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Re-Creating Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” Music Video Look
Music

Re-Creating Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” Music Video Look

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” video was full of her serving face and hair, and we’re taking you through how to re-create the exact look. From getting her voluminous curls to re-creating her shimmery shadow and rosy cheeks, keep watching for the full breakdown of how to achieve the look!

Meghan Mahar:

Today I’m going to show you how to rock the look. We’ll be re-creating Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” music video, look, oh boy.

Dominique Noëlle:

What did you really like about her look in the video?

I love Sabrina Carpenter’s hair. You know, people are always talking about it online, wondering if she’s wearing a wig. But in the “Manchild” video, in particular, the curls were so big, voluminous.

I really love, like, the big, voluminous curl looks particularly because it’s very, very retro. It gives me, like, those ’70s vibes. I think that she really liked Sophia Loren, when I was looking through some of her references because that’s just, like, I just love the hyper-femininity that’s happening right now. I started off by just spraying some dry heat protectant on your hair. We always have to protect our hair while we are using heat. Right now, I’m using a T3 curling iron just to, like, get some of that curl in there, you can use any one inch, one and a half inch barrel roller to get these curls, and then just a Velcro rollers just helps with setting it.

I really love Sabrina’s take on country pop. Yeah, I think that a lot of people are trying to do country, country hybrids, country features across the board. It’s so cute on her when she does the whole like powerful, feminine, little country girl thing. She’s been putting in work for years. For me, ‘Emails I Can’t Send’ has to be my favorite album of hers.

Keep watching for more!

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Frost Children 2025
Music

Frost Children Go for Synthpop and Almost Pull It Off » PopMatters

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Frost Children’s SISTER represents something of a big swing for the sibling duo. Their first three releases all leaned into glitchy hyperpop. In these songs, catchy hooks sometimes landed right on top of irregular, very electronic beats. Or walls of distorted guitar would infect a previously quiet track. It was confrontational and striking music, but perhaps not the kind that would get a roomful of people dancing. Hearth Room (2023) marked a significant departure, relying primarily on non-electronic instruments and adopting at least somewhat more conventional songwriting. SISTER retains that interest in songwriting but brings back the electronics.

The three singles released so far provide a solid preview of what Frost Children are doing this time out. “CONTROL” opens with a strong vocal melody and a catchy, yet minimal, backing track featuring simple drums and a burbling bass. The chorus is as glitchy and weird as the duo’s earlier material, but the song also features a soaring bridge that’s legitimately pretty. “Falling” is even catchier, with a pulsing synth melody as well as a big, hooky vocal. The beat stays in a solid four-on-the-floor groove throughout, making for a true synthpop dance track.

“WHAT IS FOREVER FOR” features a similar combination of a synth hook and a strong vocal melody. The tempo is a bit slower, though, appropriate for the more contemplative lyrics and mood of the track. Once again, the bridge features the track’s biggest vocal hook, which is an interesting choice. Clearly, though, Frost Children have decided to go all in on melody and steadier beats.

SISTER still features plenty of interesting, sometimes even curious, musical choices. The opening track, “Position Famous”, begins with a simple two-note guitar pattern and shouted lyrics. It’s a classic format, where the track builds up to a big, explosive moment later on.

“Position Famous” holds off on this moment for so long that listeners may start to wonder if it’s ever going to happen. Eventually, though, the snare drum roll begins, followed by a pulsing dance beat that emerges under a new melody. Oddly, though, the vocals drop out entirely at this point, leaving the synth piano melody to drive the rest of the song. It’s as if Frost Children are giving listeners what they expect and then almost snatching away the catharsis.

“Sister” begins with acoustic guitar strumming and a story of the siblings’ childhood. In the second verse, sparse synth drums join in, but the acoustic vibe remains. Rather than a bridge, “Sister” features a glitchy electronic collage over its final minute, but Frost Children at least deign to give listeners one more chorus on top of all the noise.

Closer “2 L0VE” appears to be designed as a test of listeners’ patience. It’s built around a vocal sample of the title, as the words “Two Love” are repeated and electronically pitch-shifted into all sorts of different registers, on top of each other and throughout the nearly six-minute-long track. The beats and melody around the title sample are pretty decent, and for a while, the song is blessedly sample-free. It returns before the end of the track; however, it is possibly more annoying than before.

A couple of guest spots break up the record nicely. “Ralph Lauren” features a rap from Babymorocco and is styled as a minimalist Soundcloud rap track. Frost Children are not particularly good rappers, although I did enjoy the bit where they say “clap” instead of using an actual clapping sound. When Babymorocco finally shows up at the end, the flow improves noticeably.

“RADIO” features a strong vocal performance from Kim Petras. Frost Children go full dance-pop with the track, and even the sleepy rap verses don’t detract from the Petras moments. It’s a terrifically catchy song that shows what Frost Children can do when they want to go that route. “Don’t Make Me Cry” is similarly hooky, operating as a sort of synthpop power ballad. Big vocals and simple synth hooks are the order of the day, and it works well.

If there’s an issue with SISTER, it’s that Frost Children haven’t quite figured out the balance between engaging songwriting and just reaching for the big hooks. Too often, those hooks are catchy in the moment but lack the lasting power of genuine pop music earworms. The more intriguing musical moments tend to occur in the less catchy songs. That leaves the interesting ideas searching for a big hook, while the big hooks remain stuck in more generic synthpop arrangements. In certain places, like “RADIO” and “Sister”, the duo find the right combination to make the songs truly memorable. SISTER ultimately feels more like a transitional album than a complete success in a new style.

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My Morning Jacket Celebrate 20 Years of Z at Brooklyn Paramount: Review
Music

My Morning Jacket Celebrate 20 Years of Z at Brooklyn Paramount: Review

by jummy84
written by jummy84

What is there left to say about My Morning Jacket as a live act? Lore and eyewitness accounts confirm that they’ve always been mighty, whether overshadowing Ben Kweller and Guided by Voices as a barnstorming opener in their early days or creating their own Mount Olympus with a career-defining set at Bonnaroo in 2008. Hell, last night’s kickoff of their three-show Brooklyn Paramount run wasn’t even the first time they had played 2005’s Z front to back in NYC.

As a (somehow) first-time eyewitness to their live show myself, I could run down the standard audiovisual reportage: Jim James toggling between wavy frontman choreography (opener “Wordless Chorus”) and elephantine shredding (“Anytime”); utility wunderkind turned elder statesman Carl Broemel calmly slipping into sax mode for an extended album finale (“Dondante”); Patrick Hallahan’s hair-raising snare hits; the backlighting of old-school LED grids that, through simple triangulation, mutated a smiley face into a constellation of the under-the-knife owl beak that graces Z’s cover art.

Get My Morning Jacket Tickets Here

But if you’re a fan or even just someone who’s casually caught one of MMJ’s concerts in the past, you’ve already seen the band’s craftsmanship and volcanic energy on display. You don’t need someone to extoll their in-the-flesh greatness, unparalleled as it may be and probably has been since their inception. This morning, head still blissfully buzzing from last night, I find myself thinking about what Z meant when it was released 20 years ago and what it means through the lens of live performance in 2025.

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It may seem quaint now in a post-social media age when genre barriers have all but disappeared for music fans, but Z felt like the hardest of pivots in the early aughts. It was an evolution from three albums of rootsy jamming (most notably, 2003’s It Still Moves) to spacey synthesizers, shorter song lengths, and lyrics that skewed more surrealistic (or maybe spiritual, depending on your own religious convictions), all of which earned MMJ the now-tired superlative of “the American Radiohead” from several publications.

The psychedelic detour proved to be prophetic not only for the band themselves (subsequent releases Evil Urges and Circuital would both be viewed as similarly and even controversially metamorphic), but several later acts who would fall under the loosely defined umbrella of “alt country” —  at least at some point during their rise. Sturgill Simpson, Big Thief, and even Kings of Leon would all come out of the gate saddled with the Americana label, only to go a little more cosmic a few albums in. And while MMJ certainly wasn’t the first country-adjacent act to drastically weirden their sound, Z (along with Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) feels like the modern template for doing so.

Where the band’s transformation in 2005 felt purely aesthetic, however, hearing the record’s morphing sounds in a live setting 20 years later felt contextual and thematic — a response to the chaos of modern history in the making. When James finally addressed the crowd at the album’s halfway point — between an extra dubbed-out “Off the Record” and extra-carnivalized “Into the Woods” — he spoke briefly about the album’s importance in their career and its relationship to New York (the band relocated from their native Louisville to the Catskills for recording). He then went on to proclaim that everyone in the ornate Brooklyn Paramount ballroom was on a new plane of consciousness together to celebrate peace and love.

Now, I know how those words look on paper — vague, shamanistic, perhaps even cultish. And being invited to let loose and enjoy one’s self in an environment of rising authoritarianism isn’t exactly revelatory. But it is increasingly essential amidst the fear, violence, and turbulence of 2025 and beyond, and James has always come across as sincere in his calls for harmony. The brevity of his banter also prevented it from being condescending or sermonizing.

With all of that in mind, the expansiveness of Z suddenly felt heavier, a reminder of the importance of staying flexible — artistically, socially, societally — so we can hold onto some happiness in a world that none of us can predict. And by the start of a second, non-Z set, it became clear that all the various shards of MMJ’s prismatic identity were still there and always had been — past, present, and future. Encore closer “Magheeta” took on a little bit of the cybernetic freakiness of Z (the LEDs helped), the live debut of oddity “The Devil’s Peanut Butter” off the Z 20th anniversary edition was an immediate fusion of the pre- and post-Z eras, and come to think of it, had “Off the Record” even been that dubbed out, or were the riffs extra-muscular and mountained up? Probably both. Even the three cuts from this year’s is were already seeing their accessibility give way to amorphism.

It’s also worth mentioning the giant stuffed bears that have been an onstage mainstay almost as long as My Morning Jacket have been a band. They’ve always been somewhat totemic, with one of them famously gracing the cover of It Still Moves as a kind of symbol of meaningful guidance. But the ursine imagery was especially palpable last night, a specter of a past that had never really disappeared in the first place. For a legendary live act, owl and bear are in the same menagerie, artistic pivots eventually come full circle to blur the lines of several genres, and elasticity becomes a means of fulfillment — and thus a means of survival — for band and audience alike.

Get tickets to the My Morning Jacket’s upcoming tour dates — including more full Z performances — here. See a full photo gallery and setlist from the band’s Brooklyn Paramount concert below.

My Morning Jacket Setlist:
Z:
Wordless Chorus
It Beats 4 U
Gideon
What a Wonderful Man
Off the Record
Into the Woods
Anytime
Lay Low
Knot Comes Loose
Dondante

Chills
Where to Begin
Half a Lifetime
The Devil’s Peanut Butter
Squid Ink
Wasted / En La Ceremony / Wasted

Encore:
Tropics (Erase Traces)
Smokin’ From Shootin’
Die For It
Mahgeetah

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Rock Luminaries Salute KISS' Ace Frehley
Music

Rock Luminaries Salute KISS’ Ace Frehley

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Rock stars from throughout the past 50 years have joined to pay tribute to influential KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, who died yesterday (Oct. 16) at the age of 74. The musician suffered a brain injury after falling in his recording studio last month and had been breathing with the aid of a ventilator in recent days.

“Our hearts are broken,” wrote KISS bandmate Gene Simmons. “Ace has passed on. No one can touch Ace’s legacy. I know he loved the fans. He told me many times. Sadder still, Ace didn’t live long enough to be honored at the Kennedy Center Honors event in December. Ace was the eternal rock soldier. Long may his legacy live on!”

“With a broken heart and deep, deep sadness, my brother Ace Frehley has passed away,” said KISS drummer Peter Criss. “He died peacefully with his family around him. My wife and I were with him to the end as well. I love you my brother. My love and prayers go out to Jeanette, Monique, Charlie and Nancy and all of Ace’s extended family, bandmates, fans and friends. May the Lord comfort you at this difficult time. As a founding member of the rock group KISS and in Ace’s solo career, Ace influenced and touch the hearts of millions of people. His legacy will live on in the music industry and in the hearts of the KISS Army. At this time I ask all of you to please be respectful to Ace’s family and allow them to grieve privately. To the KISS Army and Ace’s Rock Soldiers, my heart is with you all… Broken.”

“All my friends have spent untold hours talking about KISS and buying KISS stuff,” said Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. “Ace was a hero of mine and also I would consider a friend. I studied his solos endlessly over the years. Just listen to ‘Alive’ — I used his solo from ‘She’ as a template. Ace jammed on ‘Black Diamond’ with Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden — a dream come true for me. I would not have picked up a guitar without Ace and KISS’s influence.”

“Absolutely stunned and saddened by the news Ace Frehley has tragically passed away,” said Rush’s Geddy Lee. “Back in 1974, as the opening act for KISS, Alex, Neil [Peart] and myself spent many a night hanging out together in his hotel room after shows, doing whatever nonsense we could think of, just to make him break out his inimitable and infectious laugh. He was an undeniable character and an authentic rock star. RIP Ace. Thanks for welcoming us newbies into the rock’n’roll world.

“My first guitar hero, Ace Frehley, has passed away,” wrote Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. “The legendary Space Ace Frehley inspired generations to love rock’n’roll and love rock’n’roll guitar playing. His timeless riffs and solos, the billowing smoke coming from his Les Paul, the rockets shooting from his headstock, his cool spacey onstage wobble and his unforgettable crazy laugh will be missed but will never be forgotten. Thank you, Ace for a lifetime of great music and memories.”

“Ace was the first person I met when we were forming Chic,” wrote the group’s leader, Nile Rodgers. “KISS were playing at a spot called Le Jardin. Without his makeup, nobody recognized him as he sat at my table. Only a few minutes before, the crowd were losing their shit over him. I learned a lot that night. Truly historic.”

Added guitarist Steve Vai, “Ace Frehley was the embodiment of rock’n’roll attitude — unapologetic, loud and irresistibly catchy. His riffs had swagger, his tone had bite and his presence lit up stages like a supernova. The Spaceman has left the stage, but his orbit will shine forever.”

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Carly Rae Jepsen: E•mo•tion (10th Anniversary Edition) Album Review
Music

Carly Rae Jepsen: E•mo•tion (10th Anniversary Edition) Album Review

by jummy84
written by jummy84

In the summer of 2015, Carly Rae Jepsen was looking to the future: “My desire now,” she told an interviewer, “is to see how far I can stretch pop.” Her latest moves had evolved from the good-enough charm of Kiss—the album that contained her unexpectedly planet-dominating hit “Call Me Maybe”—into glossier, vintage-inspired territory: gated drums, squealing synths, a couple saxophone solos. ’80s pop rehashed for the new millennium feels staid in its omnipresence today—but remember when it actually felt like a bold new idea, when embracing that moment, in all its schmaltz and sentiment, could represent a genuinely surprising artistic turn?

The first step in claiming Jepsen’s future was E•mo•tion, a record of diamond-sharp songs—now a decade old, re-released as a deluxe 10th anniversary edition. In countless interviews, she has rejected the notion that pop music—hers or anyone else’s—ought to be considered a “guilty pleasure,” and E•mo•tion is, fittingly, a record of full-on pleasure: unselfconscious, effervescent, no irony to be found. These are songs about big feelings, matched by big-budget production, evincing a shameless devotion to pure pop: uptempo, tightly structured, stuffed with singable hooks and lyrics that don’t exactly hold up perfectly under scrutiny yet nonetheless scan as immediately relatable. “Run Away With Me” is the aural equivalent of a confetti cannon, the sonic translation of the way a crush makes you feel invincible. “Boy Problems” is neon and buoyant with its groovy bassline, chorus of na na nas, and percussion stabs like the kind of text you send with 15 exclamation marks. The exceptions to the bubblegum bangers formula are equally rewarding: The brooding, breathy “Warm Blood” and the poised ballad “All That” gently widen Jepsen’s sound without becoming a distraction.

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Kylie Jenner says she wants to release an album after making music debut as King Kylie
Music

Kylie Jenner says she wants to release an album after making music debut as King Kylie

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Kylie Jenner says she’s interested in releasing an album.

  • READ MORE: Who Are Terror Jr, The Mysterious Pop Trio Rumoured To Be Fronted By Kylie Jenner?

The reality TV star made her official music debut earlier this week, teaming up with Terror Jr for a new song to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics.

Since the release of the track, Jenner has also set up profiles on Spotify and Apple Music as King Kylie – her famous moniker from the 2010s.

The track, ‘Fourth Strike’, sees Jenner make a cameo in the bridge of the track, singing: “One strike, two strike, let me get the mood right / I just wanna tell you, ‘I’m sorry’ / Touch me, baby, tell me I’m your baby. Write your name all over my body / Cross the line, I might do it again / Do it on purpose just to see how it ends / King Kylie.”

Now, in a new video discussing the song, Jenner has said that releasing music has always been her “dream”.

“I’ve been talking about this since I came out of the womb,” she said. “I wanted to be a pop star — or, I don’t know what I am. But I just never had the confidence.

“I always wanted to try to see if I can do it,” she continued. “The first recording session I was really nervous. I had, like three margaritas — or vodka sodas, actually.”

“I don’t think I’m like Adele or anything,” she added, before commenting on whether she’ll continue to make music. “I hope so. I would love to try … I don’t want it to end. And I think, why not? I think we should try. Let’s like, make an album.”

Anticipation for Jenner’s first real foray into music has been building since 2016, when she launched a campaign for a new range of lip glosses from her beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics.

In the ad, she played a getaway driver in a Spring Breakers-style scenario, in which three gun-yielding young women cheat some gangsters out of a bag of money in the middle of the desert.

The commercial made headlines for the song used in the background, which was ‘3 Strikes’ – a debut single from a pop group called Terror Jr. At the time, there was little information about the band, leading fans to speculate that the singer was actually Jenner.

Later, it was revealed that the group was actually comprised of former The Cataracs band members David “Campa” Benjamin Singer-Vine, Lisa Vitale, and Felix Snow.

The new campaign sees the story continue, with Jenner in an interrogation room being grilled by detectives. “We’ve got you on multiple counts of being the baddest bitch on Earth, slaying 24/7, just being an all-around impressive young lady,” they tell her.

Later, she’s released, and her mother, Kris Jenner, is waiting to pick her up in a Rolls-Royce with a glove compartment full of the upcoming Kylie Cosmetics lip gloss launch.

It marks the first official music release from Jenner, though in 2016 she did make a brief cameo on the track ‘Beautiful Day’ from producer Burberry Perry.

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Taylor Swift Donates $100,000 to Swiftie Battling Brain Cancer
Music

Taylor Swift Donates $100,000 to Swiftie Battling Brain Cancer

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Earlier this month, a woman named Katelynn Smoot shared a heartwarming video of her young daughter, who is battling cancer, watching the music video for Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia.” In the clip, little Lilah points at the screen and says, “That’s my friend!”

The video quickly went viral, with fans flooding Smoot’s @standwithlilah social media page with messages of love and support for Lilah, who is fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer. Just a few weeks later, on Friday, Lilah received a touching surprise from her “friend” Swift — a $100,000 donation to her GoFundMe for medical care, and a sweet message: “Sending the biggest hug to my friend, Lilah! Love, Taylor.”

The quiet donation from Swift, spotted by Swifties, has inspired other fans of the pop star to follow suit by contributing to the fundraiser, each in increments of $13, in honor of Swift’s favorite number. As of publication, the fundraiser has raised over $167,000 in donations from more than 2,000 people.

After the six-figure donation, Smoot shared a video of herself and Lilah dancing to “The Life of Ophelia,” reacting to the news and sharing their gratitude for Swift’s generosity. “Thank you beyond words, Taylor Swift. We can now just focus on being here with our girl. Truly, we are so grateful… You have no idea what this means to our family,” she captioned the post.

On the page, Smoot has shared her and her daughter’s love for Swift — and how she birthed a “little Swiftie” after attending the Eras Tour while pregnant with her. “Lilah’s name was originally going to be Willow,” Smoot explained in one video, referencing the Folklore favorite. “We were set on that name my whole pregnancy, but ultimately ended on Lilah.”

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On the GoFundMe, which has been running since Lilah started chemotherapy in March, Smoot explained baby Lilah was diagnosed with a “very rare aggressive form of brain cancer” earlier this year after suffering a seizure. An MRI found a stage 4 tumor, which was removed in March, and she has since been undergoing chemo. In an August update, the Smoots updated donors about the treatment.

“After [an MRI and LP], she will start 6 weeks of proton radiation, where our family will have to travel to [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] for her to receive,” they wrote. “We will be a few hundred miles away from home. All the donations we receive will help us with travel expenses and paying bills as we are still out of work while Lilah is in treatment.”

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Drew Barrymore Wins in Upset Over Kelly Clarkson
Music

Drew Barrymore Wins in Upset Over Kelly Clarkson

by jummy84
written by jummy84

After five years of winning in at least one of her two categories, Kelly Clarkson was shut out at the 2025 Daytime Emmys. The awards were held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif., on Friday (Oct. 17). Mario Lopez hosted the show.

Drew Barrymore won outstanding daytime talk series host for The Drew Barrymore Show. This is the second year in a row that Clarkson has been upset in this category (which she won the four years before that). She lost last year to Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, the married stars of the syndicated Live With Kelly and Mark.

This year, Live With Kelly and Mark won outstanding daytime talk series, ending (or at least interrupting) The Kelly Clarkson Show’s four-year hold on the category. This is the second top program award for the long-running Live franchise. Live! with Regis and Kelly (when Ripa teamed with talk show legend Regis Philbin) won outstanding talk show – entertainment in 2012.

Barrymore has had a multi-faceted career, starting as a child star in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. In 2018 she was the subject of Bryce Vine’s Billboard Hot 100 hit “Drew Barrymore.”

The Drew Barrymore Show also won best directing team and best hairstyling/makeup, for a total of three wins. The Kelly Clarkson Show won two – best lighting direction and best live sound mixing/sound editing.

General Hospital won seven awards, tops for the night, followed by The Drew Barrymore Show, The Secret Lives of Animals and Secret Lives of Orangutans (three awards each), and Black Barbie, Days of Our Lives, Delicious Miss Brown, Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade, Entertainment Tonight and The Kelly Clarkson Show (two awards each).

Entertainment Tonight won outstanding entertainment news series for the sixth consecutive year, while the host team (Cassie DiLaura, Denny Directo, Kevin Frazier, Rachel Smith and Nischelle Turner) won outstanding daytime personality – daily. But an ET-branded program remembering a TV legend, Bob Newhart: A Legacy of Laughter, An Entertainment Tonight Special, surprisingly lost outstanding daytime special to Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade.

Sir David Attenborough, 99, won outstanding daytime personality – non-daily for the Netflix program, Secret Lives of Orangutans. In so doing, he set a new record as the oldest person to win a Daytime Emmy, beating Dick Van Dyke’s record by one year. Van Dyke won outstanding guest performer in a drama series last year at 98 for his performance on Days of Our Lives.

Selena Gomez’s Food Network series Selena + Restaurant was nominated for outstanding culinary instructional series, but lost to Delicious Miss Brown on the Food Network. Gomez has now gone 0-3 at the Daytime Emmys, 0-5 at the Primetime Emmys and 0-1 at the Children’s and Family Emmys. (Bottom line: She is due for a win.)

Three top entertainment media brands – Billboard, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter – were recognized in the nominations (though none wound up winning). Billboard Presents was nominated for outstanding short form program. Variety Studio: Actors on Actors and Off Script With the Hollywood Reporter were both nominated for outstanding arts and popular culture program. 

Billboard Presents are the video cover profiles that Billboard produces for some of its cover artists. The specific episode submitted for the series was the cover video with conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Other Billboard Presents segments include cover videos with A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator and Charli XCX. 

The In Memoriam segment included talk show pioneer Phil Donahue; game show hosts Chuck Woolery, Peter Marshall and Wink Martindale; fitness guru and personality Richard Simmons; televangelist Jimmy Swaggart; acting legend James Earl Jones; and Food Network star Anne Burrell.

The awards are presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. If it seems like more than a year has gone by since the last Daytime Emmys, you’re right. Last year’s Daytime Emmys were held on June 7, 2024 the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.

Unlike the past five years, when the show aired on CBS, this year’s program streamed live on watch.theemmys.tv and on the Emmys app.

Veteran broadcast journalist Deborah Norville received a lifetime achievement honor.

Here are the 2025 Daytime Emmy nominations in selected categories, with winners marked. For the full list of winners, go here.

Outstanding Daytime Talk Series

The Drew Barrymore Show, CBS Media Ventures

The Jennifer Hudson Show, Warner Brothers Television Distribution [JHUD Productions | Warner Bros. Unscripted Television | Telepictures]

The Kelly Clarkson Show, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

WINNER: Live With Kelly and Mark, Disney Entertainment Distribution

The View, ABC

Outstanding Daytime Talk Series Host

WINNER: Drew Barrymore, The Drew Barrymore Show, CBS Media Ventures

Jenna Bush Hager, Hoda Kotb, TODAY With Hoda and Jenna, NBC

Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

Mark Consuelos, Kelly Ripa, Live With Kelly and Mark, Disney Entertainment Distribution

Jennifer Hudson, The Jennifer Hudson Show, Warner Brothers Television Distribution

Outstanding Arts and Popular Culture Program

WINNER: Black Barbie, Netflix [shondalandmedia]; Executive Producers: Betsy Beers, Milan Chakraborty, Camilla Hall, Grace Lay, Sumalee Montano, Shonda Rhimes, Jyoti Sarda; Co-Executive Producers: Scott Collins, Alison Eakle, Sara Fischer; Producers: Lagueria Davis, Aaliyah Williams

Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, PBS [Bright Blue Media Group]; Executive Producers: Thomas Davison, Pamela Picard, Josiah Spaulding

Off Script With The Hollywood Reporter, IFC [The Hollywood Reporter]; Executive Producers: Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Elisabeth D. Rabishaw, Maer Roshan, Jason Rovou; Supervising Producer: Stephanie Fischette; Senior Producer: Lesley Corral; Producers: Jeanie Pyun, Lacey Rose, Tiffany Taylor, Curtis Thompson; Segment Producer: Chinedu Unaka

The Swift Effect, Peacock; Co-Executive Producers: Cody Broadway, Diane Petzke; Senior Supervising Producer: Meredith McGinn; Coordinating Producer: Julianne O’Hara; Producers: Pedro Iguaran, John Launchi

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors, PBS; Executive Producers: Michelle Merker, Donna Pennestri, John Ross, Andrew Russell, Ramin Setoodeh; Producers: Maris Berzins, Georg Kallert, Diana Nguyen, Rob Schroeder

Outstanding Short Form Program

WINNER: Ballin’ Out, Outsports; Executive Producers: Jim Buzinski, Cyd Zeigler; Producers: Joel Chiodi, Michael Franklin, Eric Korsh, Niq Lewis; Director: Michiel Thomas

Billboard Presents, Billboard.com; Executive Producers: Shira Brown, Leila Cobo, Dana Droppo, Hannah Karp, Christina Medina, Mike Van; Supervising Producer: Ciara Zimring; Line Producer: Mateo Vergara; Producer: Emily Fuentes

Catalyst, LinkedIn News; Executive Producers: Courtney Coupe, Enrique Montalvo; Supervising Producers: David Pond, Dan Roth, Wesley Wingo; Senior Producers: Nina Melendez Ibarra, Stephen Francisco Valdivia Duarte; Coordinating Producer: Michaela Greer; Producers: Joy Carlos, Taisha Henry, Jessica Jimenez, Julia Lull, Sarah Scully, Brandon Stefanowitz, Sujata Thomas, Rachel Wang

Eat This With Yara, The Chef Preserving Gaza’s Cuisine Amid a Genocide, AJ+; Executive Producer: Shadi Rahimi; Senior Producers: Dylan Bergeson, Yara Elmjouie

Live Like a Champion, Healthline [Lucky Tiger Productions]; Executive Producers: Brendan Anderer, Tracy Stickler; Supervising Producers: Tom Placke, Sam Sabawi; Producer: Marc Lesser

Outstanding Music Direction and Composition

Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors, Netflix; Original Music Jerry Lane

National Parks: USA, National Geographic [Stronghold Studios, LLC]; Composer Colin Clark

The Secret Lives of Animals, Apple TV+ Composer Kyle Rodriguez

WINNER: Secret Lives of Orangutans, Netflix [Silverback Films]; Composer: David Mitcham, Score Co-Producer: Michael Whight

Secrets of the Neanderthals, Netflix [BBC Studios]; Composer: Anže Rozman; Additional Music: Enzo Hwang, Kara Talve; Score Producer: Russell Emanuel; Score Supervisor: Greg Rappaport

Outstanding Entertainment News Series

Access Hollywood, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

E! News, E! Entertainment

WINNER: Entertainment Tonight, CBS Media Ventures

Extra, Warner Brothers Television Distribution [Warner Bros. Unscripted Television | Telepictures]

Outstanding Daytime Personality – Daily

WINNER: Cassie DiLaura, Denny Directo, Kevin Frazier, Rachel Smith & Nischelle Turner, Entertainment Tonight, CBS Media Ventures

Scott Evans, Zuri Hall, Kit Hoover & Mario Lopez, Access Hollywood, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios

Star Jones, Corey Jovan, Divorce Court, FOX

Whitney Kumar, Kevin Rasco, Sarah Rose & Judge Judy Sheindlin, Judy Justice, Amazon Prime Video [Amazon MGM Studios | Sox Entertainment]

Outstanding Daytime Special

Bob Newhart: A Legacy of Laughter, An Entertainment Tonight Special CBS

Dinner Party Diaries with José Andrés, Amazon Prime Video [Film 45 | Amazon MGM Studios | José Andrés Media]

WINNER: Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade, ABC [Film 45 | EverWonder Studio | Yellow Shoes Studio]

98th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, NBC [Silent House Productions]

Shelter Me: The Cancer Pioneers, PBS [Steven Latham Productions]

Outstanding Daytime Personality – Non-Daily

WINNER: Sir David Attenborough, Secret Lives of Orangutans, Netflix [Silverback Films]

Brad Bestelink, Living With Leopards, Netflix [Wild Space | Natural History Film Unit Botswana | Freeborne Media | Netflix]

Andi Sweeney Blanco, Courtney Dober, Rob North & Kirin Stone, The Fixers, BYUtv

Anthony Mackie, Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie: Gulf Coast, National Geographic [Nutopia]

Martha Stewart, Martha Gardens, Roku [Marquee Brands]

Outstanding Culinary Instructional Series

Be My Guest With Ina Garten, Food Network [Pacific Productions]

WINNER: Delicious Miss Brown, Food Network

Emeril Cooks, Roku [Marquee Brands]

Lidia’s Kitchen, PBS [Tavola Productions]

Selena + Restaurant, Food Network [July Moon Productions | Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC)]

Outstanding Culinary Cultural Series

BBQ High, Magnolia Network [Hit + Run]

WINNER: Chasing Flavor With Carla Hall, HBO | Max [Max | Fremantle’s Original Productions]

Ingrediente: Mexico, Amazon Prime Video

TrueSouth, ESPN | ABC | SEC Network [Bluefoot Entertainment]

Outstanding Culinary Host

WINNER: Kardea Brown, Delicious Miss Brown, Food Network

Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Network [Blind Nil]

Ina Garten, Be My Guest With Ina Garten, Food Network

Emeril Lagasse, Emeril Cooks, Roku [Marquee Brands]

Michael Symon, Symon’s Dinners Cooking Out, Food Network

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Jon Irabagon 2025
Music

Jazz Saxophonist Jon Irabagon Is a Magician and Shapeshifter » PopMatters

by jummy84
written by jummy84

Someone to Someone

Jon Irabagon and PlainsPeak

Irabbagast

15 August 2025

Saxophonist Jon Irabagon is a magician and shapeshifter, a composer whose imagination goes from lyrical grace to controlled chaos and back again. As often as not, his sonic creations are capable of existing in both states simultaneously.

His newest recording, with a quartet he calls PlainsPeak for its grounding in the Chicagoland Midwest, is Someone to Someone. It marks one of Irabagon‘s periodic returns to playing acoustic jazz in a conventional setting: his alto saxophone, trumpet (Russ Johnson, a New York trumpet phenom for 25 years, originally from Wisconsin), bass (Clark Sommers, a top-echelon Chicago player), and drums (Dana Hall, originally from the East Coast but based in Chicago). The format recalls Irabagon’s membership in Mostly Other People Do the Killing, a quartet with the same instrumentation that featured elastic and joyful melodies, inspiring organic, harmonically adventurous improvisations.

Someone to Someone exceeds that standard. All the compositions are by Iabagon, and they are each immediately engaging while leaving every possibility open.

Take “At What Price Garlic”, a loping tune in 5/4 with a sly and conversational melody, but that includes a section of 3/4 waltz time that builds urgency using syncopated sets of three notes, articulated in unison. Your whole body will sway as you listen to this track, immune to the changes in time signature, and by the time Irabagon’s swirling solo begins, with the drums improvising with equal fervor along with the saxophone, you will be all in for the thrill it brings. “The Pulseman” similarly engages with an immediate rhythmic groove — a repeated bass line slides under a modified 4/4 swing. Then, the trumpet and saxophone play a harmonized series of shapes that swing, bop, and chirp before the solos begin in a conventional jazz manner.

Conventional? Ah, Jon Irabagon typically resists that adjective, and thank goodness.

If you step back just one release to his February 2025 recording, Server Farm, you can hear melodies that are just as engaging, but come from a powerfully unconvential ten-piece band of cutting edge improvisers — two guitars (Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg), mad keyboards (piano, Rhodes, and Prophet synth from Matt Mitchell), trumpeter Peter Evans (also from the original Mostly Other People quartet), vocals and violin (Mazz Swift, no relation I will assume), both electric and acoustic basses (Chris Lightcap and Michael Formanek, respectively), drummer Dan Weiss, and percussion/laptop from Levy Lorenzo.

Server Farm may just be one of the jazz albums of the year. “Colocation” comes flying out of the gates with a brass melody (with the leader playing tenor saxophone rather than alto) that snaps like a Basie lick. The rhythm section rushes forward as wildfire, first to promote a capacious Mitchell solo on Rhodes and then to lift a dense ensemble passage with both written and freely improvised elements. It all breaks out into noise for a few moments before building up a new melody that balances the horns against the violin over a serene ensemble vamp.

“Routers” finds Irabagon playing dreamy and echoey tenor over a dancing figure featuring vibes. Meanwhile, “Graceful Exit” begins as a pensive Formanek bass solo that evolves into a lushly written bass/violin/tenor saxophone chart, allowing Evans, Irabagon, and Formanek to play sensual melodies. It is gorgeous — Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus gorgeous — even as it too evolves into sections of mildly atonal improvisation.

One last mention of Server Farm: the very best track is “Singularities”, which kaliedoscopes through several sections, including a soul-jazz episode that sounds like the best CTI album ever made, with Evans, Irabagon, and the guitars wailing over a super-hip chord pattern laid down by Mitchell on Rhodes. As this part flattens out into a new bass pattern, a polyrhythmic section rises to climax with the whole band coming together — leading to a reprise of the first theme. It is an achievement.

Yet the new album, as different as it is, may be just as good. After all the frenzy of “Singularities”, a track from Someone to Someone like “Tiny Miracles (A Funeral for a Friend)” comes as a revelation. It also sounds BIG, despite featuring only four acoustic instruments, and it also builds intensity across a gradual transition from melody to stupendous collective improvisation and back again. Irabagon and Johnson play primarily within the harmonies of the “song”, but their improvisation is highly vocal and full of feeling. It sounds just as “free” as the most “out” jazz hopes to be.

The title track is another example of Irabagon’s range of sound. The dramatic head arrangement features the horns slowly and luciously interweaving over Sommers’ bowed bass. When the band chucks the tempo for a short open jam, you might wonder: Is this mainstream jazz or something avant-garde? It is neither/both, and so wonderfully played that the distinction evaporates. The parade groove “Buggin’ the Bug” sets up with just bass and drums in a funk as irresistible as a chocolate chip cookie, then Irabagon’s fun and swinging melody rides on top to give it a walking groove. The decision to have the horns trade eight-bar phrases is perfect fun, feeding into overlapping blues playing that absolutely kills.

It is a particular blessing that artists like Jon Irabagon are unafraid to defy convention, playing music that is both challenging and satisfying, rich in feeling but daring to have an edge. Someone to Someone from his acoustic PlainsPeak quartet is every bit the adventure that the earlier Server Farm was, making Irabagon two for two in a very creative 2025.

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