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SZA Shines Bright, Clinches ‘Best International Artist’ Crown at BRIT Awards

SZA

SZA Shines Bright, Clinches ‘Best International Artist’ Crown at BRIT Awards

 

SZA emerged triumphant as she seized the prestigious “Best International Artist” accolade at this week’s BRIT Awards, outshining a star-studded lineup that included Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift. The St. Louis songstress stole the spotlight on a night that proved surprisingly subdued for Swift, who notably missed out on nominations in this category.

While Cyrus claimed the “International Song of the Year” title with “Flowers,” Swift’s absence from the contention didn’t go unnoticed. This was a far cry from her prior triumph over SZA for “Album of the Year” at the Grammys.

On a contrasting note, rising rap sensation Central Cee faced a challenging night despite entering with the second-highest number of nominations (4). The promising artist left empty-handed, despite his meteoric rise in the last 18 months and the buzz surrounding a potential collaboration with Drake.

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SZA’s winning streak extends beyond the BRIT Awards, as she and Phoebe Bridgers clinched the 2024 Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their track “Ghost in the Machine.” This victory was particularly sweet, given that they triumphed over Swift’s “Karma” featuring Ice Spice. SZA expressed her gratitude on social media, shouting out her collaborator and the entire production team.

“Ghost in the Machine” not only secured its place in Grammy history but also soared to No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, solidifying SZA’s status as a chart-topping sensation.

Looking beyond the winners’ circle, formidable contenders for the award included Cyrus for “A Thousand Miles” with Brandi Carlisle, Lana Del Rey for “Candy Necklace” featuring Jon Batiste, and Billie Eilish, whose Barbie soundtrack contribution and feature on Labrinth’s “Never Felt So Alone” garnered nominations of their own.

In the world of music, SZA is undeniably on a roll, leaving an indelible mark as she continues to rise to new heights and collect accolades along the way.

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Artist Spotlight

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama

Ghost of Panama

Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.

This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.

Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.

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Artist Spotlight

“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival

Amanda Holley

“NO MORE carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.

“NO MORE is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.

Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.

“NO MORE is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.

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Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina

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