deep longing to carry forward his father's legacy in the face of the lies society spits about what it means to be a man. The album's beautiful, organized chaos ends on the hushed tone of "MY BOY," a stripped-back confessional about wishing to protect a young boy's purity from a world designed to steal it. Collectively, Father Figure is equal parts personal triumph and family heirloom — a promise to raise his sons with the same devotion as those who raised him.

"I got nervous, being like, well, it's not young, sexy, and it's not particularly exciting to talk about your children," Bellion says. "Then, I was like, but I have to be me. Only I can be who I am, so I might as well go down that path.

"It has been refreshing and definitely therapeutic for me to make an album that solely reflects my life and where I'm at," he continues, "because, hopefully, other guys, other parents, or other people that are just trying to do the best that they can in their everyday life, this album could be a shot of espresso for them."

Below, in his own words, Bellion shared the primary inspirations behind Father Figure, including fatherhood, an old photo of his parents, and a dinner with Pharrell.

Becoming A Father

I've done trauma work around early trauma that happened to me, and there are things that my parents just could not have prevented. So, my first son coming into the world — it's my job to protect. It's my job to provide. And then, this thought creeps in, like, Well, there are certain things you can't protect him from. I was like, uh oh! I have to prepare him emotionally to handle those things, not protect him from those things. How do I even do that?

He's your first son coming into the world. You should be a happy dad who's not scared of anything. You shouldn't feel these things. Then, I felt shame. So, I was like, let me address it in song and expose that fear at the highest level. When people hear "WHY," my first song talking about my kids directly, it's like, What if you break my heart? What if you get hurt?

Maybe a song about that could help a lot of people in relationships, not just guys who are having sons, just people who are like, what do you do with love if it makes you vulnerable?

I like that the song doesn't give you an answer. "If the higher I fly is the further I fall/ Then why love anything at all?" I think coming from the place of I don't have an answer will make people relate to it more, rather than trying to preach at 'em. I have my own answers, but I'd rather pose the question to start the conversation.

My kids have listened to this album a ton. They sing the songs in the car. They're in the backseat saying, "Put on 'HOROSCOPE'! 'Read you like a horoscope, read you like a horoscope!' 'What happened to your light, what happened to your light?' [from 'KID AGAIN']"

I think these are formative memories for them. My dad was a writer. My dad was a producer, and he used to play his songs in the minivan on the way to the trampoline park. I'm happy that they've gotten to do this alongside me and visit me in the studio twice a day. I say to my son, "What do you think about this?" He's 2, and he's learning to close his eyes and listen to music. It's a blessing that my music is the soundtrack to their musical development. I hope they look back on this album and see my heart through them.

His Wife

My wife has known me since I was 15 years old. We dated for five and a half years, and then took a long break. Years ago, we got back together, and she told me one day, "You're going to have to choose the music over me, and I won't resent you for that." I was like, "What do you even mean?" She has always known me on a level that I don't know myself. And I think she always believed in the figure of a father, the figure of a husband, or the figure of a person that I don't even believe myself to be.

She was there the day I said, "I think I want to start making beats for a living." I was 17 years old. She was in the room. There's a line in "GET IT RIGHT": "I remember I was 15/ Your sister said I was good, but I'd never be Swizz Beatz," and her sister says, "You'll never be Swizz Beatz" [on the song]. That's my wife. She's been around for a long time.

Creatives have an engine, and you can go 120 miles an hour in that engine. I've been blessed to be able to go 120, but I recognize that going 120 all the time is dangerous. As creatives, we can tether ourselves to the galaxy of touching that lightning bolt every day and trying to go and grab creative things that you can't schedule, and it could drive you crazy. She's the only reason I haven't fallen into madness.

She is my anchor to reality. Not in a codependent type of way, but she's so reliable and constant. My greatest achievement is her loving me, honestly.

His Parents

No matter how far we advance in technology — I personally think we're all, myself included, getting dumber — kids will always be the same age that they are in reality. You'll never have this advancement where young kids will evolve to think at 7 years old, My parents clearly love me, they're clearly giving me good advice, and I'm clearly going to listen to that. There is always this arc of resenting them. When I had kids, I realized I should have listened to my parents all the time. They might be the only people in the world who would've laid down their lives for me.

You can't experience that type of love until you look in the face of your child. When I saw my son for the first time, my whole life clicked. I saw my grandfather, my dad and my brother all in his face. It was really, really nuts. I can confirm how much they loved me because I now can confirm how much my sons just break my heart. I love those guys.

The [photo of my parents] on the album cover shows the figure of my dad in the chair, the figure of my mom and her position on his leg, and the plastic on the couch. It's so Italian. The lamp, the design of the lamp, and the angels on the lamp are so Italian. The rug is so Italian. That is reality. That's the closest thing we have to reality.

That, to me, felt like the exact opposite of the animated covers of Glory Sound Prep or the cover of The Human Condition, which was like, Come with me to this place! Now, at 33, it's like, these are my fears. This is my trauma. This is my family. This is who I am, and I can't escape. There's no escapism in this.

If you took a picture of me now in sitting in a chair and my wife in that position, you might think that there's something deeper behind it, but when you see what it was back then and you see the type of the picture that they took as an official picture because they didn't take pictures all the time, you can see so much culture.

Now, we're taking 7,000 pictures a day, and we don't even know what we're trying to represent. We don't even know who we are. I feel like you look at those two people in that photo, and they were representative of something that I'm longing for as a father now.

His "Sensei"

Pharrell literally raised me musically. That's the actual sensei. That's one of the greatest ever living producers breathing air. I love that man. It means so much that he's on that intro ["HOROSCOPE"]. That's my homage to him. I wear it as a badge of honor that he's on the album.

We went out to dinner one night, and I sat next to him at this long table. He turned to me. He was like, "Chris Martin. Linkin Park." He just started naming stuff. He's like, "I haven't heard something like that that has made me feel like this is large, and I feel included until you played me your album. This is very important. Keep doubling down on it." He's like, "I'm telling you, this is something that's supposed to happen in music right now."

You don't want to put too much gravitas on a human. We're all human. But to hear your sensei say that he believes in what you're doing and it's affecting him, that's a whole other thing.

His Italian Heritage

When people hear "ITALIA BREEZE," they're going to be kind of disoriented. Culturally, people might be mildly confused, which I'm really excited about.

In my younger years on Long Island, Rakim and Erick Sermon were kind of the only guys who really made it, besides Billy Joel. And Billy Joel was the Long Island guy. So, in my early teens, you look at culture on the world level, and you're like my grandparents — that's my culture. That's my heritage. My uncles talk that way because they talk that way. There's nothing special about that.

As you get older, you think back on these memories, the culture that you grew up on, the structure that provided you, and the jokes — Italians have so much culture. I was like, You know what? Instead of trying to assimilate to another culture to get 15-year-olds to think I'm cool, let me show you something that you can't do. You weren't born into it from my angle.

I don't need to be the representative. I'm not the Italian president. I just don't hear a lot of forefronted cultural attempts rooted in real Italian culture. It's always this caricature. It's a joke about a meatball.

There's something powerful about me being like, "They called us guineas for rockin' pinnies I rock 'em nightly" [in "ITALIA BREEZE"]. They called me a guinea when I was a kid. I'm wearing a tee right now! Now, I rock 'em to sleep because it's a return to my ancestors and my grandparents who raised me and got me to this level. I want to pay such a deep homage to that on a competitive rap level.

American Society

Originally, "MODERN TIMES" was directed toward the album I was working on for Jon Batiste. He went through the track listing, and it ended up just not fitting the World Music Radio world. I was like, man, that might have been my favorite one. That was actually my favorite bridge he did on the entire album: "Everything blaring on my radio, on screen/ Make me wanna go, 'Ahhhhh!'"

As I was writing it and doing the melodies, I was putting my children to bed, and lightning struck, and it hit me, like, Oh, is that Russia? Is that China? And then, I was like, Yo, this is what it's like in my brain to think about America.

There's this weird anxiety that I feel about America. It's not Republican or Democrat. It's just like, What the f— is going on? I can't even go to Starbucks without wondering if this person leans on a side that would make them hate me for the things that I think, and I'm just getting a f—ing macchiato.

If you want to jump into my brain when I think about America and the anxiety I feel, go listen to "MODERN TIMES." That's why I love the song. It feels like anxiety by the end of the song. Jon is screaming "America," and he just keeps repeating it and repeating it and repeating it. By the end, it's like, no, it's not okay. What do you think about it? Say something. The song reflects that energy of trying to at least get people to wake up to feel something, without saying I'm a Democrat or I'm a Republican. It's more just that I feel anxiety about this country, and I don't even know where to go or who to talk to about it.

A Wide Range Of Collaborators

Funny enough, "GET IT RIGHT" has five features. We listed the features on it, and it looked crazy, so we thought it might be fun for the fans to discover, like, I think that's Teddy [Swims]! We're not focused on streams or using names to get something.

Pharrell, Luke Combs, Jon [Batiste], and Teddy being on the record speaks to what I'm trying to accomplish musically, which is swinging for the fences. The features, all people in many, many different directions, are representative of that. Those directions are representative of me and how I was raised musically. So, deep down, that's probably why I wanted to have two opposite ends of the spectrum. Would you see Pharrell on the same album as Luke Combs? And Mo Mozzarella on the intro of "GET IT RIGHT"? No, but that's me. And you can't escape being yourself.

Reclaiming His Solo Artistry

There's a dichotomy that I'm stuck in: I live in Long Island and go to people's barbecues and talk about fantasy football. Then, I'm executive producing Jon Batiste's record in my basement, and it's up for Record Of The Year. That's me as a father.

I'm still trying to figure this out. I mean, I'm not normal, but I want to be normal. I want to provide something normal for my kids, but my kids need to be able to face things with adversity that are extreme. Do I shrink myself? Do I double down and make myself larger? That's the album.

That's a perspective that I don't think a lot of people have, and it's honestly been super lonely making this. The people you're in the industry with — the people you're in service of — are not writing about what you're writing about.

What's the utility of the song? What's the purpose behind it? That's all I've been obsessed with lately. A lot of earlier stuff I made was a lot of escapism, and there were animated photos and animated single arts, and I just felt it was a necessary moment for me to come back with a harsh reality of an album. Still grand, still large in sonic scope, and things that people expect from me, but have this kind of blunt force reality.

It's not as manic. It's not as fantastical. It's not as cartoonish. It's more settled and ready for a larger storm, not just blown over creatively. Let's go into that storm, and let's create within that storm.

I'm most excited about being reintroduced as, like, oh, he's still challenging his fan base. He's still growing in a direction. But now, it's on a totally different maturation level. A lot of artists don't grow because they're constantly putting out content. So, to hear this snapshot of Glory Sound Prep and then fast forward six years to whoever that guy is, well, whoever that guy is is the most me I think I've ever been — for better or for worse.