Podcast: "The Grammy Family" (The Backbeat)

In this week's episode of The Backbeat, Marcus and Kyera delve into the 2016 GRAMMY Awards where they talk about their favorite performances of the night as well as some of their disappointments. In addition to their favorite performances, we get into Taylor Swift's clapback to Kanye West's "Famous" from The Life of Pablo. Then we get into a track-by-track review of Kanye's latest LP and then come back to the GRAMMYs to shame them about their lack of inclusion and celebration of Black female artists.

Award Nominations: 2016 GRAMMY Awards

The 2016 GRAMMY Award nominations were announced earlier today and Kendrick Lamar leads this year's nominees with eleven total nominations. The Grammys return to L.A.'s Staples Center on Feb. 15, 2016 on CBS at 8pm EST. No host has been announced yet but you can get into all the award nominations below from the major 4 categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist) to the R&B and Rap categories respectively.

New Joint: "Winter Wonderland" (Andra Day)

As we officially have entered the holiday season, I thought it would be appropriate to take a listen to Andra Day's recent holiday offering, a cover of the holiday standard "Winter Wonderland."

Released as a holiday single for her growing fanbase, Andra's distinct throwback vocals standout on this restrained cover where the muted instrumentation really allows for her voice to shine through.

Get into the holiday spirit with Andra Day's rendition of "Winter Wonderland" below and Enjoy!

Podcast: "Girl, You Tried It" (The BackBeat)

In this week’s episode, we get into Andra Day’s sublime debut Cheers To The Fall, Taylor Swift’s problematic music video for “Wildest Dreams,” Miley’s traumatic hosting duties at the VMAs, Macklemore getting praise from Big Daddy Kane, Tyler the Creator getting banned from the UK, as well as our excitement over Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable era.

We also introduce a new segment Minute Update regarding Aretha Franklin’s documentary Amazing Grace, and get into a Blast from the Past regarding Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

And make sure you stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear our songs of the moment.

Live Clip: "Only Love" (Andra Day)

I don't know about you, but Andra Day's sublime debut LP Cheers To The Fall has been on repeat since its release this past Friday and one of the numerous standouts from her set for me has to be her sublime mid-tempo "Only Love."

While "Rise Up" is currently the second single lifted from Cheers To The Fall, hopefully Andra and her label will work this album past two singles and "Only Love" gets some consideration.

With that said, watch Andra's performance of "Only Love" from the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in  Philadelphia,as she opens for Lenny Kravitz on his Strut Tour and Enjoy!

Live Clip: "Rise Up" (Andra Day)

Earlier this summer, Andra Day stopped by The Real to begin the promotional rounds for her then forthcoming Cheers To The Fall and with its sublime release this past Friday, I thought it would be nice to revisit her powerhouse performance of the set's current single "Rise Up."

Accompanied by just her pianist, Andra's powerful vocals filled the studio of The Real and left everyone in the audience in aw of her soulfully raspy voice. With that said, take a listen to her amazing rendition of "Rise Up" below and Enjoy!

Live Clip: "Rise Up" (Andra Day)

Artist-on-the-rise Andra Day just released her sublime debut album earlier today Cheers To The Fall and the set is really about to get some serious love as her new single "Rise Up" is gearing up to take over the airwaves as it will be featured in a forthcoming Beats By Dre commercial featuring Serena Williams that will air during the U.S. Open.

With that said, yesterday Andra uploaded a sublime acoustic rendition of "Rise Up" and you can watch below and if you haven't checked out her debut album Cheers To The Fall, it's available for download on iTunes and streaming on Spotify now!