On Thursday afternoon, the history-filled Sony lot in Culver City — which was the MGM lot during Hollywood’s Golden Age, home to “more stars than there are in heaven” — welcomed film composer John Williams, after whom the studio’s musical building was being renamed.

Williams, 91, who is best known for the scores of Star Wars and 29 Steven Spielberg films — 20 of which were scored in the structure that will henceforth be known as the John Williams Music Building — was on hand, as were many of his collaborators (Spielberg, J.J. Abrams and Spielberg’s producers Frank Marshall and Kristie Macosko Krieger) and colleagues (including fellow film composer Thomas Newman).

Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra kicked off the festivities by noting how much “magic was made right here in this building.” Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman then argued that the greatest of all time in many fields is debatable, citing the examples of Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James, Jack Nicklaus vs. Tiger Woods, Claude Monet vs. Vincent van Gogh and Stanley Kubrick vs. Spielberg — but that when it comes to film scoring, “There is no argument: John Williams is the GOAT,” adding, “I’m very sure that 100 years from now the name that will go on this building today will still be the name of the greatest of all time.”

Abrams spoke next, addressing Williams, “Johnny, you’ve filled our lives with some of the greatest art ever produced by mankind,” and the other attendees: “How lucky are we to be alive at the same time as John Williams?”

Then it was Spielberg’s turn. “Johnny, I have grown up with you,” the filmmaker said, recalling how struck he had been listening to the album of Williams’ score for the 1969 film The Reivers, vowing, “If I ever got the chance to make a movie, I would want the guy who wrote this.” The two met ahead of Spielberg’s feature directorial debut, 1974’s The Sugarland Express, and have rarely worked apart since.

“It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Spielberg said, before turning to Williams: “What you did for me was something I had never been able to imagine any single creative collaborator would ever be able to do for me or the stories I was telling, and that is when I thought I’d gotten to know a film really well, by the time I turned my films over to you, I knew what my movies were, I knew what they meant to me. Then you would musically do the final draft of my films, the final rewrite, and you would bring every movie I’ve ever made to a level that I didn’t recognize it as me, I recognized it as us. The films suddenly became informed by wherever you get your inspiration… Without you, the films are running around with no clothes on; with you, they’re completely finished. I’ve often said that if my movies can bring a tear to your eye, your music makes that tear fall down the face. And it’s happened on film after film after film. This alley is where all my stress dissipates, when I finally get to this stage of a production and I know that I am in your capable hands.”

Spielberg then invited the prior speakers and Williams to the stage, took a conductor’s baton and motioned towards a sheet-covered portion of the building, and upon his cue the sheet lifted and the new name of the building was visible.

Williams then stepped up to the podium and cracked, “This is the alley where Steven destresses. This is the alley is where I stress!” He then shared that his history at the building that now bears his name dates back long before his professional career: “The first time I came to this studio was 1940 when my father brought me here to show me the stage. I was about 9 or 10 years old, and I thought [he joked], ‘Someday this will all be mine!’ It’s finally come to be — it’s only taken me 92 years to get here! [His 92nd birthday is on Feb. 8.]” He added with a chuckle, “This place, I have reverence for it. I love it. Is it perfect? No. Tom, we could use a couple more bathrooms for the orchestra.”

Williams closed by asserting, “My hope and even prayer for this hall and for future people coming into it is a hope and it’s also a challenge: that they should do as well the next 100 years as the people who have been here for the last 100 years. They need to get to work and make some good music. And that is a challenge because they are standing on very big shoulders.”

As guests posed for photographs and headed over to a buffet lunch, Rothman escorted a fellow journalist and I into the John Williams Music Building, where another great composer, Oscar winner Dario Marianelli, was scoring, with a full orchestra, the upcoming Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, as director Gil Kenan looked on. Rothman notified them, during their session, that the name of their building had changed.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

Billie Eilish added another level of introspection to the Barbie movie with “What Was I Made For?.”

“What Was I Made For?” won best original song at the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards, and is nominated for record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance, best song written for visual media and best music video at the upcoming (Feb. 4) Grammy Awards.

If you need a guide to follow along with Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?,” find the lyrics below:

The first time Don Omar went on tour in Spain, nearly 25 years ago, he had to sing his breakout hits two and three times every time he got onstage.

“I had no repertoire!” he admits to Billboard News with a laugh. Back then, Don Omar, real name William Omar Landrón, was a 22-year-old who was hustling. “I came from such a Puerto Rican genre, such a street genre, and then, those songs started to play everywhere.”

What a difference a quarter-century makes. On March 7, Don Omar kicks off his Back to Reggaetón Tour at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, and will go on to play 25 major U.S. cities, ending April 21 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, before heading to Europe and Central America.

This time, there will be no need for repeat performances.

“I’ve never had the opportunity to sing my entire repertoire because I never have enough time onstage. But this tour demands two full hours of music,” Don Omar told Billboard‘s Leila Cobo during an exclusive interview prior to his tour. Back to Reggaetón, incredibly, is Don Omar’s first major headlining tour in a decade and his first since the Kingdom Tour with Daddy Yankee in 2015.

This time around, there’s also friends knocking at the door.

“Many are demanding, ‘Don’t leave me out of this!’” he says. “And I’m treating that like a privilege. If, after 25 years of career, your colleagues still feel love, happiness and the desire to share with you, you’ve done something right.”

While the specifics still need to be ironed out, expect to see the likes of Tito El Bambino, Zion y Lennox and Wisin and Yandel somewhere on the tour.

For Don Omar, it’s not a comeback; he’s been releasing a steady supply of music for the past two years. But, he says, it’s gratifying to see so many artists who he literally saw grow up to his music as established and still close.

The first one to believe fully in him, he recalls, was Ñengo Flow, who early in his career asked him to “present” him on his debut album. “It was the first time I realized, ‘They’re looking up at me.’ Ñengo was just getting started. But I was just getting started too.”

All these years later, “I have songs Jhay Cortez wrote for me 10 years ago. And those things make me see, I do have a responsibility. To see people like Jhay and Farruko, and everyone I have great respect and admiration for, say they wanted to be like me back in the day […] it’s one of the things I love most.”

Don Omar is also testing new ground. His new EP, Back to Reggaetón, is out on his own label, and he plans to print CD copies to sell as merch on tour, as part of a broader effort to bring his music and himself even closer to fans.

“Independence allows you to put your own ideas into practice,” he says. “I’m the product of a bunch of bad experiences that made me take action and learn the business. Today, I can be independent. Today I have the economic and intellectual capacity to do so.”

Watch the full interview above.

Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium won the Primetime Emmy for outstanding variety special (live) on Monday (Jan. 15), making Sir Elton John an EGOT. He’s the 19th performer to complete the sweep of the top entertainment awards, and the second-oldest at the time of completion.

Elton is 76 years and nine months old. Sir John Gielgud (also English and gay, like Elton) was 87 years and four months when he completed the sweep in 1991. Helen Hayes was a bit younger than Elton (76 years and four months) when she became an EGOT in 1977.

Elton is the first EGOT who has topped the Billboard 200 as a credited artist. He landed seven consecutive No. 1 albums between 1972-75. (Several previous EGOTS were creative participants in No. 1 albums, but they weren’t the credited artists.)

Elton is the second EGOT who has landed a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. He follows John Legend, who topped Billboard’s flagship songs chart in May 2014 with “All of Me” and became an EGOT in 2018. Elton has amassed nine No. 1 hits on the survey.

Elton landed his first EGOT-level award in February 1987 when he won his first Grammy for his part in Dionne & Friends’ “That’s What Friends Are For,” which won best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals. He has since won four more Grammys.

He won his first Oscar in March 1995 when “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King (which he co-wrote with Tim Rice) won best original song. He won again in that category in February 2020 with “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman, which he co-wrote with his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin.

He won his only Tony to date (best original score) in June 2000 for Aida. He and Rice co-wrote the score.

Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium (Disney+) prevailed in a highly competitive category which also included The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna (Fox), Chris Rock: Selective Outrage (Netflix), The Oscars (ABC) and the 75th Annual Tony Awards (CBS).

Elton won his Emmy as both an executive producer and performer on the special, which took him back to the site of his 1975 concert triumph. Other exec producers on the special were Elton’s husband and frequent collaborator David Furnish, Luke Lloyd Davies, Ben Winston, Gabe Turner, Sally Wood, Emma Conway, Lou Fox, Sean Alvarez and R. J. Cutler. John Foy and Paul Dugdale were co-executive producers. Saj Patel and Penny LeVesconte were line producers. All won Primetime Emmys.

The 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards are finally being presented, four months after they were originally scheduled. They were delayed by strikes by Hollywood writers and actors. Hosted by former blackish star Anthony Anderson, the awards are being held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

Jesse Collins Entertainment is producing the show, which is being broadcast live from 8-11 p.m. ET (5-8 p.m. PT) on Fox. The eligibility period for this year’s Primetime Emmys was June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023.