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Are Video Games the Best Way to Spend a Night in With Friends?

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Are Video Games the Best Way to Spend a Night in With Friends?

There’s a familiar moment that keeps happening. Someone suggests going out. Everyone agrees it sounds nice. Then reality kicks in. Prices. Travel. Timing. Energy. Before you know it, the plan quietly falls apart and the group chat goes silent. No one’s annoyed, but everyone’s a bit disappointed. You tell yourself this is just how adulthood works and move on, even though you miss actually spending time together.

That’s where gaming sneaks in. Not as a big decision or a lifestyle change, but as the easiest option left on the table. No bookings. No getting ready. No spending money you’ll regret tomorrow. Just showing up, talking, and doing something together. And honestly, that starts to feel like a win.

Nights out stopped being the obvious choice

It’s not that people don’t like going out anymore. It’s that it’s become a lot harder to justify. You add up food, drinks, transport, and suddenly a casual evening feels like a financial commitment. Even when you try to keep it simple, costs creep in from everywhere.

A night in with games flips that completely. You’re entertained for hours without watching your bank balance drop. There’s no pressure to stay out longer just to make it “worth it.” You can hang out, laugh, and log off when you’re tired. That freedom changes how social time feels, especially when money is tight or priorities have shifted.

Scheduling gets easier when nobody has to travel

One of the biggest barriers to seeing friends is distance. Different cities. Different countries. Different time zones. You want to meet up, but coordinating everyone’s schedules feels like organising a small event, and nobody wants to deal with that kind of pressure.

Gaming removes that friction. You don’t need everyone in the same place. You don’t even need everyone free for long. People can drop in late, leave early, or just listen in. That flexibility makes it easier to actually make plans happen instead of talking about them for weeks and never following through.

Games give you something to do together

A lot of social plans rely on conversation alone. That’s fine, but it can feel awkward or draining, especially after a long day. Games give everyone a shared focus. Something to react to. Something to laugh about.

That’s why even a quick game of poker without the need to gamble can be enough to spark an evening. You’re not staring at each other waiting for topics to come up. You’re doing something together, and conversation flows naturally around it. The activity carries the social weight, which takes pressure off everyone involved.

It’s social without being exhausting

There’s a big difference between being social and being overwhelmed. Loud spaces, constant noise, and forced energy drain people faster than they realise. Gaming lets you control the vibe.

You can talk when you want. Stay quiet when you don’t. Sit in comfortable clothes. Eat your own food. That balance makes socialising feel sustainable again, especially for people who still want connection but don’t want to be “on” all the time. It’s relaxed in a way that traditional nights out rarely are anymore.

Distance stops mattering as much

One of the quietly powerful things about gaming nights is how they keep long-distance friendships alive. When friends move away, staying close usually gets harder over time. Messages get shorter. Calls get rarer. Life fills the gaps.

Games create shared experiences again. Inside jokes. Moments. Stories you reference later. You’re not just catching up on life, you’re doing something together in the present. That shared time matters more than people realise, especially when geography would otherwise pull friendships apart.

It’s easier to mix different friend groups

Combining friend groups can be awkward. Different personalities. Different interests. Different dynamics. Gaming smooths that out because it gives everyone common ground instantly.

You don’t need to explain why you know someone or manage conversation flow. The game does that for you. People bond over mechanics, strategies, and shared wins. Over time, separate groups start feeling like one because they’re connected through the same activity rather than forced interaction.

You end up meeting new people naturally

Another unexpected bonus is how often gaming introduces you to new people. Friends bring friends. Someone invites a teammate. Suddenly there’s a new voice in the group chat and everyone gets to know them.

Because you’re already doing something together, meeting new people feels low-pressure. There’s no awkward introduction phase. You’re just there, playing. That’s how groups grow without effort, and how social circles expand without needing formal plans or events.

It reflects a bigger cultural shift

This isn’t just a personal thing. Gaming is now completely reshaping global culture, including how people socialise. It’s no longer niche or isolating. It’s mainstream, shared, and woven into how friendships work.

People don’t talk about games instead of life. They talk about life while playing games. That distinction matters. Gaming hasn’t replaced socialising. It’s adapted it to fit modern lives that are busier, more expensive, and more spread out than ever before.

Why gaming instead of a night out just makes sense in today’s world

At some point, the question stops being whether gaming is a good way to spend a night in with friends, and starts being why it works so well. It removes the pressure, the cost, and the effort that often get in the way of seeing people you care about. You still laugh, still talk, still share moments, just without the hassle that comes with traditional plans. It fits around real life instead of competing with it.

For a lot of people, that’s exactly what makes it special. You don’t have to choose between being social and being comfortable. You don’t have to wait for the perfect time or perfect plan. You just show up, play something together, and let the evening unfold naturally. And once you realise how easy and enjoyable that feels, it’s hard not to wonder why you ever made it more complicated than it needed to be.

The Best Online Casino-Themed Video Games Available in the U.S.

Sebastian Bickley
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The Best Online Casino-Themed Video Games Available in the U.S.

Open up a U.S console store, type “casino”, and the results are a mess. Some tiles look like straight-up gambling apps, some look like parody cartoons, and every so often, there is a game that actually feels like a proper video game first and a casino second. Those are the ones players talk about on forums at 2 a.m., usually while they are still sitting at a virtual poker table.

If you care about the feel of a game, not just a giant “spin” button and a shower of coins, that distinction matters. Plenty of software borrows the casino floor’s look. Far fewer titles use that setting to build characters, communities, or online spaces that people want to come back to for months.

So, the focus here is deliberately narrow. Not real-money casinos, not bonus code landing pages, just the online casino-themed video games available in the U.S that behave like games, with systems to learn, lobbies to sit in, and stories to tell in the group chat later.

Walking Into a Casino That Lives on Your Console

The easiest reference point is The Four Kings Casino and Slots. On the store page, it sits in the same category as dozens of other casino apps. On a television, once it loads in, it feels closer to a small-scale MMO that happens to be obsessed with blackjack, roulette, and slots.

There is a character creator. There is a hotel-style lobby. Players drift between bars, banks of machines, and table pits in real time, waving, sitting, standing back up again. Chips are virtual, wardrobes unlock slowly, and seasonal events come and go. It is more like walking through a digital resort than clicking icons in a menu.

Because everything runs on play money, it scratches a similar itch to browsing the latest no deposit bonuses during a quiet moment at work, but with more texture. Walking across patterned carpet to reach a favourite machine is a tiny detail, yet it still changes the way the space feels. Many nights inside Four Kings end up being more about quietly hanging out than chasing any specific win.

AAA Video Games with Casinos Hiding Inside

Beyond dedicated casino titles, there are the blockbusters that quietly double as casino sims for anyone who wants them to.

Grand Theft Auto V is the obvious example. With the Diamond Casino and Resort update, the game added a high-rise casino complex to Los Santos. On paper, it is one location among many. In practice, for a lot of players, it becomes its own game inside the game, with late nights spent between the blackjack tables, the slot machines, and the horse racing lounge while the rest of the map waits outside.

Red Dead Redemption 2 plays the same trick, but at a very different speed. Its poker games in back rooms and saloons are slow, talky, and incredibly sticky. Hands stretch out. Characters mumble. A few chips change hands at a time. Players often log on planning to clear a main mission, then realise an hour later that they are still sitting at the same felt table, inventing rivalries with AI ranchers and outlaws.

Japanese series like Yakuza and its spin-offs, such as Judgment, add their own take. Behind doors and down staircases sit small casino rooms with blackjack, roulette, mahjong, and slot-style machines, all wrapped inside crime stories and side quests. Fallout: New Vegas makes the casino its whole backdrop, turning the strip into a run of themed houses that each handle cards, credit, and comps slightly differently.

Poker Games That Treat the Table Like a Stage

For some players, the casino exists only around the poker table. Modern poker games lean into that, building the whole experience around online tournaments, tells, and that slow rhythm of fold, call, raise, repeat.

Prominence Poker is one of the names that keep coming up. The city it is set in, Prominence, is fictional, but the structure is familiar. There are back rooms, bigger rooms, bosses to beat, and crews to face down. The story framing is pulpy, almost comic-book at times, yet underneath it sits a real Texas Hold’em engine that rewards patience and reads.

Sessions can feel messy in a good way. Players fidget, gesture, and lean back in their chairs. Emotes fire at odd moments. The game keeps track of progress over time, so a lucky night against strangers can quietly push an avatar up a rung on the ladder.

Pure Hold’em takes the opposite route in tone. It sells the fantasy of polished TV poker, with studio lights, sharp tables, and very clean camera cuts between angles. Players begin at low-limit tables and work their way upward, watching chip stacks grow and shrink. The online lobbies look less like a casino pit and more like a tournament lobby, but the rhythm of hands, blinds, and pressure is the same.

Old-School Chips and Stranger Spins on the Formula

None of this came out of nowhere. Older players can point to cartridge-era casino games that lived and died on simple blackjack and slot simulations, or to the tiny gambling corners of role-playing games that ran on 16-bit hardware. The graphics were blocky, the rules were the same.

Modern indie games take those ideas and twist them into odd shapes. Some use card draws and dice as the backbone of deckbuilding or roguelike systems. Others take the bright lights, chiming sound effects, and spinning symbols of the casino floor and wrap them around rhythm challenges or bullet-hell shooters. The result does not look like a traditional casino, but it feels strangely close in the moments where a run comes down to one last roll of the dice.

Our Favourite Casino-Themed Video Games Overview

  • The Four Kings Casino and Slots
  • Prominence Poker
  • Pure Hold’em
  • Grand Theft Auto V: Diamond Casino and Resort
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 poker and blackjack
  • Yakuza / Judgment casino rooms
  • Fallout: New Vegas strip casinos

A Different Kind of Casino Night

Put all of that side by side, and the pattern becomes easier to see. The casino in 2025 is not only a building; it is also a setting developers use to create tension, glamour, or a certain kind of late-night energy.

For U.S players, that means a casino-themed session can look like a walk through The Four Kings lobby, a long night in Prominence Poker, a quick visit to the Diamond Casino before a heist, or an hour lost to a dusty Red Dead table. The stakes are virtual, the chips reset, and nobody has to catch a flight home. The stories that come out of those sessions, though, still sound a lot like the ones people tell after a real trip to the tables.

Jacquemus Fall 2026 “Le Palmier” & His Grandmother

Vera Adamidou
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Jacquemus Fall 2026 “Le Palmier” & His Grandmother

Excitement around Jacquemus’ upcoming ready-to-wear “Le Palmier” collection needed no help. The runway took care of that. What did need clarifying, though, was the label’s emotional center. So, days before the show, Simon Porte Jacquemus made quiet the announcement, the first brand ambassador in the house’s history. And it felt personal, because it was.

Less than a week before the show, Simon posted a cryptic Instagram story. “Good evening. This week I’ll announce my very first Jacquemus ambassador… I can’t believe it. See you soon.” The guessing game began immediately, supermodel, actress, pop star, all predictable. The announcement wasn’t. Liline Jacquemus, his 79-year-old grandmother got the title. And we couldn’t be happier. Fans didn’t need a second glance, she’d been in Simon’s 2020 summer campaign, shot at home during the pandemic.

Screenshot of Jacquemus' grandma-brand ambassador announcement via Instagram
@jacquemus via Instagram

“Before Jacquemus existed, she was already my inspiration. Her strength, her elegance, her authenticity… she shaped the way I see women, and the way I imagine this Maison.” But with that honor comes rules. As Simon wrote in his announcement post “The ambassador must not pronounce the names of other fashion houses. The ambassador must not wear any other brand, archive, label, or ‘just something comfortable’ comfort is conceptual. The ambassador must not remove Jacquemus pieces at home, at night, or in dreams.” You get it. In a world obsessed with worshipping “star faces”, Liline is more than welcome. Just like family values, real inspiration, and raw emotions. Fashion actually needed her.

It all started with little teaser videos that carried the name of the collection, and… well, palm-tree hairstyles. That iconic ’80s-it style, made just weird enough to be cool. Even the invitations to the show came with a comb and a Jacquemus’ step-by-step guide to the perfect, proudly standing palmier. So yes, it was a pretty fun collection, but the fun didn’t end on the head. “I wanted to have this strong woman, the spirit of the ’80s, the cut of the ’50s, and the sensuality of the ’90s,” the creative told Vogue.

Screenshot of Jacquemus' Instagram post featuring a runway moment of the "Le Palmier" show
@jacquemus via Instagram

Think hourglass silhouettes, huge hats, not just the elegant kind, but also the kind a 5-year-old birthday boy would approve of. Blacks and vivid colors like reds, yellows, and turqoises, patterns like polka dots and animal prints, fringes everywhere. And when I saw everywhere, I mean at the Picasso Museum where everything took place, let’s not forget his love for Paloma and Pablo Picasso. His finale was a recreation of the dress painted in “Woman with a Fan” after all. One shoulder, glass in the right place, and Jacquemus reminding us of what matters.

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Couture Debut Smelled Like Flowers – Cyclamens To Be Exact

Vera Adamidou
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Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Couture Debut Smelled Like Flowers – Cyclamens To Be Exact

“The more you love the brand, the more it will give you back.” That was the line Anderson heard last year when he asked John Galliano to meet him and his first ever collection for the Christian Dior label. For Galliano, the designer who stayed by the side of the brand for more years than Christian Dior himself, some would’ve expected a grand speech or a cryptic fashion prophecy, but luckily, he arrived at the office with a bag of Tesco sweets and a modest bunch of cyclamen, tied neatly with black silk ribbons. “I took this as a starting point so that everyone could receive the same posy of flowers I had received,” Anderson shared on his Instagram, just a few days before the show.

Screenshot of Jonathan Anderson's Instagram post with the posy of Cyclamens
@jonathan.anderson via Instagram

If you’re launching a couture era, flowers with a backstory, plus a Galliano cameo, are a pretty solid place to start. And as it seems, it’s the move to finally make Galliano attend a Dior show too. It had been over a decade since he had been part of any Dior runway moment, the man was last tied to the house back in 2011, before the long, long gap that followed. “He is Dior in the public imagination, still to this day, because what he built was so big in terms of the rebirth of fashion. I loved the idea of him being back at Dior. I felt like it was a full-circle moment,” Anderson told Business of Fashion, and I couldn’t agree more.

Screenshot of Jonathan Anderson's Instagram post with John Galliano at the show
@jonathan.anderson via Instagram

After the guests received their now-signature flowers in a white Dior box that carried the show’s invitation, they walked in the venue only to be greeted by more flowers. A ceiling of them, actually. Cyclamen, of course. Everyone slowly took their seats, Brigitte Macron, France’s First Lady, Bernard Arnault, LVMH chairman, Jeff Bezos, Pharrell Williams, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Carla Bruni, Jennifer Lawrence, pretty much everyone, except Rihanna. Naturally, the show ran an hour late. Honestly, I think I’d wait for Rihanna too.

Screenshot of Jonathan Anderson's Instagram post with an image of the show's runway
@jonathan.anderson via Instagram

But when it finally started, the opener came as a trio of dresses with tulle-built hourglass volumes, familiar enough to remind us of the creative’s ready-to-wear debut. And as the show went on, those shapes only grew larger, thanks to Magdalene Odundo, a ceramicist Anderson likes to keep close. Every single look had some kind of flower attached to it. If it wasn’t on the garment, it was on the shoes, if it wasn’t on the shoes, it sat on a shoulder, and when it wasn’t on a shoulder, it ended up glued to the model’s ears. Still, the collection wasn’t nearly as extra as that sounds. Everything was toned down a notch, mixing high and low elements. I saw sculptural volumes, sparkling sequins, soft feathers, elegant drapes, but I also saw Raf Simons-coded coats, knitwear and ribbed tank tops, and I really enjoyed the tension. It kind of framed the ateliers’ power as something clear, essential, commanding.

“Couture is kind of an endangered craft, as a mindset, a mythology, and making with hand. What Dior is doing, and other couture houses, which there’s not many left, they’re protecting this endangered craft as a national symbol of making,” Anderson shared with Business of Fashion. “Dior couture needs to exist because they (the artisans) are practicing a skill that if you don’t practice would disappear.” And that’s exactly why haute couture carries that sense of sacredness. It exists far away from almost everyone, except for the few clients invited into the maison’s private world built around that collection. But that distance, the fact that 99.5% of the public remains on the outside, is the whole point. Couture feeds on imagination, and mostly lives there long after the show is over. It’s a backstreet in an industry that keeps growing bigger and faster every day, celebrating chosen pairs of hands, their work, their traditions, and the luxury of taking time.

Sustainable Fabrics Every Fashion Lover Should Know

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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Sustainable Fabrics Every Fashion Lover Should Know

Fashion has always been a form of self-expression, but lately, it has also become a reflection of our values. More shoppers are pausing before checkout, asking where their clothes come from, how they’re made, and what kind of impact they leave behind. Sustainability is no longer a niche conversation it’s shaping how people build their wardrobes, invest in quality pieces, and connect emotionally with what they wear.

For many fashion lovers, this shift starts with fabric awareness. From organic fibers to innovative plant-based materials, understanding textiles can completely change the shopping experience. Even traditionally luxurious pieces, such as women’s silk clothing, are now being viewed through a more mindful lens, with consumers paying closer attention to sourcing, durability, and long-term wear rather than fast trends.

Below are some of the most important sustainable fabrics every fashion lover should know, along with why they matter in real-life wardrobe choices.

Why Fabric Choice Matters More Than Ever

Before we drill down on some actual material options, it might be helpful to understand why fabrics are such a big deal in the world of sustainable fashion. The fashion industry consumes massive amounts of water, energy, and chemicals. From a consumer’s point of view, this means a garment might feel disposable something with a tendency to fall apart, fade quickly, or simply not hang together well after a few wearings.

Sustainable materials turn the script on the above experience. These materials will likely be more breathable, durable, and skin-friendly compared to other materials. The end-user will enjoy fewer replacements, a more confident wardrobe, and a look that is less chaotic and more intentional.

Organic Cotton: A Better Everyday Essential

Organic cotton is normally the most popular entry point toward a more sustainable lifestyle. Conventional cotton is compared and contrasted with organic cotton, which is cultivated using less water, no toxic pesticides, and no fertilizers.

From a consumer standpoint, organic cotton stands out for its softness and breathability. T-shirts, dresses, and basics made from this fabric tend to feel gentler on sensitive skin and hold up better after repeated washes. Many shoppers also appreciate the transparency around farming practices, which builds trust and loyalty toward more responsible fashion choices.

Linen: Effortless Style with Low Impact

Linen has traditionally been associated with effortless elegance, and its sustainable profile makes it even more attractive. Since linen is derived from flax plants, it requires less water and fewer chemical treatments. 

In terms of use, linen is the ultimate comfort fabric for tropical weather. It not only cools the body but also relaxes the wearer. Furthermore, linen tends to wrinkle quite easily. However, because of its popularity, linen wrinkles are no longer seen as a drawback but rather a testimony to its authenticity.

Hemp Fabric: Durable and Surprisingly Soft

One of the unique features of hemp is its friendly nature compared to other fibers found on earth. Hemp grows rapidly, maintains soil health, and requires less water than other crops.

One thing that often surprises the shopper, however, is the wearing quality of hemp. Contemporary hemp textiles are now soft, lightweight, and durable. For fashion enthusiasts concerned with quality, hemp clothing will often become, well, an essential or treasured favorite with a beautiful patina.

Responsible Silk: Rethinking a Classic Luxury

Silk has long been associated with the badge of elegance, but the question of sustainability has led the silk industry towards adopting a more measured approach. The concept of ethical silk incorporates sustainable agriculture, the minimized use of chemicals, and more long-lasting garments.

The desirability of silk fabrics to consumers is predominantly based on its versatility and texture. The ability to breathe, regulate, and be kind to the skin makes silk fabrics instant wardrobe favorites, rather than just an occasional treat. Consumers especially appreciate designs that transcend seasonal boundaries, aligning with the ethos of buying better, not more.

Recycled Fabrics: Giving Materials a Second Life

Recycled fabrics might be made from recycled polyester or nylon and are created from post-consumer materials such as plastic containers and old clothing. While not perfect, they do reduce landfill waste and encourage us to use less virgin material.

In terms of user experience, the quality of fabric produced from recycled materials has significantly improved. Fashion lovers cannot distinguish them from the regular fabric, which is a major step towards widespread acceptance. There is added emotional fulfillment if the garment is a means of reducing, rather than contributing to, waste.

Wool: Natural, Renewable, and Long-Lasting

Wool is a renewable resource, bio-degradable, has high insulation properties, and if handled properly, can be one of the most sustainable materials in cooler weather conditions.

People appreciate the quality that wool has to offer. It is hard to wear out, making it last for several years, maybe even decades, if it is of excellent quality. Buying such clothes is always the best decision. Another great feature of wool is the natural heat regulation property.

How Consumers Are Changing the Way They Shop

One noticeable trend among fashion-conscious consumers is the shift from impulse buying to intentional purchasing. People are reading labels, researching fabrics, and thinking about how each piece fits into their lifestyle.

Sustainable fabrics play a big role in this behavior change. When clothing feels better to wear and aligns with personal values, it creates a deeper connection between the wearer and the garment. This often leads to better care, longer use, and a more curated wardrobe overall.

Building a More Thoughtful Wardrobe

Knowing sustainable fabrics isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress. Most consumers aren’t replacing their entire closet overnight. Instead, they’re making gradual changes, choosing better materials when it’s time to buy something new.

By focusing on comfort, longevity, and versatility, fashion lovers can create wardrobes that feel good in every sense. Sustainable fabrics support not just the planet, but also a more satisfying and mindful fashion experience one that values quality over quantity and personal style over passing trends.

Grammys 2026 Winners: See the Full List

Konstantinos Pappis
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Grammys 2026 Winners: See the Full List

The 68th annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, February 1, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Kendrick Lamar, who led the pack with nine nominations, walked away with four trophies, while Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos became the first-ever fully Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year.

Lady Gaga took home three Grammys, including Best Pop Vocal Album for MAYHEM, Best Dance Pop Recording for ‘Abracadabra’, and Best Remixed Recording (for Gesaffelstein’s remix of ‘Abracadabra’). Olivia Dean was named Best New Artist, while The Cure, Turnstile, Lola Young, and more won their first-ever Grammys. The first-ever Grammy for Best Album Coverwent to Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA.

Check out the full list of winners below.

Album of the Year
Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Clipse, Pusha T & Malice – Let God Sort Em Out
Justin Bieber – Swag
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
Lady Gaga – Mayhem
Leon Thomas – Mutt
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

Record of the Year
Bad Bunny – DTMF
Billie Eilish – Wildflower
Chappell Roan – The Subway
Doechii – Anxiety
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – Luther
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
Rosé & Bruno Mars – Apt.
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild

Song of the Year
Bad Bunny – DTMF
Billie Eilish – Wildflower
Doechii – Anxiety
Huntr/x – Golden
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – Luther
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
Rosé & Bruno Mars – Apt.
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild

Best Pop Solo Performance
Chappell Roan – The Subway
Justin Bieber – Daisies
Lady Gaga – Disease
Lola Young – Messy
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild

Best Pop Vocal Album
Justin Bieber – Swag
Lady Gaga – Mayhem
Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
Teddy Swims – I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2)

Best Contemporary Country Album
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. the Machine
Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken
Kelsea Ballerini – Patterns
Miranda Lambert – Postcards From Texas
Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter

Best Música Urbana Album
Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Feid – Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado
J Balvin – Mixteip
Nicki Nicole – Naiki
Trueno – EUB Deluxe
Yandel – Sinfónico (En Vivo)

Best New Artist
Addison Rae
Alex Warren
Katseye
Leon Thomas
Lola Young
The Marías
Olivia Dean
Sombr

Best Rap Album
Clipse, Pusha T & Malice – Let God Sort Em Out
Glorilla – Glorious
JID – God Does Like Ugly
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Blake Mills
Cirkut
Dan Auerbach
Dijon
Sounwave

Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical
Amy Allen
Edgar Barrera
Jessie Jo Dillon
Laura Veltz
Tobias Jesso Jr.

Best Pop/Duo Group Performance
Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande – Defying Gravity
Huntr/x – Golden
Katseye – Gabriela
Rosé & Bruno Mars – Apt.
SZA With Kendrick Lamar – 30 for 30

Best Dance/Electronic Recording
Disclosure & Anderson .Paak – No Cap
Fred Again.., Skepta & PlaqueBoyMax – Victory Lap
Kaytranada – Space Invader
Skrillex – Voltage
Tame Impala – End of Summer

Best Dance Pop Recording
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
PinkPantheress – Illegal
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco – Bluest Flame
Tate McRae – Just Keep Watching (From F1® the Movie)
Zara Larsson – Midnight Sun

Best Dance/Electronic Album
FKA twigs – Eusexua
Fred Again.. – Ten Days
PinkPantheress – Fancy That
Rüfüs Du Sol – Inhale / Exhale
Skrillex – F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3

Best Remixed Recording
The Chemical Brothers & Chris Lake – Galvanize (Chris Lake Remix)
Huntr/x & David Guetta – Golden (David Guetta Rem/x)
Lady Gaga & Gesaffelstein – Abracadabra (Gesaffelstein Remix)
Mariah Carey & Kaytranada – Don’t Forget About Us (Kaytranada Remix)
Soul II Soul – A Dreams a Dream (Ron Trent Refix)

Best Rock Performance
Amyl and the Sniffers – U Should Not Be Doing That
Hayley Williams – Mirtazapine
Linkin Park – The Emptiness Machine
Turnstile – Never Enough
Yungblud, Nuno Bettencourt & Frank Bello Featuring Adam Wakeman & II – Changes (Live From Villa Park / Back to the Beginning)

Best Metal Performance
Dream Theater – Night Terror
Ghost – Lachryma
Sleep Token – Emergence
Spiritbox – Soft Spine
Turnstile – Birds

Best Rock Song
Hayley Williams – Glum
Nine Inch Nails – As Alive as You Need Me to Be
Sleep Token – Caramel
Turnstile – Never Enough
Yungblud – Zombie

Best Rock Album
Deftones – Private Music
Haim – I Quit
Linkin Park – From Zero
Turnstile – Never Enough
Yungblud – Idols

Best Alternative Music Performance
Bon Iver – Everything Is Peaceful Love
The Cure – Alone
Hayley Williams – Parachute
Turnstile – Seein’ Stars
Wet Leg – Mangetout

Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE
The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Tyler, the Creator – Don’t Tap the Glass
Wet Leg – Moisturizer

Best R&B Performance
Chris Brown Featuring Bryson Tiller – It Depends
Justin Bieber – Yukon
Kehlani – Folded
Leon Thomas – Mutt (Live from NPR’s Tiny Desk)
Summer Walker – Heart of a Woman

Best Traditional R&B Performance
Durand Bernarr – Here We Are
Lalah Hathaway – Uptown
Ledisi – Love You Too
Leon Thomas – Vibes Don’t Lie
SZA – Crybaby

Best R&B Song
Chris Brown Featuring Bryson Tiller – It Depends
Durand Bernarr – Overqualified
Kehlani – Folded
Leon Thomas – Yes It Is
Summer Walker – Heart of a Woman

Best Progressive R&B Album
Bilal – Adjust Brightness
Destin Conrad – Love on Digital
Durand Bernarr – Bloom
Flo – Access All Areas
Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon – Come as You Are

Best R&B Album
Coco Jones – Why Not More?
Giveon – Beloved
Ledisi – The Crown
Leon Thomas – Mutt
Teyana Taylor – Escape Room

Best Rap Performance
Cardi B – Outside
Clipse, Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T & Malice – Chains & Whips
Doechii – Anxiety
Kendrick Lamar Featuring Lefty Gunplay – TV Off
Tyler, the Creator Featuring Teezo Touchdown – Darling, I

Best Melodic Rap Performance
Fridayy & Meek Mill – Proud of Me
JID, Ty Dolla $ign & 6lack – Wholeheartedly
Kendrick Lamar & SZA – Luther
PartyNextDoor & Drake – Somebody Loves Me
Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon Featuring Rapsody – WeMaj

Best Spoken Word Poetry Album
Marc Marcel – Black Shaman
Omari Hardwick & Anthony Hamilton – Pages
Queen Sheba – A Hurricane in Heels: Healed People Don’t Act Like That (Partially Recorded Live @City Winery & Other Places)
Saul Williams & Carlos Niño & Friends – Saul Williams Meets Carlos Niño & Friends at Treepeople (Live)
Mad Skillz – Words for Days, Vol. 1

Best Jazz Performance
Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade – Windows (Live)
Lakecia Benjamin Featuring Immanuel Wilkins & Mark Whitfield – Noble Rise
Michael Mayo – Four
Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach & Tom Scott Featuring Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold, Rachel Eckroth & Sam Weber – All Stars Lead to You (Live)
Samara Joy – Peace of Mind / Dreams Come True

Best Jazz Vocal Album
Dee Dee Bridgewater & Bill Charlap – Elemental
Michael Mayo – Fly
Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach & Tom Scott Featuring Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold, Rachel Eckroth & Sam Weber – Live at Vic’s Las Vegas
Samara Joy – Portrait
Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell – We Insist 2025!

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Branford Marsalis Quartet – Belonging
Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade – Trilogy 3 (Live)
John Patitucci Featuring Chris Potter & Brian Blade – Spirit Fall
Sullivan Fortner – Southern Nights
Yellowjackets – Fasten Up

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Christian McBride – Without Further Ado, Vol 1
Danilo Pérez & Bohuslän Big Band – Lumen
Deborah Silver & The Count Basie Orchestra – Basie Rocks!
Kenny Wheeler Legacy Featuring The Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra & Frost Jazz Orchestra – Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores
Sun Ra Arkestra – Lights on a Satellite

Best Latin Jazz Album
Arturo O’Farrill – The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico (Live at Town Hall)
Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra – Mundoagua – Celebrating Carla Bley
Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta & Joey Calveiro – A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole
Miguel Zenón Quartet – Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard
Paquito D’Rivera – Madrid-New York Connection Band – La Fleur de Cayenne

Best Alternative Jazz Album
Ambrose Akinmusire – Honey From a Winter Stone
Brad Mehldau – Ride into the Sun
Immanuel Wilkins – Blues Blood
Nate Smith – Live-Action
Robert Glasper – Keys to the City Volume One

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Barbra Streisand – The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2
Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels?
Jennifer Hudson – The Gift of Love
Lady Gaga – Harlequin
Laila Biali – Wintersongs
Laufey – A Matter of Time

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Arkai – Brightside
Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda & Antonio Sánchez – BEATrio
Bob James & Dave Koz – Just Us
Charu Suri – Shayan
Gerald Clayton – Ones & Twos

Best Musical Theater Album
Buena Vista Social Club
Death Becomes Her
Gypsy
Just in Time
Maybe Happy Ending

Best Country Solo Performance
Chris Stapleton – Bad as I Used to Be (From F1® the Movie)
Lainey Wilson – Somewhere Over Laredo
Shaboozey – Good News
Tyler Childers – Nose on the Grindstone
Zach Top – I Never Lie

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
George Strait Featuring Chris Stapleton – Honky Tonk Hall of Fame
Margo Price Featuring Tyler Childers – Love Me Like You Used to Do
Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton – A Song to Sing
Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert & Lainey Wilson – Trailblazer
Shaboozey & Jelly Roll – Amen

Best Country Song
Lainey Wilson – Somewhere Over Laredo
Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton – A Song to Sing
Shaboozey – Good News
Tyler Childers – Bitin’ List
Zach Top – I Never Lie

Best Traditional Country Album
Charley Crockett – Dollar a Day
Lukas Nelson – American Romance
Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman
Willie Nelson – Oh What a Beautiful World
Zach Top – Ain’t in It for My Health

Best American Roots Performance
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Richmond on the James
I’m With Her – Ancient Light
Jason Isbell – Crimson and Clay
Jon Batiste Featuring Randy Newman – Lonely Avenue
Mavis Staples – Beautiful Strangers

Best Americana Performance
Jesse Welles – Horses
Maggie Rose & Grace Potter – Poison in My Well
Mavis Staples – Godspeed
Molly Tuttle – That’s Gonna Leave a Mark
Sierra Hull – Boom

Best American Roots Song
I’m With Her – Ancient Light
Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow
Jesse Welles – Middle
Jon Batiste – Big Money
Sierra Hull – Spitfire

Best Americana Album
Jesse Welles – Middle
Jon Batiste – Big Money
Larkin Poe – Bloom
Molly Tuttle – So Long Little Miss Sunshine
Willie Nelson – Last Leaf on the Tree

Best Bluegrass Album
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Arcadia
Billy Strings – Highway Prayers
Michael Cleveland & Jason Carter – Carter & Cleveland
Sierra Hull – A Tip Toe High Wire
The Steeldrivers – Outrun

Best Traditional Blues Album
Buddy Guy – Ain’t Done With the Blues
Charlie Musselwhite – Look Out Highway
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Bobby Rush – Young Fashioned Ways
Maria Muldaur – One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey
Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ – Room on the Porch

Best Contemporary Blues Album
Eric Gales – A Tribute to LJK
Joe Bonamassa – Breakthrough
Robert Randolph – Preacher Kids
Samantha Fish – Paper Doll
Southern Avenue – Family

Best Folk Album
I’m With Her – Wild and Clear and Blue
Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow
Jesse Welles – Under the Powerlines (Live April 2024 – September 2024)
Patty Griffin – Crown of Roses
Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson – What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow

Best Regional Roots Music Album
Corey Henry & The Treme Funktet – Live at Vaughan’s
Kyle Roussel – Church of New Orleans
Preservation Brass & Preservation Hall Jazz Band – For Fat Man
Trombone Shorty & New Breed Brass Band – Second Line Sunday
Various Artists – A Tribute to the King of Zydeco

Best Gospel Performance/Song
Cece Winans & Shirley Caesar – Come Jesus Come
Jonathan McReynolds & Jamal Roberts – Still (Live)
Kirk Franklin – Do It Again
Pastor Mike Jr. – Amen
Tasha Cobbs Leonard & John Legend – Church

Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
Brandon Lake & Jelly Roll – Hard Fought Hallelujah
Darrel Walls & PJ Morton – Amazing
Elevation Worship, Chris Brown & Brandon Lake – I Know a Name
Forrest Frank – Your Way’s Better
Lecrae, Killer Mike & T.I. – Headphones

Best Gospel Album
Darrel Walls & PJ Morton – Heart of Mine
Tamela Mann – Live Breathe Fight
Tasha Cobbs Leonard – Tasha
Tye Tribbett – Only on the Road (Live)
Yolanda Adams – Sunny Days

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
Brandon Lake – King of Hearts
Forrest Frank – Child of God II
Israel & New Breed – Coritos, Vol. 1
Lecrae – Reconstruction
Tauren Wells – Let the Church Sing

Best Roots Gospel Album
The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir – I Will Not Be Moved (Live)
Candi Staton – Back to My Roots
Gaither Vocal Band – Then Came the Morning
The Isaacs – Praise & Worship: More Than a Hollow Hallelujah
Karen Peck & New River – Good Answers

Best Latin Pop Album
Alejandro Sanz – ¿Y Ahora Qué?
Andrés Cepeda – Bogotá (Deluxe)
Karol G – Tropicoqueta
Natalia Lafourcade – Cancionera
Rauw Alejandro – Cosa Nuestra

Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
Aterciopelados – Genes Rebeldes
Bomba Estéreo, Rawayana & Astropical – Astropical
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso – Papota
Fito Páez – Novela
Los Wizzards – Algorhythm

Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano)
Bobby Pulido – Bobby Pulido & Friends Una Tuya Y una Mía – Por la Puerta Grande (En Vivo)
Carín León – Palabra de To’s (Seca)
Fuerza Regida & Grupo Frontera – Mala Mía
Grupo Frontera – Y Lo Que Viene
Paola Jara – Sin Rodeos

Best Tropical Latin Album
Alain Pérez – Bingo
Gilberto Santa Rosa – Debut y Segunda Tanda, Vol. 2
Gloria Estefan – Raíces
Grupo Niche – Clásicos 1.0
Rubén Blades Featuring Roberto Delgado & Orquesta – Fotografías

Best Global Music Performance
Angélique Kidjo – Jerusalema
Anoushka Shankar Featuring Alam Khan & Sarathy Korwar – Daybreak
Bad Bunny – Eoo
Ciro Hurtado – Cantando en el Camino
Shakti – Shrini’s Dream (Live)
Yeisy Rojas – Inmigrante y Que?

Best African Music Performance
Ayra Starr & Wizkid – Gimme Dat
Burna Boy – Love
Davido Featuring Omah Lay – With You
Eddy Kenzo & Mehran Matin – Hope & Love
Tyla – Push 2 Start

Best Global Music Album
Anoushka Shankar Featuring Alam Khan & Sarathy Korwar – Chapter III: We Return to Light
Burna Boy – No Sign of Weakness
Caetano Veloso & Maria Bethânia – Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo
Shakti – Mind Explosion (50th Anniversary Tour Live)
Siddhant Bhatia – Sounds of Kumbha
Youssou N’Dour – Éclairer le monde – Light the World

Best Reggae Album
Jesse Royal – No Place Like Home
Keznamdi – Blxxd & Fyah
Lila Iké – Treasure Self Love
Mortimer – From Within
Vybz Kartel – Heart & Soul

Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album
Carla Patullo – Nomadica
Cheryl B. Engelhardt & Gem – According to the Moon
Chris Redding – The Colors in My Mind
Jahnavi Harrison – Into the Forest
Kirsten Agresta-Copely – Kuruvinda

Best Children’s Music Album
Flor Bromley – Herstory
Fyütch & Aura V – Harmony
Joanie Leeds & Joya – Ageless: 100 Years Young
Mega Ran – Buddy’s Magic Tree House
Tori Amos – The Music of Tori and the Muses

Best Comedy Album
Ali Wong – Single Lady
Bill Burr – Drop Dead Years
Jamie Foxx – What Had Happened Was…
Nate Bargatze – Your Friend, Nate Bargatze
Sarah Silverman – PostMortem

Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording
Dalai Lama – Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Fab Morvan – You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli
Kathy Garver – Elvis, Rocky & Me: The Carol Connors Story
Ketanji Brown Jackson – Lovely One: A Memoir
Trevor Noah – Into the Uncut Grass

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Various Artists – F1® the Album
Various Artists – KPop Demon Hunters
Various Artists – Sinners
Various Artists – Wicked

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television)
John Powell – How to Train Your Dragon
John Powell & Stephen Schwartz – Wicked
Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot
Ludwig Göransson – Sinners
Theodore Shapiro – Severance: Season 2

Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media
Austin Wintory – Sword of the Sea
Gordy Haab – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Pinar Toprak – Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – Secrets of the Spires
Wilbert Roget, II – Helldivers 2
Wilbert Roget, II & Cody Matthew Johnson – Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card & A Pirate’s Fortune

Best Song Written for Visual Media
Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Never Too Late (From the Film “Elton John: Never Too Late”)
Huntr/x – Golden
Jayme Lawson – Pale, Pale Moon
Miles Caton – I Lied to You
Nine Inch Nails – As Alive as You Need Me to Be
Rod Wave – Sinners

Best Music Video
Clipse – So Be It
Doechii – Anxiety
OK Go – Love
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
Sade – Young Lion

Best Music Film
Devo – Devo
Diane Warren – Relentless
John Williams – Music by John Williams
Pharrell Williams – Piece by Piece
Raye – Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Best Recording Package
Bruce Springsteen – Tracks II: The Lost Albums
Duran Duran – Danse Macabre: De Luxe
Mac Miller – Balloonerism
Mac Miller – The Spins (Picture Disc Vinyl)
OK Go – And the Adjacent Possible
Tsunami – Loud Is As
Various Artists – Sequoia

Best Album Cover
Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Djo – The Crux
Perfume Genius – Glory
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia
Wet Leg – Moisturizer

Best Album Notes
Amanda Ekery – Árabe
Buck Owens and His Buckaroos – Adios, Farewell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long: On Stage 1964-1974
Anouar Brahem, Anja Lechner, Django Bates & Dave Holland – After the Last Sky
Miles Davis – Miles ’55: The Prestige Recordings
Sly and the Family Stone – The First Family: Live at the Winchester Cathedral 1967
Wilco – A Ghost Is Born (Expanded Edition)

Best Historical Album
Doc Pomus – You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos
Joni Mitchell – Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)
Nick Drake – The Making of Five Leaves Left
Various Artists – Roots Rocking Zimbabwe – The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975-1980 (Analog Africa No.41)
Various Artists – Super Disco Pirata – De Tepito Para el Mundo 1965-1980 (Analog Africa No.39)

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Arcadia
Cam – All Things Light
Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream

Best Engineered Album, Classical
Andris Nelsons, Kristine Opolais, Günther Groissböck, Peter Hoare, Brenden Gunnell & Boston Symphony Orchestra – Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District
The Cleveland Orchestra & Franz Welser-Möst – Eastman: Symphony No. 2 – Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2
Sandbox Percussion – Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Third Coast Percussion – Standard Stoppages
Trio Mediæval – Yule

Producer of the Year, Classical
Blanton Alspaugh
Dmitriy Lipay
Elaine Martone
Morten Lindberg
Sergei Kvitko

Best Immersive Audio Album
Duckwrth – All American F**k Boy
Justin Gray – Immersed
Tearjerkers – Tearjerkers
Trio Mediæval – Yule
Various Artists – An Immersive Tribute to Astor Piazzolla (Live)

Best Instrumental Composition
John Powell & Stephen Schwartz – Train to Emerald City
Ludwig Göransson Featuring Miles Caton – Why You Here / Before the Sun Went Down (From “Sinners” Score)
Miho Hazama, Danish Radio Big Band & Danish National Symphony Orchestra – Live Life This Day: Movement I
Nordkraft Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf & Danielle Wertz – First Snow
Sierra Hull – Lord, That’s a Long Way
Zain Effendi – Opening

Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
Cynthia Erivo – Be Okay
Nordkraft Big Band & Remy Le Boeuf – A Child Is Born
The Westerlies – Fight On
The 8-Bit Big Band – Super Mario Praise Break

Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals
Cody Fry – What a Wonderful World
Jacob Collier – Keep an Eye on Summer
Lawrence – Something in the Water (Acoustic-ish)
Nate Smith & Säje – Big Fish
Seth MacFarlane – How Did She Look?

Best Orchestral Performance
Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra – Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Esa-Pekka Salonen – San Francisco Symphony – Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
Gustavo Dudamel & Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela – Ravel: Boléro, M. 81
Michael Repper & National Philharmonic – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Toussaint L’Ouverture, Op. 46 – Ballade Op. 4 – Suites From “24 Negro Melodies”
Yannick Nézet-Séguin & The Philadelphia Orchestra – Still & Bonds: Symphonies & Variations

Best Opera Recording
Alan Pierson, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street & Silvana Quartet – Kouyoumdjian: Adoration (Live)
American Composers Orchestra & Carolyn Kuan – Huang Ruo: An American Soldier
Emily D’Angelo, Ellie Dehn, Ben Bliss, Kyle Miller, Greer Grimsley, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Yannick Nézet-Séguin – Tesori: Grounded (Live)
Houston Grand Opera, Kwamé Ryan, Janai Brugger, Jamie Barton & J’Nai Bridges – Jake Heggie: Intelligence
Irish National Opera & Elaine Kelly – O’Halloran: Trade / Mary Motorhead

Best Choral Performance
Anne Akiko Meyers, Los Angeles Master Chorale & Grant Gershon – Billy Childs: In the Arms of the Beloved
The Clarion Choir & Steven Fox – Requiem of Light
Conspirare & Craig Hella Johnson- Advena: Liturgies for a Broken World
The Crossing & David Nally – David Lang: Poor Hymnal
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel & Alisa Weilerstein – Gabriela Ortiz: Yanga

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Alan Pierson & Alarm Will Sound – Donnacha Dennehy: Land of Winter
Lili Haydn & Paul Cantelon – Lullabies for the Brokenhearted
Mak Grgić & Mateusz Kowalski – Slavic Sessions – Slavic Sessions
Neave Trio – La mer: French Piano Trios
Third Coast Percussion – Standard Stoppages

Best Classical Vocal Solo Album
Allison Charney & Benjamin Loeb – Alike – My Mother’s Dream
Amanda Forsythe, Robert Mealy, Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs – Telemann: Ino – Opera Arias for Soprano
Devony Smith, Danny Zelibor & Michael Nicolas – In This Short Life
Sidney Outlaw & Warren Jones – Black Pierrot
Susan Narucki & Curtis Macomber – Kurtág: Kafka Fragments
Theo Hoffman & Steven Blier – Schubert Beatles

Best Classical Compendium
Christina Sandsengen – Tombeaux
Janai Brugger, Isolde Fair, MB Gordy & Starr Parodi – Seven Seasons
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel & Alisa Weilerstein – Gabriela Ortiz: Yanga
Sandbox Percussion – Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Will Liverman – The Dunbar/Moore Sessions, Vol. II

Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Christopher Cerrone – Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
Donnacha Dennehy – Dennehy: Land of Winter
Gabriela Ortiz – Ortiz: Dzonot
Shawn E. Okpebholo – Okpebholo: Songs in Flight
Tania León – León: Raíces (Origins)

The emotional weight of existence: the paintings of Cristina Starr

Tabish Khan
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The emotional weight of existence: the paintings of Cristina Starr

What makes us human? Is it our intelligence, our self-awareness, our ability to use tools? Or is it our emotions that govern us, that part of us that’s been with us from the early stages of evolution – a part that’s often referred to as our ‘lizard brain’?

We turn on the television or doomscroll on our phones, and we see war, famine and destruction from around the world. It feels like the emotional side is winning. Painter Cristina Starr leans into this and asks us to question how logical and intelligent we can be to leave such pain in our wake. Was philosopher Thomas Hobbes right when he said life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”?

Starr explores both sides of the emotional equation with a violent depiction of a bird feeding a man’s genitals to its offspring and another man in a tender embrace with an alien-like figure. Its many eyes remind me of Jeremy Bentham’s concept of the panopticon, and it has been realised in what Shoshana Zuboff refers to as the age of surveillance capitalism, where our phones and cameras track our every move, and tailored advertising often feels as if it knows us better than we know ourselves. It begs the question: has technology freed or enslaved us?

In two of her latest works, ‘Tower’ and ‘Ghost of Boy with Baby Bird’, we see isolated children while violence occurs all around them. It reminds us that it’s often the most vulnerable who suffer in times of war, even if the amount of agency they have is limited or non-existent. The ones who look to us to protect them, and yet we feel powerless as we witness their suffering from thousands of miles away. As the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die”. 

The child in the tower brings to mind Ursula Le Guin’s short story ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’, which lays out a utopia in which everyone’s happiness depends on the misery of a single child. Just as the citizens in this story accept this child’s misery, it often feels like we’re in a similar world where much of the population, while shocked, continues as is after witnessing the suffering of children worldwide.

The style of the paintings reminds me of Edvard Munch at his most expressive, with a touch of the surreal we see in William Blake’s work. The emotion in each work is palpable, ensuring we feel the full impact of Starr’s powerful and topical paintings.   

While the works are uncomfortable to look at, it’s important that we’re confronted with these hard truths as we view them, with both works on display in the group show EXI 26 at the Crypt Gallery in London, running from February 4-8. Cristina Starr isn’t showing us the world we want to see, but the one we need to know about.   

You can find more about Cristina Starr’s work through her website and Instagram.

She will have a solo exhibition of her work opening August 1 2026, at Art and Talking Gallery in Chipping Norton.

Systems of Power: How Artist Lucia Shuyu Li Strives to Subvert Form and Make Memorable Art

Abbie Wilson
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Systems of Power: How Artist Lucia Shuyu Li Strives to Subvert Form and Make Memorable Art

Lucia Shuyu Li’s artistic impulse originates from within and finds its way into many applications.

Unlike some artists who are highly specialized, she is not defined by the form her art takes, but rather the sentiment or the ideas behind it. Because of this, she has been able to shine as a multidisciplinary artist, working across installation, performance, painting and sound. Her work has similarly been displayed in a variety of locations and settings, from galleries to museums to universities. Her work has also found its way into a new book called Ephemeral Metamorphosis. 

What inspires her? The complexities of contemporary society she says. She delves into the abstract and surreal dimensions of existence, undertakes sociological inquiries, and in the process strives to unravel the nuances of spatial form. She is also a bit of an artistic rebel.

“I am unwavering in my commitment to challenging the confines of conventional painting,” Lucia states, “and I do this by embracing a diverse range of multimedia and unconventional formats.”

Fragile boundaries

She was born in China in 2001 but for years has had her base in the US. She received a masters of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has exhibited across the US, as well as internationally. Those boundaries between her Chinese heritage and her American art career, between cultural identities, as well as perception and reality, have continued to fascinate. She also channels some of her artistic energy into the classroom and works as an educator at Montgomery College in Silver Spring, Maryland where she teaches students drawing and ceramics. 

“My academic studies allowed me to develop a research-driven methodology that integrates philosophy, psychology, and multi-media based work,” says Lucia. She credits the academic enviroment at MICA with significantly shaping her understanding of contemporary art discourse. That experience also expanded her approach to interdiscriplinary experimentation, she says.

Working between performance, installation, and conceptual research, Li has received support from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Abell Foundation, while continuing to build an interdisciplinary practice across institutional and experimental art spaces in the United States.

The Chinese American Museum in Washington, DC, has also taken note of her innovative work and her work was included in the Soaring for Peace exhibition this year.  

Far gone but so close

When asked about her artistic achievements, Lucia highlights two projects as being particularly meaningful for her. 

The first, called FAR GONE but so Close, is a performance artwork exploring the relationship between the body, identity, and the mind. Naked and facing three fans, Lucia uses a light cloth to cover her face and body, symbolizing her personal identity. The force of the wind constantly lifts and pushes the cloth away, representing the uncontrollable pressures exerted by the environment and society on individuality.

Lucia documented this performance and later transformed it into FAR GONE but so Close. In the installation, the originally soft cloth is reconstructed into the shape it formed while being blown by the wind. Four cameras continuously photograph the cloth. At first, viewers assume the cameras are recording the present moment, but on closer inspection they discover that the cloth, though physically still, appears to flutter on the screens. 

“My own image also reappears within the installation space,” says Lucia. “This shift between reality and illusion creates a surreal atmosphere that disrupts the temporal and spatial boundaries of live performance.”

Painting sickness

Another achievement that means a lot to Lucia is Painting Sickness, which developed out of her work with oil painting. Told by critiques that her technical skills were strong, but that her paintings appeared flat, Lucia turned this perceived weakness into strength, creating a triptych installation that evolves step by step from stretcher bars to a completed painting. 

The canvases in Painting Sickness imitate the realistic appearance of the back of a canvas, a detail many viewers only notice after closer observation. “I also cut previous paintings into strips and layered them onto the three-canvas structure,” says Lucia. “This combination of traditional painting and conceptual installation reflects an important direction in my practice.”

For Lucia, Painting Sickness was born out of her frustration with traditional oil painting. She found discussions around it exhausting and wondered if, in the age of digital media, it had become an obsolete art form. By cutting her paintings into strips, Lucia created a new format. Audiences became interested in the original painting before it was sliced up for the exhibition. 

One might see distant parallels to William S. Burroughs’ cut-up method from Naked Lunch.

“Before creating the installation, I had never intended to destroy the painting,” remarks Lucia. “This led me to reflect on the difference between cutting apart an existing artwork and intentionally creating a painting designed to be dismantled from the beginning.”

More immersive environments

When asked about what she would like to do next, Lucia sees more collaborations with institutions, museum projects, and international research-based exhibitions as a natural direction.

But more isn’t the only key word here. Lucia would like to go deeper, by creating more immersive performative environments that combine sound, installation, and embodied action. Such environments could allow her to explore contemporary psychological and social conditions, but also provide viewers with their own illuminating experiences.

Lucia also would like to keep building cross-cultural and multidisciplinary collaborations, especially those working in experimental performance, sound art, and conceptual research.

“For me, performance art functions as a method of research rather than purely representation,” says Lucia.  “My work explores the tension between internal psychological states and external institutional systems, often using repetition, sound, spatial disruption, and physical endurance as performative strategies,” she says. 

Lucia says she intends to above all stay true to her artistic vision and plans to keep exploring the intersection of memory, perception, power and vulnerability through the fulcrum of the body.

Stephen Harrison’s paintings take us on an enchanting journey into the Black Forest

Tabish Khan
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0
Stephen Harrison’s paintings take us on an enchanting journey into the Black Forest

The Black Forest in South-West Germany is a dense forest filled with enchantment and legends. It served as inspiration for many of the Brothers Grimm’s stories and continues to inspire. This time, in the paintings of British artist Stephen Harrison, who worked as a schoolteacher in Germany.

We may be in a gallery space in Acton, West London, but lose ourselves in Harrison’s paintings and we’re transported from rainy London to the verdant Black Forest.  A hazy figure can be seen in the landscape; ballet dancers with a lit-up house in the background feel surreal, and what looks like a creature covered in blood heightens the intimidation factor.

There’s a reason fairy tales take place in forests, and Harrison is inviting you to get lost in the fantastical narratives that his works create. He’s experimenting with pastel, oil, and acrylic paints and draws inspiration from the works of David Blackburn, which we can see in how the layers bleed into one another. The works can also resemble Turner or Monet at their haziest, allowing the background image to be visible when we inspect them. 

While there are many contemporary painters examining landscape painting in a looser style, think Peter Doig or Hurvin Anderson, what’s unique about Harrison’s work is the Surrealist elements and his deep connection to the Black Forest and its history of myth-making and enchantment. Magical realism is having a moment in contemporary art at the moment, and as Harrison’s work develops and brings in more references to the local myths and legends, I feel like his work would fit neatly into that zeitgeist.

Harrison spent his life as a teacher and came to art later in life, proving that art can find you at any stage in life, and it’s never too late to have a personal Renaissance. It’s clear from the work in this show that he’s building his unique style in voice in both how he paints and the stories he wants to tell through his works. 

An early figurative work is shown as a contrast to his later works, and while there are stylistic similarities to his later works, it’s clear that his work is moving in a different direction. Though like all good painters finding their voice, he hasn’t written off potentially returning to the figurative as his style develops. 

It’s always exciting to watch a painter refine their style, and it’s never clear whether we’re nearly there or if their work will take a radical turn and take us in a new direction. Just as Stephen Harrison’s paintings take us on a journey into the Black Forest, we’re also seeing his journey as an artist develop. Let’s see where both take us. 

Stephen Harrison’s paintings were on display at W3 Gallery in Acton from 15-30 January 2026. 

All images are copyrighted by the artist.

How Classic Gaming is Getting a Modern Makeover

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How Classic Gaming is Getting a Modern Makeover

Thinking back to when you were a kid, you likely played physical board games on the kitchen table and card games with a physical deck you shuffled by hand. These games made for fun times as a child. Over the years, as you’ve gained more responsibilities, from career to family, and had some pretty stressful days, you might long for a chance to have more fun as you did back then. Now you can, with popular classic games getting modernized by technology. 

Why Retro Games Continue To Be Popular

Retro games have a lot going for them. For example, they’re simple to play yet challenging. They don’t have tons of graphics like most modern games or complex online worlds with backstories to learn about. 

With retro games, the fun starts immediately, without a huge learning curve. That’s not to say that there’s no challenge. There is, and it’s very satisfying when you win the game! Even simple games like Tic-Tac-Toe and checkers involve strategy, and you can get better at them with practice. That challenge is what keeps players coming back to play again (and again).

The classics also evoke nostalgia. You might think back to afternoons playing games with friends or siblings. Those are happy memories!

How Tech Has Updated the Classics

Classic games have gotten updates to appeal to today’s audience. They’ve been digitized for smartphones, computers, nd tablets. You don’t need a physical board, a deck of cards, or a big console to play them anymore.

Many retro games are now available online to play with others. You can play with people you know on the other side of the world or even with strangers. That wasn’t possible when you needed to play in-person with a physical board game or cards.

Modern updates have made retro games as accessible and fast-paced as today’s mobile games. Games like classic checkers have moved from the living room carpet to web browsers, letting you enjoy strategy and fun competition anytime, without needing a board.

Traditional games are now playable anywhere. And anytime.

Gaming Now and Then

When days get busy, as they often do when you have young kids, have a demanding job, or are balancing work and school, you need a break sometimes. That’s a big reason many people want to casually game. It’s a quick way to unwind without needing to put aside several hours in the day. 

Even a five-minute session spent moving checkers online or matching tiles in a puzzle can give your mind a break from work deadlines and other responsibilities. Classic games are a great choice because they’re simple, fun, and relaxing. Plus, you’re doing something again that brought you so much joy as a child, and that’s comforting for a lot of people. 

You can also connect with friends and family by playing the classics together online. Maybe you’ll compete with them on your lunch break at work or after your college class, for example. This social time can be great when you need a break from stress. 

Retro is Back: Fashion, Music, and Gaming Trends

It’s not just games that are getting updated, either. Retro culture is a major influence on fashion and music trends today.

Secondhand clothes and styles from decades ago are trendy again. Gen Z and millennials are taking old-school shirts, pants, and skirts, and updating them to be unique. For example, you might wear bell-bottom jeans from the 70s with a crop top from the mall.

As for music, the hits from decades ago are now being heard by young people who weren’t even born when the tunes were recorded. Those classic songs are easy to listen to via streaming services. In addition to digital listening, many teens and young adults are buying record players and collecting albums. Vinyl is cool again.

Just as music is being rediscovered in new ways, classic games are being updated for modern platforms. That lets players enjoy the charm of the past in a digital format.

About Mental Health

The benefits of strategic games of the past, the ones that are getting the reboot, are many. They’re good for the mind, helping with problem-solving and focus. 

They can also get you excited again about the day. You can get a cognitive boost by having a fun 10-minute gaming session online during an otherwise dull day.

Retro games stimulate your mind, yes, but they don’t overwhelm it. There aren’t a ton of rules to learn, yet you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment when you’re done with the gaming session. 

You’ve likely smiled during gameplay, too. Did you know smiling can improve your mood? It’s the endorphins.

Retro Gaming Communities

There are many online communities now for retro games. They’re on forums, social media networks, and dedicated multiple hubs where fans of classic games like checkers and chess can connect, compete, and share memories. There’s a great mix of players, with older people reminiscing about old times and younger people learning about the past.

Players can be a part of online tournaments or challenge those living in other cities, states, and countries to friendly competition, all without leaving home. This accessibility has brought new life to games that could only be played locally and with a physical board in the past.

Bringing Generations Together

Both young and older people are playing retro games. It’s now considered hip to share experiences from the past, bringing parents and even grandparents closer to teens. They can all gather around a familiar game on the computer, combining nostalgia and modern tech.

Playing games also provides a way to create new memories together. Along with having fun, families and friends are connecting over history, culture, and stories of the past.

Conclusion

Classic games are popular, to put it mildly. What began as simple board and card games has become a dynamic digital experience enjoyed by people of all ages. 

It’s clear that online versions of fun classics will always be in style. A quick gaming session can be a great mental break and bring friends and family together.

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