INDIANAPOLIS — WWE is defined by eras. From the Attitude Era on the men’s side to the Diva’s Revolution on the women’s side, the pivotal moments that make up each era is woven across the storylines that dominate television.
Over the last five years, the Bloodline’s story has transcended an individual storyline or moment in time. Rather, it has evolved and carried momentum as members of the family — both by birth and chosen (looking at you, Sami Zayn) — break off into their own respective journeys. From a thousand-foot view, the Bloodline’s impact can be felt far and wide across the men’s division, retaining either the focal point or at the very least playing a significant role in many stories simultaneously.
This era — the Bloodline Era — isn’t built around one individual, rather a collective of stories that evolve over time.
“I’m not here to try to claim or name whatever this timeframe is,” Reigns told media at a WWE 2K event on Saturday, when asked if this is the Bloodline Era of WWE.
“That’s the beauty of where we are with the internet and the connectivity and the community aspect of our fanbase. So it’s kind of on you all to determine that. But I don’t think you can go wrong with saying it’s the Bloodline Era, the Tribal Chief Era. We are the center of the storm, we make everything happen. All roads run through us, even Cody Rhodes.”
Reigns is correct, almost everything in the current men’s WWE universe runs through the Bloodline. For the last five years, Reigns has been the root of the Bloodline universe. He’s been the quarterback, directing his family to do business on his behalf or to help him continue his historic Universal Championship reign. The conclusion of WrestleMania 40 signaled the conclusion of what is likely the first chapter, the end of the first inning in a story that has legs to carry onward.
Before the Men’s Royal Rumble match took center stage over the weekend, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens battled to a bloody conclusion in a brutal ladder match built around a broken down friendship stemming from Rhodes aligning with Reigns. Zayn is now inserted into that rivalry, with ties to all parties.
The end of the men’s Rumble was riddled with branches of the Bloodline story flowing in different directions. CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Reigns, Jacob Fatu, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, LA Knight, and Damian Priest all have played varying roles in moving the story forward. Absent Logan Paul, the entire conclusion of the Rumble sets the stage for new chapters to be written.
There’s no bigger next chapter than “WrestleMania Main Event” Jey Uso, a star born near the beginning of this Bloodline journey, who has an opportunity to transcend into the true main event level after winning the Royal Rumble. He has massive potential, is a crossover mega star paired with some of entertainment’s biggest names and gets huge reactions.
The road to WrestleMania has officially begun and Jey has a decision to make on his path forward. Whether he crosses into Rhodes’ territory, reignites a feud with Gunther, or his path to heavyweight gold takes yet another twist in the winding journey to Allegiant Stadium, all roads run through the Bloodline.
Yesterday (February 2), music’s biggest night went off without a hitch. While the 2025 Grammy Awards were filled with record-breaking wins (Beyoncé, Doechii, and Kendrick Lamar) and stellar performances (Doechii and Sabrina Carpenter), there is one moment that has left viewers talking–and it isn’t related to the broadcast.
Before the event’s start, Kanye West (Ye) and his wife, designer Bianca Censori made a splash on the red carpet. The couple’s signature minimalist (less is more) fashion trend continued. This go around Censori let it all hang out (literally) with a NSFW sheer dress. However, the pair never made it inside of Crypto.com Arena. Now, Ye is addressing the rumor he and Censori were escorted out due to Censori’s risqué outfit.
Over on Instagram in a now-deleted post (captured by TMZ), Ye slammed Don Lemon for supposedly starting the rumor. “This the goofball that started the rumor that me and my wife got kicked out of the Grammys,” he wrote. “Three decades of innovating music and they always k*on like this.”
Lemon wasn’t the only entity to make the claim. In a now-deleted post, ET also echoed the same sentiment. At this time, Don Lemon has not responded to Ye’s online statement.
Those moves sent shockwaves around the league, and with just a few days left until Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline, there are a ton of storylines left to play out. Here, we are going to look at 10 that are particularly interesting to me going into the deadline as the league still tries to get its bearings after this weekend’s seismic activity.
Will the Warriors get their second star?
The Warriors pursuit of another All-Star to pair with Stephen Curry has been going on for the better part of a year. They’ve been connected to talks about LeBron James, Paul George, Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine, Jimmy Butler, and others dating back to last deadline, but to this point they’ve not pulled the trigger on a deal. They have, to this point, been unwilling to part with their top young talent or multiple picks in a trade, but after the Lakers landed Doncic it seems there’s an added impetus in the Golden State building to make a splash of their own. On Monday, we heard that they’ve called around the league trying to gauge the availability of just about every All-Star caliber player.
Among the names thrown out as potential Warriors targets are Butler, George, James, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and old friend Kevin Durant. Some of those feel more realistic than others, but if there’s one thing that will push an owner who has been on the fence about going all-in to make a move, it’s seeing their rivals dominating headlines with the most shocking trade in NBA history. For that reason more than anything on the court, I expect the Warriors to get a deal done, I just have no idea who it’ll be for — and right now it seems no one else is sure either.
Who is going to trade for Jimmy Butler?
Butler still wants the Suns, but they can’t make a trade for him because Bradley Beal is still indicating he’s not waiving his no-trade clause. In the absence of a more shocking move (more on that in a bit), there’s no path for Phoenix to get Butler. The Warriors, Grizzlies, and Bucks have all registered documented interest in Butler despite his insistence he won’t re-sign with any of them — and outright statement he doesn’t want to play in Memphis at all — but it’s not clear if any of those conversations have come close to a resolution. At this point, I don’t see Butler yielding a much better return than what the Bulls got for Zach LaVine, which was mostly expiring salary filler and their own pick (that was top-10 protected) returned to them. That means a lot of teams, theoretically, could be in play for him on a one-year rental. His expiring contract won’t scare off teams if the price to get him isn’t very high, and if anything, some will see it as a way to clear the books for the immediate future while making a push right now.
Will the Spurs add another big name now or wait until this summer?
The Spurs trading for Fox indicated they’re ready to take a leap into playoff contention in the West, but they still need more between Fox and Wembanyama to be a real threat. The good news is, they didn’t have to trade any of their best assets to land Fox, and still have all of their major contracts and a ton of draft picks to still go after some upgrades. I think they’ll want to see how Fox and Wemby look before chasing another max-type superstar, but they have enough financial flexibility and a large enough draft stash that they could take a swing on someone like Nets forward Cam Johnson this week and still be able to keep their options open for a star in the near future.
Are the Suns going to do something dramatic?
If Beal won’t waive his no-trade, the Suns don’t have an obvious path to making a big move. But at 25-23 with a hysterical tax bill on the horizon, they may consider taking note of what Dallas just did and look at resetting a bit, while still trying to compete. I think everyone around the league took note of the Mavs fan backlash to the Doncic trade, and for that reason I do not think the Suns will even consider moving Devin Booker right now. However, Kevin Durant is still highly valuable and could yield a big return that could create some needed flexibility for the Suns if they wanted to pursue that.
How big will the Lakers swing to fill the hole at center?
Everyone in L.A. is still processing the Doncic-Davis trade, but one thing is certain: the Lakers have to add a center by Thursday. Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko just isn’t gonna get it done in the West, and they figure to be very active over the next few days canvassing the league to see what the cost is for various bigs on the market. The question is whether they look to take a big swing or if they’ll just simply look to find a replacement level center who can protect the rim behind a dynamic duo of Doncic and James. The good news for the Lakers is there seem to be plenty of centers out there on the market, whether that’s Jonas Valanciunas, Clint Capela, Nikola Vucevic, Robert Williams III, Mitchell Robinson, Nic Claxton, or someone else. The problem for the Lakers right now is they likely aren’t going to get anyone at a discount, as the entire league knows they’re desperate for a big man, so while they seemingly got a deal on Doncic, they may have to pay a premium for a big man.
Will anyone in the East make a big move?
Most all of the chatter right now is about the teams out West, and that’s not surprising when you look at the makeup of the Eastern Conference. The Cavs are playing at an insane level and want to give this group at least one more postseason run together. The Celtics, even with their recent rough patch, are the defending champs and figure to give this group a chance at running it back in hopes they’ll wake up once it’s playoff time. The Knicks made their big trade just before camp in acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns and don’t really have a way to make another splashy move.
That means any major move is going to need to come from a team in the middle. However, there aren’t a lot of options there either. Indiana made their big move last year to acquire Pascal Siakam and it’s hard to see where they’d make another splash. The Bucks pop up in a lot of rumors, but are extremely restricted with the second apron and it seems more likely they make a move for a starter but not a star (but they are still apparently in the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes). The Heat, Hawks, and Bulls are all going to be sellers, not buyers, at the deadline barring something truly shocking. The Sixers are also in second apron hell, and it’s not clear what a big move for them would even look like at this point unless it’s swapping out Paul George for Jimmy Butler (or something of the sort).
That leaves, basically, the Pistons and the Magic as teams that could make a real run at someone, but neither team has indicated they’re in the mood to skip steps in their build. Perhaps that changes if the right guy becomes available in the next few days, but it certainly seems like most of the activity this week is going to be West teams buying and East teams selling or making moves on the margins.
How much pressure will other West playoff contenders feel to be more aggressive?
There are a handful of teams that have been relatively absent from the chatter coming into deadline week, but after the moves made by the Lakers, Mavs, and Spurs — and with the Warriors signaling they’re going to at least try to make a big deal — I wonder if we see anything major from anyone else in the West that hasn’t yet been brought up.
The Thunder may be the only team that will feel truly unaffected by the Doncic deal, as they seem very secure in their position atop the West and, like the Cavs in the East, will want to see what this version of the team can do come playoff time. The Rockets had, by all accounts, decided they would do the same, but if, say, Kevin Durant is now no longer an impossibility, will they look to make a splash? The Grizzlies are known to be interested in Jimmy Butler despite him not wanting to be there, but perhaps they expand their search for a star wing in the coming days. There was scuttle awhile back about the Nuggets having interest in Zach LaVine, who is now in Sacramento, but could they explore other avenues to shake things up and move Michael Porter Jr.? The Clippers made a small move on the margin in a trade with the Jazz, but Steve Ballmer might see the crosstown rival Lakers dominating headlines and at least take a look at what their options are. Apron restrictions make it tough for the Timberwolves to do much, but there has to be real concern teams behind them (Spurs/Mavs/Warriors) in the standings are going to close the gap.
No one can think about their position in the standings quite the same way they did last Friday, and we’ll see if this weekend’s blockbusters trigger an arm’s race out West.
Will the Mavs look to shuffle their supporting cast?
Dallas may not be done dealing. As my colleague Bill DiFilippo pointed out this week, the Mavs have built their roster to maximize Luka Doncic’s skills — largely with non-playmaking 3-and-D floor-spacers on the wings. While Kyrie Irving will take on a larger playmaking role, they’re now without a lot of on-ball talent and one wonders if they’ll look to address that in the next few days to reshape the roster in accordance to what their new star duo of Irving and Davis do best.
How much more will the Bulls look to sell?
The Bulls finally began their teardown with the LaVine trade, as they brought back mostly filler — with the hope that Kevin Huerter can regain his form and become A Guy again — and recouped their first round pick from San Antonio. You don’t make a move to get secure your own pick (even if it was top-10 protected) without wanting to maximize that pick, and we’ll see what else Chicago has planned. Nikola Vucevic seems like a lock to get moved, but teams will at least call and ask about some others on the roster. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are both having very solid years, and while neither of them are old, if the Bulls could decide they’d rather strip it down all the way and load up their draft pick cupboard, those two are your best bet to get real assets back.
Are the Pelicans going to tear it down?
Speaking of teardowns, the Pelicans have had the season from hell on the injury front, most recently seeing Dejounte Murray’s year come to a premature end with a torn Achilles. Last year, the Grizzlies held firm on their group in a similar disaster scenario and have bounced back to be a top team in the West, but they also were starting from a much loftier position. This Pelicans team has never finished above the Play-In as constructed, so is it really worth wandering through a lost season in hopes of running it back next year? Brandon Ingram remains very available, but at this point they have to be considering getting out of the Zion Williamson business as well — especially after seeing the Mavs set a little precedent on moving a star, with a far better resume, due in part to conditioning concerns. CJ McCollum joked about having his bags packed after the Doncic trade, but if the Pelicans are shifting their focus forward, he certainly isn’t a long-term solution in New Orleans and maybe a team like Orlando would look at him as a mid-tier upgrade that wouldn’t require an all-in move.
So far in 2025, the top of the Billboard Hot 100 has been dominated by songs from before the current year. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was the year’s first No. 1 song, and then Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ 2024 collab “Die With A Smile” spent the next four weeks on top.
The song is Scott’s fifth to top the chart and his fourth to debut at No. 1. His previous No. 1’s are “Franchise,” “The Scotts,” “Highest In The Room,” and “Sicko Mode” (the one here that didn’t debut at No. 1).
Meanwhile, Shaboozey is making a bit of history on this week’s chart. While “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has so far fallen short of breaking the all-time record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, it is No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart for a 27th week. This breaks a tie with The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” and makes it now the longest-running No. 1 in the history of the radio chart. The song also leads the Hot Country Songs chart for a 33rd week.
A number of hip-hop icons have come under fire recently for changing their tune about Donald Trump, including Snoop Dogg and Nelly. The two superstars performed at the would-be dictator’s inauguration, backtracking on past comments condemning his racist comments and policies.
Now, they are being taken to task by their peers in the music industry, with Janelle Monáe specifically calling out Nelly in a post-Grammys freestyle. When she was given the beat to Nelly’s 2002 hit “Hot In Herre” to rap over, she obliged, but used the opportunity to criticize the St. Louis native for selling out.
“F*ck you, Nelly!” she yelled as the band played. “I care about women. I care about Hispanics. I care about Spanish people. I care about Mexicans. I care about trans people. I care about gay people. F*ck you, Nelly, you sold out. I used to think you was cool / But now you look like a motherf*cking fool / Going to the inauguration to participate with some n**** who give a f*ck about how you feelin’ / I don’t what you really sayin’ / I might be a little tipsy, but I know everything I’m motherf*cking sayin’ / If you think I’m rude / F*ck you n****, get a new attitude!”
Janelle Monáe, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns in addition to she/her, has long been an outspoken voice for queer identity and rights. Meanwhile, within his first week in office, Trump issued dozens of executive orders aimed at invalidating those rights, and anyone who didn’t sleep through fourth grade history can see where this is all headed. So, it’s no wonder that so many people from marginalized communities are incensed with Nelly and Snoop for cozying up to a wannabe tyrant instead of standing in solidarity against him (they should check those history books if they want to see how well that usually works out).
“Really, where it all started was on the back of a napkin…”
How do you build an empire from the back of a napkin? Simon Ford can tell you all about it. What began as a crazy idea to create the ultimate cocktail gin exploded into an award-winning product that quickly took the world by storm. Fords Gin’s versatile and viscous flagship gin has been a hit from day one – now they’ve released an LP of curated hits.
The kind you can enjoy while sipping your favorite bartender’s favorite cocktail.
Thanks to a powerhouse partnership between Simon Ford, brand-builder Kevin Dowell, and legendary record producer Dan The Automator, the idea of London Dry Records was formed. With renewed fervor for record-collecting coming at the same time as the rise in at-home bartending, London Dry Records sprung to life at the perfect time to unite two timeless passions.
“We were looking at the creative process of making food, making drinks, and making music,” Ford tells Uproxx.
“Transitioning that energy into a product and piece of art that could stand the test of time and be shared widely was the obvious next step,” Dowell adds.
The first release from Fords Gin was the long-awaited return of Handsome Boy Modeling School, who ended a nearly 20-year hiatus to create Music To Drink Martinis To.
Fords Gin
How do you follow up on such a groundbreaking first trick? By graduating from the world’s most classic cocktail to its most sophisticated. Thus, The Negroni Sessions was born.
Dowell says the group wanted to blend elegant and eclectic recipes with a soundscape that would bring that beauty to life.
“How great would it be to have a record with no skips? That from start to finish is just Negroni drinking music.”
This brand-new curated playlist features everything from funky and refined Latin jazz tracks to urbane and upbeat French pop electronica, offering up a 9-track journey paired with carefully selected cocktail recipes from some of the world’s leading bartenders.
If a famed contemporary director were to recreate a classic vintage Italian film, Ford wonders, “What would the soundtrack be?”
Armed with that creative brief, he and Dowell partnered with Jazz Dispensary (who they describe as “music aficionados at the highest level”) to come up with the selected soundtrack before enlisting Dan The Automator to put the final touches on it. An original remix of “Everything Counts” by Dan the Automator serves as the record’s pièce de resistance.
Each song is meant to perfectly set the tone for each specialty Negroni. By capturing the world-wise vibe of the surprisingly simple cocktail (made with three equal parts of gin, Italian bitters, and sweet vermouth with an orange peel garnish), Fords Gin is offering its fans a multi-sensory experience that works just as well at home as it does in the belly of your favorite bar.
Perusing the recipes that accompany each track, you’ll notice a mix of approachable and elevated cocktails. Ford urges fans to engage with each unique drink and try making them yourself, reminding us, “when all else fails, it’s hard to make a bad Negroni.” Nestled among the list of classics, riffs, and original creations is a show-stopping green Negroni, made with MidoriTM liqueur, that doubles as both a delicious drink and the perfect visual pairing for the vinyl’s mid-century inspired artwork.
Fords Gin
As part of The Negroni Sessions, in addition to a bottle bundle exclusively available on ReserveBar.com. Fords Gin will host listening parties across the U.S. to bring the immersive experiment to life. The worlds of drinks and music both orbit the idea of enjoying oneself, so crafting a series of casual but cosmopolitan soirées stood out as a key piece of The Negroni Sessions equation.
For the launch event in New York, Fords Gin brought out the legendary DJ Stretch Armstrong to punch up the vibes. The event also served as a showcase for some of the bartenders who created cocktail recipes for The Negroni Sessions vinyl. Naturally, that piece was vital to Fords Gin, who have always kept their appreciation of bartenders and the service industry at the heart of their brand’s initiatives.
According to Ford, “We designed our liquid with bartenders along with the expertise of one of the most celebrated gin distillers in the world, so we felt that we should (remember) that with everything else we do.”
If you missed out on the NYC launch event, keep an eye out for additional soon-to-be-announced Negroni Sessions in other cities. For the full at-home experience, the bottle bundle can be found exclusively on ReserveBar.com.
On Sunday, Chappell Roan won her first (hopefully of many) Grammy. It’s something she had been manifesting for over a decade.
A resurfaced video from 2012 shared by X user @m1dwestprincess shows 14-year-old Kayleigh Rose Amstutz — the future “your favorite artist’s favorite artist” — accepting a novelty-sized check for $1,012 after winning the Springfield’s Got Talent show in Springfield, Missouri. When asked by a judge about her future plans, she replied, “I want to win a Grammy. So, that’s my goal and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it.”
Roan doesn’t need good luck (babe). She did the damn thing.
The “Pink Pony Club” singer used her Best New Artist acceptance speech to demand better treatment for artists from record labels. “I told myself if I ever won a Grammy, and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage in healthcare, especially to developing artists,” she said. Roan went on to say that “record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
You can watch the full pre-fame Chappell Roan video here.
For a while, there was a bit of mystery about what Julien Baker and Torres were up to together. Now, we’ve hit official announcement season. A few days ago, they announced Send A Prayer My Way, their debut collaborative album. Now, today (February 3), they’ve announced a joint tour in support of the project.
The shows run from the end of April to mid-May and the shows are primarily in the southern US. Tickets go on sale starting February 7 at 10 a.m. local time, here.
Check out the full list of tour dates below.
Julien Baker & Torres’ 2025 Tour Dates: Send A Prayer My Way
03/27-30 — Big Ears Festival @ Knoxville, TN *
04/03 — Mission Creek Festival @ Iowa City, IA *
04/23 — The National @ Richmond, VA
04/24 — The Orange Peel @ Asheville, NC
04/25 — Haw River Ballroom @ Saxapahaw, NC
04/26 — High Water Music Festival @ North Charleston, SC*
04/28 — Georgia Theatre @ Athens, GA
04/29 — The Lyric Oxford @ Oxford, MS
04/30 — Iron City @ Birmingham, AL
05/01 — Tipitina’s @ New Orleans, LA
05/04 — Stable Hall @ San Antonio, TX
05/05 — The Heights Theater @ Houston, TX
05/06 — Longhorn Ballroom @ Dallas, TX
05/07 — Tower Theatre @ Oklahoma City, OK
05/09 — Cain’s Ballroom @ Tulsa, OK
05/10 — Liberty Hall @ Lawrence, KS
05/11 — First Avenue @ Minneapolis, MN
05/12 — The Admiral @ Omaha, NE
05/16 — Kilby Block Party @ Salt Lake City, UT *
06/20 — Green River Festival @ Greenfield, MA *
06/21 — Mountain Jam @ Highmount, NY *
07/04-05 — Zootown Music Festival @ Missoula, MT *
07/25-27 — Newport Folk Festival @ Newport, RI *
Send A Prayer My Way is out 4/18 via Matador Records. Find more information here.
Those moves, and particularly the Doncic-Davis trade, have the rest of the league buzzing and have some teams trying desperately to keep up with the NBA’s changing landscape, especially out in the West. Among the teams scrambling to remain relevant are the Golden State Warriors, who just saw their rival Lakers figure out the transition from an aging all-time great by landing a top-5 player as he’s entering his prime. That’s a journey the Warriors have been rather famously trying and failing to navigate for the past few years, as the two timelines approach has not yielded the intended result of finding their next franchise cornerstone.
With Stephen Curry still playing at an All-Star level, the Warriors are now apparently desperate to find a star to pair him with. As for which star the Warriors are pursuing, the answer is simply: Yes. Jake Fischer dropped a report for The Stein Line newsletter on Monday about the Warriors not only still being in on Jimmy Butler talks, but that they are also chasing a reunion with Kevin Durant — and a pie in the sky dream of bringing both Durant and LeBron James to the Bay.
The path to Durant alone does seem plausible. Phoenix, entering Monday’s business, continued to signal that it does not plan to move Durant before the deadline, sources said, but the Suns are believed to be listening at the very least to various teams’ pitches for the 35-year-old scoring legend. Durant, meanwhile, is said to be aware of all this.
Shams Charania then followed that up with a hit on the Pat McAfee show where he confirmed they’ve called about Durant and noted they’ve also put in calls for just about every single star in the league.
“The Warriors are legitimately calling about every All-Star player,” Charania said. “Just name the All-Star player, the Warriors have probably called on them. Paul George? They have called on him. They made calls on every star, that of course includes players like LeBron, players like Kevin Durant, players like Jimmy Butler. They are making calls, they are dead set on trying to find another superstar player with Stephen Curry.”
They were in on talks about a Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic package with the Bulls before LaVine got shipped to Sacramento. They’ve apparently discussed pursuits of Zion Williamson or Brandon Ingram of the Pelicans. If there’s a big name to be had, the Warriors are calling about them.
And yet, we’ll have to wait and see if they are truly as motivated to get a star as they’re letting on. They have the ammunition to make a strong offer on most any star, but they’d have to be willing to part with Jonathan Kuminga and future picks to make that happen. We’ll see if that’s finally the case after not being willing to do so this summer in their pursuit of guys like Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, but if the deadline comes and goes and their biggest acquisition is, say, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Warriors fans will not be happy.
One of the most exhilarating performances at the 2025 Grammy Awards came courtesy of Doechii. The Best Rap Album winner’s set began with “Catfish,” a booming track from her Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape, before a costume change led into Hot 100-charting single “Denial Is A River.” If the Swamp Princess wasn’t already a superstar, she is now.
Doechii and creative director C. Prinz worked with Los Angeles-based design studio See You Later to bring the captivating vision for her Grammys performance — the clones! the conveyor belts! the flashing lights! — to life.
Ahead of the ceremony, I spoke to See You Later co-founders, TJ Hoover and Darrius Medina, about how the collaboration came to be, the exciting pressure of working on an award show, and their favorite Grammys moments.
How did See You Later first connect with Doechii?
TJ Hoover: We were brought on to work alongside her creative director C. Prinz. We really vibed aesthetically, and kind of felt that we were on the same frequency for what this performance was envisioned to be. We got brought on in early January, right before all of this started getting kicked off.
I imagine that one-month timeline to prepare for the Grammys came with some challenges.
TH: [Most of the Best New Artist] acts are back to back, so there’s no longer a long break between all these performances. And so what this required our teams to do is figure out, how do we design something that gets in and off the stage in 10 minutes, and is able to be executed and brought in and built extremely quickly? The Grammys being such a massive stage and presence to perform on, that adds its own pressures as well. I think that was probably one of the biggest challenges. The timeline, a month, is pretty quick [laughs].
Darrius Medina: Like TJ said, there’s so many acts playing that we don’t have a lot of time at the Grammys stage. One thing that we do at See You Later is a lot of pre-visualization of the show. We build this whole thing out in 3D, which gives the artists a chance to really see their vision brought to life and understand what it’s going to look like for the performance, and be able to make choreo changes, content changes, and go over lighting and things like that. That’s something that helps us out a lot when we’re doing a live performance versus a tour or festival, when we have more time to do rehearsals. You know, the full package.
Alamy
When is the first time you see the stage in its completed form?
TH: The day before.
DM: There’s kind of like three performance areas: the inner left, the inner right, and then the front. So we have one of the sections where some of the headliners get the full stage. That was another part of the constraint that we had to work in, as well. The shape of the area that we had to design in wasn’t symmetrical; it was curved on one side and not on the other. So part of it was figuring out what’s going to look good on camera with choreography and stage shape and different angles and things like that.
What were the initial discussions between See You Later and Doechii about the performance like?
TH: This project started out with a couple different ideas. I think the clones were always a rounding idea in the creative, and the world that the clones lived in was something that was up for discussion. We went through different ideas and concepts and worlds. A lot of the reason we ended up where we were at was also because of the changeover times being so short. We had to figure out, how do we create something that was impactful, but also doesn’t take up a lot of real estate? The process has been a great creative collaboration with Doechii. She’s super involved with world-building and what she wants. I think with Prinz as well, she’s a phenomenal creative director and really has an eye for what Doechii is looking for.
DM: They have been great at providing the vision, and our role and specialty on this is bringing that to life and making it realistic and possible within the timeframe. So it was a perfect collaboration between all of us to share our expertise and be able to help each other and really just provide the best show possible.
“Denial Is A River” is a deeply personal song about depression and addiction, but there’s also a playfulness to it. How did you channel Doechii’s humor into the performance?
TH: Like you said, the song itself has a humorous undertone to it, and we’re playing with that with an old Hollywood-esque vibe. So whereas the first half of the show has speaker setups, lighting rings, and things that are a little more, I would say, edgy and theatrical and dramatic, “Denial Is A River” is more fun. The choreography gets a bit more uplifting. The lighting, as well, gets brighter and less dramatic and moody. They’re kind of doing a Chicago-esque vibe.
DM: Yeah, the ending is Chicago, old Hollywood, a little more vintage and a little more playful.
Alamy
What are some of the technical considerations for when the dancers are off stage in the crowd? Are you focused on the lighting, or is it more logistical to make sure that no one trips?
TH: With this particular performance, it’s a pure lighting thing. We don’t have any video walls or anything like that out there. It’s more about the tone of the dancers, you know, being at these guest tables in the crowd, interacting with the guests that are there before we move to the shot of Doecchi and the rest of the clones on stage. It acts as an element of surprise to keep the viewer on their toes in the first couple of seconds of the performance.
DM: I think as well, we’re looking a lot into cameras, and that’s something that working with Prinz and Doechii and really thinking of it from a viewer’s perspective. Most people are watching it on TV, obviously, and when we can incorporate some of those unique shots, it kind of breaks it up from the other performances. Like you were saying before, it’s almost a competition sometimes. How can we differentiate ourselves from some of these other performances and create unique shots and looks?
Do you have any personal favorite Grammys performances?
TH: There’s been quite a few. I think the Tyler The Creator one from [2020] was probably one of the best. I think it was from the album with “Earfquake,” and he did a death fall in the back. That was probably mine.
DM: I really liked, I believe it was last year, Dua Lipa where they had scaffolding and really used the entire room, which was cool, and really utilized cameras and content and creating different moments. That was very high energy, and one of my favorites that I’ve seen in recent years.
When you’re working on an awards show, is there a competitive element to come up with the “best” performance? The one that everyone is talking about the next day?
TH: That’s interesting, yeah. I mean, I think with any of these big shows, whether it’s Coachella or the Grammys or anything that has a lot of viewers, we all want to be the best, right? And so I think, when you’re on a stage with a bunch of other artists with time constraints and all these things that are going against you having the best performance that you can, the pressure is definitely there. It has to feel unique. There’s always those one or two performances that everyone’s talking about and becomes one of those historical Grammy shows. I think everyone involved wants to be one of those historic performances.
Alamy
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