Awards
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kenzie is taking over the red carpet at the American Music Awards this Sunday, joining the Billboard News team as our on-camera host to chat with today’s top artists.
The 18-year-old pop star and Dance Moms alum announced the news in a selfie video shared to hers and Billboard‘s socials.
“Hey, guys! It’s Kenzie Ziegler. I have super exciting news,” she says in the announcement video. “I’m going to be chatting with all of your favorite artists at the AMAs this Sunday with Billboard, November 20th, so make sure to tune in!”
You can catch kenzie’s AMAs red carpet coverage on Billboard.com, as well as Billboard‘s Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube pages.
The 2022 AMAs, hosted by Wayne Brady, and the pre-show red carpet will take place at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Bad Bunny leads this year’s list of nominations with eight nods. Beyoncé, Drake and Taylor Swift follow closely with six nominations each. See the full list of nominations here. Lionel Richie will also take the stage to accept the Icon Award.
kenzie, meanwhile, has had a busy year. She released her steamy new single “100 Degrees” in October and is gearing up to drop her next song, “paper,” on Jan. 13. “I actually wrote this song about one of my friend’s breakups, not my personal one,” the star previously told Billboard News of “100 Degrees,” noting that her pal got broken up with on Christmas Eve. “I just wanted to shed light on how something can ruin everything for you during breakups. It’ll ruin seasons, restaurants you went to.”
“This is just an all-around new era for me,” she continued. “I’m so happy, I’m comfortable with my music and I’m trying new things.”
See her announcement below:
Adele and Beyoncé are headed for a rematch. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, 2017, the two singers went head-to-head in four categories, including the Big Three (album, record and song of the year). Adele won all four of these contests.
In the nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, which were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15), Bey and Adele are again competing in each of the Big Three categories. Adele’s 30 is vying with Bey’s Renaissance for album of the year. Adele’s “Easy on Me” is competing with Bey’s “Break My Soul” for both record and song of the year.
This isn’t the first time two artists have competed multiple times for album of the year as lead artists. Two pairs of all-time greats went head-to-head for album of the year three times.
With the number of album of the year nominees having jumped from five to eight in 2018 and then from eight to 10 in 2021, we’ll likely see more such recurring matchups. But it will be hard to top the rivalry between Adele and Beyoncé, who are both world-class artists as well as, by all accounts, friends and mutual admirers.
In her 2017 acceptance speech for the final award of the night, album of the year, a highly emotional Adele all but handed the Grammy to Beyoncé, who was standing in the front row with her husband, Jay-Z, as the audience rose to its feet to celebrate Adele’s win. Adele’s speech stands as one of the most selfless and gracious in awards show history.
After some introductory thanks, Adele addressed the issue of competing with a friend and an artist she greatly admires. “I can’t possibly accept this award and I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé and this album to me – the Lemonade album – was so monumental.”
Addressing the singer directly, she continued: “Beyoncé, it was just so monumental and so well thought-out and so beautiful and soul-baring and we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all us artists here, we fu—ing adore you. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel – the way you make my Black friends feel – is empowering. And you make them stand up for themselves and I love you. I always have and I always will.”
Beyoncé didn’t go home empty-handed that night. She won two Grammys – best urban contemporary album for Lemonade and best music video for “Formation.” And she has won seven more Grammys since that night.
Take a look at all artists who have, as lead artists, competed against each other for album of the year two or more times. We start with the pairs who competed three times, followed by the pairs who vied twice.
Nickelback will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as part of the 2023 Juno Awards. The show, which is Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys, will be held at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 13. The band was formed in the town of Hanna, Alberta.
“Returning home to Alberta, where everything started for us, is truly a full circle, milestone moment for the band,” Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger said in a statement. “We take so much pride in our Canadian roots and are extremely humbled by this honour.”
Nickelback will perform on the show as part of the tribute. It will be their sixth performance on the Junos.
Since winning their first Juno in 2001 for best new group, Nickelback has amassed a total of 12 awards at the show. They won group of the year four times between 2002 and 2009; single of the year for “How You Remind Me” in 2002; album of the year for Dark Horse in 2009; and the Fan Choice award in both 2004 and 2009, among other awards.
Nickelback has a mixed track record at awards shows outside of their native Canada. They have yet to win a Grammy (despite six nods over the years, including record of the year for “How You Remind Me”). They have, however, won seven Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and one People’s Choice Award, among others.
Nickelback will debut their tenth studio album, Get Rollin’ on Nov. 18. The group’s last seven studio albums made the top 10 on the Billboard 200. They topped that chart with All the Right Reasons in 2005.
The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established by CARAS in 1978 to acknowledge artists who have made an outstanding contribution to Canadian music.
Previous Hall of Fame inductees include both solo artists (such as 2022 recipient Deborah Cox) and groups. Other pop and rock bands that have receive the honor include The Guess Who, The Band, Rush, Triumph, Loverboy, April Wine, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Barenaked Ladies and Cowboy Junkies.
Calgary, Alberta native and four-time Juno nominee Tate McRae will also perform at the show. McRae, 19, made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Broke Me First
Manager and promoter Ron Sakamoto will be the recipient of the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award. A longtime collaborator of Canadian superstar Shania Twain, Sakamoto has represented some of the biggest names in music, including The Guess Who, Bryan Adams, Bee Gees, KISS, and Keith Urban. Sakamoto will receive the honor at the 2023 Juno Opening Night Awards on March 11.
This will be the Juno Awards’ first time in Edmonton in 19 years. The show, produced by Insight Productions, will broadcast and stream live across Canada at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos and on CBC Music’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages.
The Latin Recording Academy honored and celebrated this year’s Leading Latin Ladies during an intimate luncheon on Tuesday (Nov. 15) that officially kicked off Latin Grammys week.
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Hosted by Gloria “Goyo” Martínez, the emotional event offered a space for both women and men in the industry to applaud the contributions made by the honorees, which included singer-songwriter Kany García; pianist, arranger and musical director Janina Rosado; Amazon Music’s global head of Latin music Roció Guerrero; and Rosa Lagarrigue, CEO of artist management company RLM.
The nearly three-hour ceremony included moving speeches by the honorees who were presented with the award by their mentors, fellow recording artists or executives who’ve supported them along the way.
Rebeca Leon, who was part of the Leading Latin Ladies class of 2017, was the first to take the stage to present the award to Guerrero for her strides in Latin music and for pioneering the first-ever Latin playlist: Spotify’s Baila Reggaeton.
Other executives who took the stage were Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin-Iberia, who, along with Sony Music Latin Puerto Rico’s VP, Tuti Bou, presented García. “Kany is intelligent, talented, and I have the honor of working with her for a long time. She defends her flags, opens many roads, and gives voice to the voiceless,” he expressed. Meanwhile, merengue icon Milly Quezada introduced Rosado and Spanish artist Ana Torroja took the stage to present the award to her longtime manager Lagarrigue.
Launched in 2016, the Academy’s Leading Latin Ladies initiative was created to honor and recognize “professional and socially-conscious women within the arts and entertainment fields who have made significant contributions and inspired the next generation of female leaders,” according to the Academy.
Additionally, the Leading Ladies of Entertainment joined forces with She Is The Music for a second consecutive year on their collaborative “Leading Ladies Connect TogetHER” mentorship program, where a former honoree will be invited to mentor a She Is The Music mentee.
The 2022 Latin Grammy Awards ceremony is taking place Thursday (Nov. 17) live from the Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The telecast will air on Univision at 8 p.m. ET, and it will also be available on HBO Max.
Below, check out five best moments from the luncheon:
Rocío Guerrero on her message to the next generation of female leaders: “This is a responsibility I don’t take lightly,” she started her speech. “To the new generations of girls and young women that will be our future: I hope you grow up understanding that anything is possible with hard work, risk taking, ambition and ethics. I mean each of those things. No matter what you look or sound like, you can do it. I hope you can see yourself in women like us. I hope we can be a reminder that there are no limits to your growth.”
Kany García on becoming her own role model: “Why am I shaking? It’s easier to sing than to do this speech,” the “Aguita e coco” singer joked. “Since I was little I’ve felt different and I’m not talking about that moment when you feel ‘special’ but when you feel like you don’t fit anywhere. They told me so many things about my voice, so many no’s accumulated that they made me a woman who was scared and filled with insecurities. I remember that little girl who never found a woman on television who represented her. A woman who didn’t have shake her hips or a woman who liked women but also liked wearing high heels, dresses and putting on makeup. Not the typical stereotype of the women in my community who is supposed to be the opposite of that. So, I had to become my own role model. I owe this to my younger self, who struggled so much to feel represented.”
Janina Rosado on not being mediocre: “I have to start by thanking God because He wanted me to be here and for me to be a musician and to be born into a family where music was our language. We only spoke about music,” Rosado, who’s produced for artists such as Juan Luis Guerra, said. “I come from a family that marked me. They gave me the confidence and my father would tell me, ‘You can do it. Don’t be mediocre. If you’re going to go to school and study, you can’t expect to pass by with mediocre grades. You have to put in all your effort to everything you do.” Which is what I have always done, and it’s gotten me here.”
Rosa Lagarrigue on being an optimist: “I’m so emotional,” said Lagarrigue, who’s managed the careers of artists like Alejandro Sanz and Miguel Bosé, to name a few. “After working in the music industry for 44 years, I feel so proud to be recognized. We’re still missing many women in relevant positions, but I’m an optimist. I want to especially point out the good relationships there are between us and a sort of complicity. We will achieve to fill in those positions. We should give opportunities to women, to diversity and young people.”
When the Grammy nominations were revealed on Tuesday (Nov. 15) for the upcoming 2023 ceremony, Nashville-based artist and first-time Grammy nominee Molly Tuttle found herself among the 10 artists nominated in the all-genre best new artist category. Tuttle is also nominated in the best bluegrass album category, for her Nonesuch Records-released album Crooked Tree, recorded with band Golden Highway.
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“I was just in complete shock. I’m still shaking a little,” Tuttle tells Billboard.
“I was hoping for the bluegrass album category because that community means so much to me. I was trying to keep my expectations reasonable, like, ‘Well, if I don’t get it this year, I can try again next year,’” she adds. “But this means so much to me because I grew up playing bluegrass and going to bluegrass festivals. Then this whole new flood of messages came in that were like, ‘Holy s—, that’s crazy! Congrats!’ And I was like, ‘What happened?’ I had to look it up again and then I saw the best new artist nomination.”
She will compete for the best new artist title against Anitta, Domi & JD Beck, Latto, Måneskin, Muni Long, Omar Apollo, Samara Joy, Tobe Nwigwe and Wet Leg.
Of course, Tuttle is no stranger to upsetting an awards category–in 2017, Tuttle made history at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s IBMA Awards in 2017 when she was the first woman to be nominated for—and win—the IBMA’s guitar player of the year honor. She won the honor again the following year, and was also named instrumentalist of the year at the 2018 Americana Music Awards.
For her now-Grammy nominated album, Tuttle worked with co-producer Jerry Douglas, recording the album live at Nashville’s Ocean Way Studios. The album features collaborations with Billy Strings, Margo Price, Old Crow Medicine Show, Hull and Douglas’ Alison Krauss & Union Station bandmate Dan Tyminski.
“Jerry was one of the first people to call me and it was so cool because we worked so hard on it together. And my band, we were all on a text thread together today, and then old friends like Sierra Hull, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’ Donovan, who was also nominated for quite a few things today. Those are all people I’ve known since I was really young and it makes me proud to be part of that bluegrass community, but also the general Nashville music community as well.”
Old Crow Medicine Show guests on the unifying, folksy “Big Backyard” (“Come on out to the big backyard/ It ain’t mine it ain’t yours it’s all of ours”) which Tuttle wrote with Old Crow member Ketch Secor.
“We wrote it with them in mind, and then reworked the lyrics to make it fit my voice,” Tuttle says.
Price appears on “Flatland Girl,” a song about the farm Tuttle’s father grew up on in Illinois, the farm that helped launch the Tuttle family tradition of bluegrass.
“That’s where my grandfather used to play banjo and got that love of bluegrass started in my family,” Tuttle says. “I’m a fan of Margo’s songs and I read in an interview that her family had a farm as well, so it kind of tracked with the story of the song I was writing, about the family selling the farm and moving. So I wanted to have a fellow Midwestern farm girl on the song.”
Tuttle herself grew up in Northern California, playing at bluegrass festivals and becoming known as a deft guitar picker. She moved to Nashville in 2015, and her keen songwriting and the fleetness of her guitar picking quickly garnered attention in music circles. She released her debut full-length album, When You’re Ready in 2019, followed by the covers project But I’d Rather Be With You in 2020.
Tuttle says she’s written most of her next record and is getting ready to head into the studio.
“People can definitely expect some music coming out next year,” she says. Though she says she hasn’t completely set all of the details of the upcoming album, she says that working with Douglas again is “a high probability.”
With her awards accolades, Tuttle says she hopes young female musicians will take inspiration in forging their own careers.
“I would hope for young women who wanna make this a career to just see that the sky’s the limit, and if you set your mind to something, you can achieve it. It might feel hard at times. I know it is a hard life sometimes when you’re out touring so much and it doesn’t feel like things are moving forward, but sometimes it just takes time. The biggest lesson I’ve had to learn is just to be patient, because everything adds up. So many of my favorite bluegrass singers and songwriters are women from Hazel Dickens to Alison Krauss. They were people who really inspired me. I don’t know if I’d be doing this without them.”
This year’s rollout of the Grammy nominations was much smoother than last year’s. Last year, on the eve of the nominations announcement, the Academy expanded the number of nominations in each of the Big Four categories from eight to 10. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, jr. was concerned that hip-hop representation in the Big Four categories was light and saw that it would improve if they went a little deeper.
There were no frantic, last-minute moves this year. The Academy continues to have 10 slots in each of the Big Four categories, something Mason likes and plans to continue. Mason spoke with Billboard on the eve of this year’s nominations announcement.
What did you think of the nominations?
I love the diversity. I love the range of different genres; the fact that we have six or seven different genres in the general field categories – in the Big Four categories – is crazy. We have almost 50% gender parity, which is great to see. I love that people of color are over 50%, which is exciting. In general, I thought the voters did great work.
I’m pleased that the voters are doing the due diligence to really give music a fair listen. You see some music that’s very popular. You see some other music that is not as popular but [is] just as great. You see younger, older – just a lot of variety.
Mary J. Blige has two of the Big Three nominations, which is a little surprising for a veteran artist. What’s your take on that?
It’s a tribute to her obvious talent; her long-standing career. She’s been putting out great music for such a long time and she’s so well-respected. I’m really happy that voters are acknowledging her work this year.
Steve Lacy also has two of the Big Three nominations, but he wasn’t eligible for best new artist because he had been nominated previously. What do you think of that rule?
That’s a really tough rule. How do you decide when somebody is considered new and when they’re not? It’s so subjective. We’ll continue to look at all of our rules and keep trying to refine them. We just want to make sure we’re doing the best we can to honor as many excellent artists as possible. We’ll see where this thing goes.
I picture you getting the nominations list each year and thinking, “OK, who’s going to beat us up this year?” Inevitably, there will be somebody.
I’m never happy to hear complaints from people who are unhappy. We want these awards and nominations to really represent the year in music. I want to make sure that we’re being accurate with our nominations.
Again this year, country music is missing from the Big Four categories. A lot of things that could have been nominated just didn’t get there. I’m thinking especially of Miranda Lambert and Luke Combs for album of the year and Lainey Wilson for best new artist. Do you feel that you could strike a better balance there?
We’re going through all our genres and we’re spending great time and care to make sure we are actively recruiting people to come and join us and be a part of what we’re doing. We have to continue to look at everything – membership, nominations, our events, our shows – and make sure we are representative, because we want to represent all music. This is not about one genre versus the other. So, if there’s an area where we’re light, we’re going to catch it.
Let’s talk best new artist. Five female pop singers – Em Beihold, GAYLE, Tate McRae, Lauren Spencer-Smith and Dove Cameron – seemed to have a good shot at a nomination. All were passed over. When you look at the list of nominees in that category, even people who know music will be saying “Who’s that?” in a few instances.
That’s the exciting part of best new artist – you can discover something amazing.
But at the expense of those five women, all of whom had big, recognizable and very good hits.
That category is not a one-and-done situation. There’s an opportunity for many of those to come back into the conversation next year. This year, these are the ones that resonated with the voters. We ask our voters to do a lot of homework. They listen to a lot of music. They’re very contentious with their votes. These are the ones they came up with this year. I think it’s a pretty cool list. We have two jazz artists on that list [DOMi & JD Beck and Samara Joy]. I think that’s very cool.
Drake and The Weeknd declined to submit their albums this year. You put out a statement saying you accepted their decision. What are you doing to reach out to them and bring them back into the fold?
I’m never pleased when somebody chooses not to submit. My hope is that we can continue to do the work; continue to evolve the organization to the point where we continue to attract great people to submit; who want to be a part of the awards process. Of course, I’m always disappointed when some of our biggest and brightest artists aren’t a part of it and we just want to continue to be better, so that everyone feels a part of our organization.
Nicki Minaj expressed her displeasure at “Super Freaky Girl” being moved from rap to pop, where she was less likely to be nominated – and where she wasn’t nominated. Are you comfortable that it was placed in pop?
I’m not comfortable when artists aren’t comfortable. In general, I do feel strongly that the screening committees work extremely hard and were very diligent. We had experts in the room to listen to all the genres and they had to make some really difficult choices. It’s a subjective thing. One person hears [something] as rap, one person hears it as rock, one person hears it as pop. So it’s not easy. I never want us to cause displeasure for an artist. That’s something we try to avoid at all costs. Going forward, we’ll continue to look at that part of our process to make sure we’re getting it right.
How did you think having 10 nominees in each of the Big Four categories worked this year?
I think you’re seeing the diversity that we always hope to have. We get a chance to celebrate more music [rather] than less. That’s always going to make things exciting for us at the Academy. Having the age, race and gender range is something that I love about the general field. I think it’s worked really well so far.
Anything you want to add?
The only thing I would add is my enthusiasm for the show this year. We’re so excited to be back on home court. [The show will return to Crypto.com Arena, formerly Staples Center, for the first time in three years.] It will be great to be in the room with all of these incredibly talent artists, music people, to celebrate each other. This is a time to look across the room and see all these incredible people. Coming out of COVID, coming out of different societal issues that we’re facing, this show to me is the chance to uplift and to start healing some of this. I’m excited to see all these different types of people from every walk of life, every age, every race, in the room or on the stage celebrating each other and celebrating music.
With massive successes from superstars Adele, Beyoncé and Harry Styles, Columbia Records landed the most nominations among labels in the Big Four Grammy categories of album, song and record of the year and best new artist. With nine nominations, Columbia was comfortably in first, as all three artists earned nominations for album, song and record of the year.
Columbia’s noms helped parent company Sony Music to lead the charge among label groups, with 16 nominations, besting the Warner Music Group (13), Universal Music Group (nine) and the indie label sector (two). In addition to Columbia, RCA racked up four nominations — Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” for record and song; Doja Cat’s “Woman” for record; and Latto for best new artist — while Epic picked up one (DJ Khaled’s “God Did” for song of the year), Sony’s distribution company The Orchard landed another for Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, and Arista picked up one, with Maneskin getting a nod for best new artist.
The second-biggest haul of nominations was for Warner-owned Atlantic, which landed five: a trio for Lizzo, an album nod for Coldplay and song of the year for new artist GAYLE. Three other Warner Music labels picked up two nominations apiece: Warner Records, with two best new artist nominees in Anitta and Omar Apollo; 300, which saw Mary J. Blige pick up noms in record and album of the year; and Elektra, with perennial Grammy favorite Brandi Carlile getting nominated for record and album of the year. (Earlier this year, 300 and Elektra were merged into the new 300 Elektra Entertainment.) Nonesuch also picked up a best new artist nomination with Molly Tuttle, while Bonnie Raitt — who got a song of the year nomination for “Just Like That” — put out her latest album through her Redwing label, which is distributed by Warner-owned ADA.
Within Universal, Interscope grabbed the most nominations — a trio for Kendrick Lamar — while ABBA’s nods in record and album of the year landed two for Capitol through ABBA’s Polar Music. Four other UMG labels also scored one nomination: Def Jam (best new artist, Muni Long), Republic (song of the year, Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”), Verve (best new artist, Samara Joy) and Blue Note (best new artist, DOMi & JD Beck, in partnership with APESHIT Records.)
Finally, two nominations for best new artist went to acts unaffiliated with the big three labels: Wet Leg, which released its debut album on Domino; and Tobe Nwigwe, whose latest album was put out through his own imprint The Good Stewards.
Miranda Lambert leads the field for the 2023 Grammy nominations, announced earlier Tuesday (Nov. 15) as the only artist to receive a nomination in each of the four country categories — best country solo performance, best country duo/group performance, best country song and best country album.
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Her sweep brings her lifetime number of nominations to 27. That’s quite the feat, but it’s dwarfed by the legendary Willie Nelson, who received three nominations this year to add to his 53 previous nods. Nelson’s nominations are all in country this year, but befitting Nelson’s stature as an American icon, over the decades his nods have spanned a number of genres and categories including best pop collaboration with vocals, best Americana album and best traditional pop vocal album. In a fun twist, though he doesn’t receive a nomination since it’s not a songwriter’s category, Nelson also plays a part in “Midnight Rider’s Prayer,” which Brothers Osborne are nominated for in best country duo/group performance: The song samples Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”
Maren Morris, who last won in 2017, for best country solo performance, also lands three nominations. The two other leading nominees — Luke Combs with three and Ashley McBryde with two nods each — are looking for their first Grammy wins.
Grammy voters, unlike voters for the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards, tend to be more willing to look outside of the current radio charts for nominations — hence the Nelson love — but this year largely fell in step with the mainstream for best country song, best country solo performance and best country album. However, the Grammy voters continue to ignore Morgan Wallen, the biggest new artist to hit the format in the past five years, as Wallen did not receive a single nomination.
As usual, there was some spillover between like-minded musical categories. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, who received two nominations in the Americana categories, notched a nomination for best country duo/group performance, while country titans Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton were nominated in best American Roots performance.
While country music continues to struggle to become more inclusive, no artists of color received nominations in the country categories after Mickey Guyton received three nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards.
Mainstream country artists were aced out of the four general categories. While the Recording Academy voters rarely include country artists in album, song, record and best new artist categories, streaming and touring sensation Zach Bryan (who did receive a nod for best country solo performance) had widely been expected to garner a best new artist nod, as had rising star Lainey Wilson.
For the past two years, the voters had included a country name (Ingrid Andress for 2021 and Jimmie Allen for 2022) in the final 10 for best new artist, though a country artist hasn’t won the award since 2010 when Zac Brown Band took home the golden gramophone. The last time a country artist won best album was Kacey Musgraves taking it for Golden Hour in 2019.
A number of country-adjacent artists fared better in the four general all-genre categories, including Americana act Brandi Carlile, who earned album and record of the year nods among her seven total nominations and bluegrass sensation Molly Tuttle, who garnered a best new artist slot.
In songwriter of the year-non classical, one of five new categories added this year, Laura Veltz, who wrote songs for Maren Morris and Andress, received a nomination, and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach was recognized in producer of the year-non classical, for his work with, among others, Hank Williams Jr.
Taylor Swift knows “All Too Well” what a Grammy nomination feels like, with 42 noms under her belt. But Tuesday’s (Nov. 15) announcement that the 10-minute version of her Red (Taylor’s Version) hit is up for song of the year meant something more to the star.
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Swift took to Instagram Stories following the news to share a screenshot from the song’s accompanying short film, which stars Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien. “So many reasons to lose my damn mind today but… All Too Well 10 is the song I’m the most proud of, out of anything I’ve written,” she wrote on top of the photo. “The fact that it’s nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys, an award I’ve never won, that honors the songwriting… it’s momentous and surreal.”
The 11-time Grammy winner went on to say that she called Liz Rose, who co-wrote the song with Swift, noting that they “reminisced about how we started writing together when I was 14. She believed in me then and we are nominated together now. It’s just so cute I can’t cope.”
Swift concluded her message by writing, “I want to ramble about the magic and mystery of time and fate and reclaiming my art but instead I think I’ll go scream for ten minutes straight. And think about how this wouldn’t have happened without you.”
“All Too Well” was originally featured on Swift’s 2012 album, Red, which was one of the albums that Scooter Braun purchased when buying her her master recordings in 2019. She unveiled the re-recorded LP, Red (Taylor’s Version), in November 2021, which included the new, 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” The song went on to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
See the full list of 2023 Grammy nominations here.
When the Grammys unveil their annual nominations, fans pore over the Big Four categories — album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best new artist — to pinpoint the biggest snubs, surprises and upcoming showdowns. Yet the nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, which were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15), also included particularly stacked shortlists in the main pop categories; those include best pop solo performance, best pop duo/group performance and best pop vocal album. (Best traditional pop vocal album — which includes works by Michael Bublé, Kelly Clarkson, Norah Jones, Pentatonix and Diana Ross — is a little removed from this conversation.)
Some of the biggest names in music have songs and albums in the running this year, a veteran group translated its shocking Big Four nods into the pop categories as well, and history could be made by international superstars turning their nominations into victories. Here are the five biggest takeaways from this year’s Grammy pop category nominations — buckle up, because a whole lot of star power is about to be unleashed.
The Superstars Show Out
The pop artists in the culture’s current upper echelon have nearly all been active over the past year, and as such, the pop categories are brimming with big names and their latest respective smashes. Out of the 11 songs nominated for best pop solo performance or best pop duo/group performance, six of them — Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Adele’s “Easy On Me,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Coldplay and BTS’ “My Universe” and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” — have reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, while other major hits from long-proven hitmakers like Doja Cat, Bad Bunny, Post Malone and Camila Cabello have also scored nods.
That’s hardly unusual for the pop categories — but in most years, songs by A-listers are intermixed with those by newer artists. This year, however, the 10 best new artist nominees score zero nominations in the pop categories, as well as none in the other Big Four categories. Lacy, who was ineligible for best new artist due to past nominations, is a rare representative of the rising-artist class, with his Hot 100-topping “Bad Habit” up for best pop solo performance, as well as for record of the year and song of the year. And kudos to Petras, who not only earned her first career Hot 100 entry with “Unholy,” but now has her first career Grammy nomination.
ABBA Crashes the Party
After scoring a surprise record of the year nod at this April’s Grammys with “I Still Have Faith In You,” the legendary Swedish quartet shows up twice in the Big Four categories this year — with their long-awaited comeback LP Voyage placing in the album of the year race, and “Don’t Shut Me Down” giving ABBA their second consecutive record of the year nod.
Both the album and song show up in the pop categories, too — for best pop vocal album and best pop duo/group performance, respectively — and those nominations might end up being more meaningful for ABBA in the long run. The Big Four categories are as hyper-competitive as ever with 10 nominees in each, and if Voyage or “Don’t Shut Me Down” prevails in the less-crowded pop categories (five noms each), ABBA would earn their first-ever Grammy, capping one of the most celebrated runs in pop history.
Bad Bunny Keeps Making History
With his May blockbuster album Un Verano Sin Ti earning Bad Bunny his first album of the year nod, the Puerto Rican superstar continues breaking ground — and could become the first recipient of the top prize for an album performed predominantly in Spanish. Yet it’s also worth noting that album standout “Moscow Mule” becomes the first-ever Spanish-language nominee for best pop solo performance in the category’s 12-year history, and gives Bad Bunny his first career appearance in the pop categories. The “Moscow Mule” nod confirms what we’ve already known about Bad Bunny’s enormous year: His popularity transcends language and genre, and he belongs in competition with his fellow A-listers of any nationality.
Could the Stars Align for Coldplay and BTS?
Seven-time Grammy winners Coldplay may have not won a new trophy since 2009, but the stadium rockers keep racking up nominations, including another album of the year nod — this time for 2021’s Music of the Spheres, the band’s third overall nod in the category and second consecutive project to be nominated. The space-pop full-length is also up for best pop vocal album this year, and Hot 100 No. 1 hit “My Universe” (alongside BTS) will compete for best pop duo/group performance — where it has a strong chance to earn the K-pop group its first career Grammy win.
BTS is actually up for three total Grammys — their song “Yet to Come” snagged a nod for best music video, and they’re credited for their Music of the Spheres contributions in album of the year — but ARMY should circle “My Universe” in best pop duo/group performance as perhaps the group’s best shot at a long-coveted W, especially as part of a category that doesn’t include mega-stars like Adele, Harry Styles or Taylor Swift. Recording Academy voters are still in Coldplay’s corner, and that support could earn the band their first trophy in over a decade — and, simultaneously, a historic win for BTS.
Adele, Harry and Lizzo Could All Dominate Early, Then Late
This year, five artists — Adele, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo — could earn a hat trick by winning in each of the album of the year, record of the year and song of the year categories. And while Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar both could rack up additional wins in the dance, R&B and hip-hop categories, Adele, Styles and Lizzo all have work nominated for best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album — and if any of them dominates in those categories, that could foreshadow a big night for someone in the Big Four.
Could Adele — who has won three best pop solo performance trophies in the past, and has yet to lose in the category — score another victory with “Easy on Me”? Will Harry Styles, whose “Watermelon Sugar” emerged victorious in the category two years ago to give him a first career Grammy, come out on top with his even-bigger smash “As It Was”? Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” won in the category the year prior to “Watermelon Sugar” — can “About Damn Time” notch another W for her? And when it comes to best pop vocal album, can 30, Harry’s House or Special take home the trophy and set the stage for the night’s top prize? No matter which artist wins on Grammy night, the pop categories will be a clash of some of music’s biggest personalities, and just might preview a return trip or two to the stage.