In this, the last week of 2024, CBS will air two Grammy Greats specials, both co-hosted by CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King. Both shows will also stream on Paramount+. Here are details.

Grammy Greats: The Stories Behind the Songs

Air date: Friday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Co-hosted by King and four-time Grammy nominee Mickey Guyton, this two-hour special dives into the stories behind the winners of the Grammy for song of the year. The show will feature newly recorded interviews, previously aired performances and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.

Featured songwriters and songs include Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald – “What a Fool Believes” (the 1980 winner), Sting’s “Every Breath You Take” (1984), Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’” (2002), John Mayer’s “Daughters” (2005), Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” (2008), Adele’s “Hello” (2017, co-written with Greg Kurstin), Billie Eilish and Finneas’ “Bad Guy” (2020) and Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” (2023).

Grammy Greats: The Most Memorable Moments

Air date: Sunday, Dec. 29, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Co-hosted by King and five-time Grammy winner Jimmy Jam, this two-hour special celebrates some of the most memorable moments in Grammy history. The show combines newly recorded interviews and previously aired performances and promises “a behind-the-scenes look at how the Grammy team responds to unexpected events.”

Featured artists include Brandi Carlile, Dua Lipa, Keith Urban, St. Vincent and Chris Martin.

The 67th annual Grammy Awards are set to air/stream on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+.

Ozuna is bringing his success and life story to a new film called Odisea (Odyssey), marking his debut as executive producer; the project will be released under his own production company Bear with Oz Films.

Named after the artist’s 2017 debut studio album — which spent 46 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart — the biopic will tell the story of triumph on how Juan Carlos (portrayed by the artist himself) became a global Latin music sensation.

“Odisea is a project that we worked on with great dedication with the goal that my story can serve as an inspiration to children and young people to not stop pursuing their dreams, and never give up until they achieve them,” the artist born Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado said in a press release provided to Billboard. “We all have the ability to do it despite the obstacles that we face along the way. I am a living example of that.” 

The forthcoming film, which does not yet have a premiere date, is directed by Spanish filmmaker Alexis Morante, and was filmed in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and New York. Produced by Zumaya Cordero with Caribbean Films, it stars Ozuna and a cast that includes Jorge Ledenborg Jr., Dania Ramírez, Ana Maria Estupiñán, Jencarlos Canela, Jessica Cediel, Laura Gómez, Israel Lugo, Sawandi Wilson, and Milly Quezada.

“For me, directing Odisea has been a challenge in every sense, both artistic and technical. … A film that faces a novel way of narrating to portray the essence of an interplanetary star of current music who, far from losing his roots, brings them to the foreground of a story full of feeling and inspiration,” Morante noted in the press release. “A film built from cinematic fiction, but which crosses the border of reality again and again with an actor interpreting his own life as I have never seen before.”

Watch the trailer for Odisea below: 

Mexican singer Dulce, an iconic figure of ballad and romantic music who conquered several generations in Mexico with her powerful voice, died at the age of 69 in Mexico City after medical complications, her family and staff announced on Wednesday (Dec. 25).

“With deep sorrow and sadness, we confirm the sensitive passing of our beloved Dulce, an exceptional artist and a wonderful person who left an indelible mark in the hearts of all those who knew her,” reads a statement posted on Dulce’s Instagram account, along with a photograph of the artist.

The news of the death of the singer born Bertha Elisa Noeggerath Cárdenas was confirmed by the National Association of Actors (ANDA), the union to which the singer belonged, in a message on social media.

“The National Actors Association deeply regrets the passing of our colleague Bertha Elisa Noeggerath Cárdenas, ‘Dulce’, a member of our union. Our condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. May she rest in peace,” reads the message published on X.

After the artist’s sister Isabel Noeggerath announced the singer’s death in a brief Facebook post, a wave of messages from various Mexican show-business figures appeared on social networks.

“My dear Dulce, your departure makes me so sad, you don’t know how much I will miss you, dear friend, thank you for all the wonderful moments we shared my doll, thank you for your love, your friendship, for always joining your voice with mine and for always being for me. Fly very high my Dulce, I will always keep you in my heart, I adore you and I will admire you forever! A tremendous artist won the sky, lots of light on your path,” wrote singer Rocío Banquells on X.

“Farewell my dearest Dulce! What a great gift it was to share with you! I’m going to miss you!” expressed singer Manoella Torres on Instagram.

“Today we have to face a loss that fills us with sadness. Dulce was a person who left her mark on those of us who were fortunate enough to know her. Our hearts go out to her family, friends and colleagues in this difficult moment. Rest in peace,” wrote Argentine singer Amanda Miguel in a message on X.

Dulce was born on July 29, 1954, in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and was a renowned artist in the Latin music scene. According to what she told on several occasions, in 1974 she met José José, who by then was already a great figure in music, and who was captivated by her voice. He was the one who got her an audition with Polygram record executives, said the artist in an interview with Imagen Televisión. In 1978 she achieved fame by participating in different musical events, such as the Mallorca Festival and the Yamaha Song Festival in Tokyo.

With her fusion of ballad and pop, she made a place for herself in the music industry in Mexico and Latin America with hits such as “Tu Muñeca,” “Lobo,” “Déjame Volver Contigo,” “Aún lo Amo,” “Hielo,” “Fui Demasiado Fácil,” “Soy Una Dama,” “Cara Cara,” “Pájaro Herido,” “Échame la Culpa a Mí” and “Cuál de los Dos.” She also performed “Amor en Silencio,” the main theme of the 1988 soap opera of the same name, written by Marco Antonio Solís.

Between 2011 and 2018, Dulce was part of the GranDiosas tour, along with Rocío Banquells, María Conchita Alonso and Karina.

Yoshida Yasei’s “Override” easily took the top position in the Niconico VOCALOID SONGS TOP20 of 2024, announced by Billboard Japan on December 6. The song, which came out in November 2023, generated buzz thanks to its MAD or remix videos. Billboard Japan talked to Yoshida Yasei about how he felt about the success of the song.

What led to “Override” racking up the views it did and becoming such a massive hit? 

Yoshida Yasei: Of all the songs I’ve released so far, “Override” had the fastest growth immediately after release. I thought that it had the potential to surpass “Laughin’,” which was my most famous song at the time. Then the number of plays started rising even faster at the start of this year, from around January 7. I was looking at the analytics info on Niconico and YouTube, and thinking, “Huh? Something’s going on here.”

So you started to notice the memes.

Yoshida Yasei: From around December, people started to create “Override” music remix videos, so I had this feeling that a derivative work boom might be coming on. The sudden increase in the number of remix videos at the start of the year caused the number of plays to rocket upward, and the buzz became a reality.

After that, “Override” took the top position in the Niconico VOCALOID SONGS TOP20 for the first half of 2024, announced on June 7, and then in the Niconico VOCALOID SONGS TOP20 for 2024. Honestly, how did that make you feel?

Yoshida Yasei: I was very happy. It felt like my song had become part of the culture. I thought that, given the amount of growth, this was a song that would live on in Vocaloid history. You know how on X (formerly Twitter), there are those posts that are like “Do you know this song?” and they have images of famous songs from each year? I was excited by the idea that “Override” would be used on one of those posts. It would be an honor to have one of my own songs included among all the distinguished famous songs on those lists.

Looking at the lyrics, there’s a line that goes “It seems that a life of struggle, taking it to your very limits, is even crazier than what I’d imagined.” This feels, to me, like a very direct expression of frantic frustration.

Yoshida Yasei: I made “Override” last October, over a year after leaving my previous work. At the time, I was truly desperate. “Override” was a song created by the physical embodiment of desperation. But, after the release, the song became a hit and I experienced being able to make a living from music. That gave me this tremendous sense of stability. The creation process was impulsive, so I didn’t really struggle with the melody that much. On the other hand, I did have to think deeply when I was writing the lyrics. Because of that, I have a lot of emotional investment in the song.

So you worked through the difficult progress of writing the lyrics, but than people focused on the catchy melody and the distinctive choreography of the animated music video. They started meme-ing off them, which generated buzz. How does that make you feel?

Yoshida Yasei: When I first started out as a Vocaloid producer, I wanted to make songs that led to the creation of a lot of derivative works and music video remixes. So, setting aside the issue of whether or not people’s creations matched the lyrics, I was happy about the whole phenomenon. I was watching like, “Huh, so this is another way things become popular. That’s pretty interesting.”

The title “Override” is an IT term that refers to disregarding settings, properties, and the like and using different ones instead, right?

Yoshida Yasei: Right. Once I’d decided on the title “Override,” I wrote lyrics that matched that aesthetic. Back when I was writing programs, I had this vague feeling that “life is all functions.”

A function?

Yoshida Yasei: Yes. A function is a system where you input something and the system outputs something else. In our lives, it’s like our birth supplies the input conditions and our death is the output of the function. Everything that happens in our lives—every event and every outcome—are a series of causes and effects. There are a countless number of these functions, chained together, so each person is like a program. I think some of those functions work against us. For example, your cultural capital differs depending on whether or not you were born in Tokyo. There are also functions that block access to things because of your bad luck. That’s where the concept of “Override” comes from. Overriding is like using a function with the same name to perform completely different operations. I think you can override these programs if you make enough of an effort, though.

I see.

Yoshida Yasei: I moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido last June. “Override” has the frantic frustration that I felt before I came to Tokyo and before “Override” became a hit. Living out in countryside, you face this downward spiral of “I don’t have access to this and I don’t have access to that.” By coming to Tokyo, I wanted to break this cycle. In other words, I wanted to overwrite the function that said “Input: You live in the countryside → Output: You have no access” with one that said “Input: You live in Tokyo → Output: You have access.” But, to be honest, when I had just moved, I was still in the same desperate situation I had been in before moving.

You uploaded “Override” last November, and then the number of plays started skyrocketing. Although it did take a little time after coming Tokyo, it feels like you really did “override” your life.

Yoshida Yasei: Indeed. Perhaps I overrode my fate.

The chorus to “Override” has a very distinctive choreography that has quite a visual impact, so there are tons of people copying it. Where did that choreography come from?

Yoshida Yasei: From the start, I had this mental image of meme-like movement, so I talked with illustrator Sisia, going into a lot of detail about what I wanted, like “I want an illustration like this” or “I want to keep this material separate from that material.” Sisia worked on the illustrations without knowing what the completed video would be like. I provided a lot of detail about the little jokes to be included and the way the art should look, and I’m really thankful about what wonderful illustrations they created.

It sounds like you had a perfect balance of lyrical urgency and humor, which is what led to “Override” becoming the hit it’s become.

Yoshida Yasei: Tongue-in-cheek memes were just right for balancing out the barbed lyrics, making it more joke-like. The music itself also has a light feel, but the sharp lyrics fit in smoothly. I feel like there was just this miraculous balance of different elements. I don’t think “Override” would have had the same feel if it were missing the memes or if the melody were different.

Another thing that stood out is that after you uploaded the song, both in the comments on your own video and on X (formerly Twitter), you were actively encouraging people to make derivative works.

Yoshida Yasei: I simply wanted there to be more derivative works, so I provided materials people could use and I shared works they made. It also felt a little like an experiment: “What would happen if a creator were actively involved in derivative works?” Ultimately, that generated buzz, and, like when the song broke the record for consecutive weeks in the charts, I was like “Oh, so this is how the story turns out.” As always, I looked at the whole thing from a third person perspective (laughs).

2024 was a year of overriding for you yourself, and it’s also the year in which “Override” carved its name in the Vocaloid charts. How do you feel looking back on this past year, in which “Override” led to so much creation?

Yoshida Yasei: I experienced a lot of things this year that I’d never even imagined before. It was a year of major change for me. I was even surprised about how making new connections and meeting new people changed. So I really haven’t fully gotten my head around this year of tremendous change. In 2025, I hope to look back on my social media and photographs and gradually make some order out of all of it.

—This interview by Mio Komachi first appeared on Billboard Japan