Awards
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When the 2023 Grammy nominations were announced last week, the major categories included superstars racking up major (and in some cases, historic) nominations, as well as some notable snubs. Then there is the best new artist category, which is as wide-open as it’s ever been.
The nominees constitute a fresh new crop of rising stars who have been gaining traction in the ever-changing music industry through TikTok trends, viral moments and smash summer hits, among other avenues. In the past, superstars like Olivia Rodrigo, Megan Thee Stallion and Billie Eilish have snagged the highly coveted crown… but this year’s list of nominees is filled with artists trying to take their next big step. They include Latto, a new hit-maker who gave a dose of “Big Energy” to top 40 radio this year; Måneskin, who scored one of the most unlikely rock hits in recent memory with a raucous version of a half-century-old song; Molly Tuttle, a celebrated bluegrass performer who has the talent and songwriting panache to cross over; and Muni Long, who created several hits for other artists before finally scoring one of her own with the viral R&B smash “Hrs and Hrs.” But in this race, every nominee’s story is fascinating, and worthy of discovery.
The pressure is on to score a major moment during the Feb. 5, 2023 telecast. Until then, get to know the backstory, sound and personality of all 10 of the Grammy best new artist nominees. Here is a breakdown of who could rule the scene next.
Australia’s unofficial anthem, Men At Work’s “Down Under,” is feted with APRA AMCOS’ Billions Award, in recognition for surpassing one billion streams across all platforms.
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The award takes into account streaming numbers from all major services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, YouTube Music, Vevo and Amazon, and is said to be the first of its kind to celebrate a songwriter’s streaming achievement.
Frontman and co-songwriter Colin Hay was on hand at the PRO’s offices to receive the accolade.
“I think that more than anything, the way that the song felt was that I had this deep love for this country, but not in a flag waving way, in a very deep spiritual way,” says Hay, who is currently on tour in these parts.
“I didn’t quite understand what it was, but I can still feel it, I can’t often put it into words—I love the place so much. That’s what the song is, it’s about love and celebration in a very true way.”
The 40-year journey for “Down Under” is as remarkable as the travel tales told in its lyrics.
Written by Hay and Men At Work guitarist Ron Strykert, “Down Under” was the second official single from the band’s debut album Business as Usual, released in 1981.
Some two years after its release, both album and single went to No. 1 in the U.S., and in the U.K., a rare achievement for a band from Australia, then and now.
The single reigned for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and has sold two million copies in the U.S., according to APRA AMCOS.
“Down Under” also topped charts in Australia (in 1981) and New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy (all 1982), and Men At Work went on to win best new artist at the Grammy Awards.
The song was also the subject of a bruising — and costly — copyright battle, which began in 2009.
With that legal saga in the rearview, “Down Under” has reached new audiences through a drum ‘n’ bass reworking by DJ Luude, which peaked at No. 5 in the U.K. earlier in the year, and it soundtracks the new Tourism Australia campaign, with a re-imagined cut by north-east Arnhem Land band King Stingray, singing in Yolngu Matha and English.
Hay received the distinguished services award for outstanding contribution to Australian music at the Global APRA Music Awards, held 2020 in Los Angeles. On that occasion, he was presented with the trophy by pop superstar Sia, who remarked of her “Uncle Collie,” “You’re my favorite singer.”
Previous inductees into the 1,000,000 List include Sia (for multiple songs), Dean Lewis (“Be Alright”), Flume (“Never Be Like You”), Jake Mason, Ivan Khatchoyan, and Lance Ferguson (for Cookin’ On 3 Burners’ “This Girl”), Starley and P-Money (“Call On Me”), Troye Sivan and Alex Hope (“Youth”) and Tones And I (“Dance Monkey”).
See the full list here.
Machine Gun Kelly loves The Office just as much as you do — so much so that the “Papercuts” singer showed up to the 2022 AMAs red carpet on Sunday with Michael Scott’s “World’s Best Boss” mug (content unknown) and gushed about his love of the program while chatting with Billboard‘s correspondent kenzie.
After noticing MGK’s mug, kenzie asked the rock star who his favorite character on the show was, and he has such an appreciation of the show that he was unable to pick just one person. “I like Oscar, I like Kevin, I like Kelly, I like Erin, I like Andy, I like Dwight — I love Dwight — love Michael Scott, love Pam, love Jim. Pretty much who walked into that office, I love,” he said.
The conversation then pivoted to the recent release of Machine Gun Kelly’s latest movie, Taurus. In the semi-autobiographical film — which was released last week on Nov. 18 — Kelly plays the role of Cole, who according to the movie’s official synopsis is “a rising but troubled musician [who] searches for the inspiration to record his next song, pushing himself deep into the void.”
When asked what it was like filming the movie, which also stars his fiancée Megan Fox as Mae, his ex-wife in the film, MGK said it was quite “depressing.” Why? “You should watch the movie.”
See Machine Gun Kelly’s red carpet interview with Billboard at the 2022 American Music Awards in the video above.
The 2022 American Music Awards celebrated the biggest music of the year at the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Nov. 20), and as usual, the night included a bunch of star-studded performances.
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From P!nk, Carrie Underwood and Anitta to Imagine Dragons, JID, Stevie Wonder, Dove Cameron and Yola, the AMAs had a number of surprise appearances and onstage collaborations.
After Lionel Richie was honored with the Icon Award, Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth teamed up to honor his career with a mash-up of his hits. The ceremony also featured a tribute to the late Olivia Newton-John. P!nk took the stage to perform John’s 1978 Grease classic “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
We want know which AMAs performance was your favorite. Let us know by voting below.
In the 65th Annual Grammy nominations, which were announced last week, Jay-Z is competing with himself for song of the year. He is nominated for co-writing his wife Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” and also DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” on which he is one of the featured artists.
Two songwriters – Brandi Carlile and D’Mile – achieved double nominations for song of the year last year – when the Recording Academy expanded the number of nominations in this category to 10. The expansion obviously makes it easier to achieve double nominations. Still, at this point, the list of songwriters with two songs nominated for song of the year in the same year is fairly exclusive – just 12 individual songwriters or songwriting teams have accomplished the feat.
Three songwriting teams have done this – Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Dino Fekaris & Freddie Perren and Elton John & Tim Rice. John and Rice are also the only songwriters who were born outside of the U.S. who have done it.
Carlile is the only female songwriter who has done it.
Three songwriters — Jimmy Webb, Bobby Russell and Michael Jackson — have achieved the feat with a pair of songs they wrote entirely by themselves – a practice that has fallen out of fashion.
Webb is the youngest songwriter to achieve the feat. The prodigy was just 21 when he did it. The oldest? Johnny Mercer, who was 54.
We’ll find out if either of Jay-Z’s songs wins for song of the year on Feb. 5, 2023 when the 65th annual Grammy Awards are presented at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) in Los Angeles.
Here’s a complete list of songwriters who have received two Grammy nominations for song of the year in the same year, working backwards:
Kim Petras has Taylor Swift’s seal of approval. At Sunday’s (Nov. 20) AMAs, Swift had the chance to catch up with the pop singer backstage and express her love for Petras and one of her songs.
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Catching up near the bar at the event, Swift leaned into hug Petras, and exclaimed, “I love your song so much. I’ve done a lot of butt-popping to that” in a brief video that has circulated on social media.
The “Anti-Hero” singer sadly did not name the track that she hasn’t been able to stop playing, but there is one song that Petras is on that has been making the rounds in a major way. Petras features on Sam Smith’s “Unholy” — the track debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but later crowned the chart on Oct. 29. After 11 weeks on the chart, Smith and Petras’ collab scored a nod at the 2023 Grammy Awards in the best pop duo/group performance category and is up against tracks by ABBA, Camila Cabello ft. Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and BTS, and Post Malone and Doja Cat. The nomination marks Petras’ first at the Grammys.
Smith and Petras’ “Unholy” was not up for any awards at the 2022 AMAs last night, but Swift was another story. The “Anti-Hero” singer won six awards, bringing her career-win total to 40. Sunday’s winning streak continues Swift’s tradition of being the most awarded artist in the show’s 50-year history; she has more awards than Michael Jackson (26 wins), Whitney Houston (22) and Kenny Rogers (19).
Watch Swift and Petras’ cute catch-up below.
Footwear News announced Monday (Nov. 21) that Dua Lipa will be the recipient of a new award at the upcoming 36th annual Footwear News Achievement Awards.
The pop star will be awarded the inaugural trophy for Collection of the Year along with her Puma collaborator Billy Walsh for her Puma x Dua Lipa Flutur Drop 2 collection. The awards, colloquially called the Shoe Oscars, are slated to take place Nov. 30 at Cipriani South Street in New York City.
“The second drop is inspired by rave culture and old-school rave posters,” Lipa said in a statement on Puma’s website about her sophomore line for the brand, which features her signature butterfly logo. “That’s where I drew inspiration as well on colorways and how I wanted things to look for this collection.” In addition to shoes, the collection also contains dresses, pants, gym bags, basketball shorts, bralettes and more.
Other winners to be honored at this year’s Footwear News Achievement Awards include Christian Louboutin (Lifetime Achievement Award), Kith (Retailer of the Year), Lululemon (Launch of the Year) and the late Virgil Abloh for his Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1 (Shoe of the Year). Puma will also be recognized with the Sustainability Leadership Award at the ceremony.
On Sunday night, the pop star joined collaborator Elton John at Dodger Stadium for the final North American performance of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, along with fellow special guests Kiki Dee and Brandi Carlile. Dua and Elton performed their Billboard Hot 100 top 10 collaboration “Cold Heart” for the first time ever at the concert, which was livestreamed on Disney+.
Billboard and Footwear News are both owned by Penske Media Corporation.
Adeptly hosted by Wayne Brady, the 2022 American Music Awards saw Taylor Swift win all six of her categories, extending her record as the most-awarded artist in the history of the AMAs (what else do you expect from an artist who is too damn popular for Ticketmaster to handle?). Swift now has 40 AMA wins in the show’s 50-year history, putting her ahead of three late icons: Michael Jackson (26 wins), Whitney Houston (22) and Kenny Rogers (19).
Despite the celebratory tone of the evening, the Sunday night (Nov. 20) broadcast from Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater came less than 24 hours after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., leaving five dead and at least 25 injured. Host Brady, performer/new artist of the year winner Dove Cameron and presenter (not to mention Hot 100 topper) Kim Petras all spoke about the attack on the LGBTQ community, touching on the senseless tragedy and resilience of the queer community. This meant that while musical performances (and awards, naturally) occupied the bulk of the evening, many of the more impactful moments came from artists candidly addressing the tragedy.
Of course, there was still joy to be found, whether through the energetic chemistry of surprise guest Cardi B joining Glo Rilla or Taylor Swift Stanning for her fans during three AMAs acceptance speeches. Plus, the long-running friendship between Smokey Robinson and AMA Icon Award honoree Lionel Richie provided a few laughs, even culminating in an all-star sing-along to an ‘80s smash hit with both Richie and Robinson on stage.
Check out the best moments from the 2022 AMAs below.
The 2022 American Music Awards kicked off on Sunday (Nov. 20) at Microsoft Theatre in L.A., and the night was nothing short of victorious. From Taylor Swift winning in all six categories she was nominated in to Lionel Richie being honored with the Icon Award, this year’s AMAs continued to honor music’s best creators.
Billboard caught some of the action from the audience and backstage. Here are 17 moments you didn’t see on TV at the 2022 AMAs.
4:51 p.m. PT: As the announcer declares less than 10 minutes until showtime, Machine Gun Kelly hugs Dove Cameron on the way to his front-row seat. The two pose for a photo and Dove goes to put her arm around him only to remember he’s wearing sharp spiked suit — and quickly opts to leave her arms by her side.
5:11 p.m.: After having tossed his hat into the small pit of fans by the stage — and proceeding to deliver an epic opening number about hosting the AMAs — Wayne Brady reached out into the crowd to then take his hat back. Unfortunate for the fan who thought they were going home with a rare memento, but it did complete Brady’s look.
5:14 p.m.: Cameron’s team cheered for her backstage as she accepted the award for new artist of the year. Someone also shouted for a handler to help her onstage, but she ultimately walked up alone.
5:20 p.m.: During a commercial break, MGK and two members of his team head backstage. As it turned out, the next award happened to be for favorite rock artist. After being announced as the winner, he comes from backstage to accept the award — making note that it’s hard to go to the bathroom in his purple porcupine-inspired ‘fit.
5:25 p.m.: Meghan Trainor‘s mic gets cut and she seems confused to have missed her mark announcing favorite rock artist; she shrugs and lets the tape of nominees run.
5:29 p.m.: GloRilla‘s dancers get a two-minute warning. The Memphis rapper made her AMA debut fresh off the release of her new EP Anyways, Life’s Great, with a surprise Cardi B cameo.
5:43 p.m.: While announcing and ultimately accepting the honor for favorite male R&B artist of the year, awarded to Chris Brown, who was unable to attend at the last minute, Kelly Rowland told the audience members who chose to boo Brown to take it easy. “Excuse me, chill out,” she said. As the negativity simmered, she continued to praise Brown and his music, telling him she’d bring him his deserved trophy.
5:45 p.m.: Carrie Underwood climbs into a metal sphere ahead of her performance, patiently waiting through a commercial break, the award for favorite male R&B artist, and a beautiful intro by Jimmie Allen.
5:55 p.m.: Just ahead of favorite pop album, Taylor Swift walks in (in a look seemingly inspired by her Fearless era), and fans naturally go crazy. The screams seem to follow her to her front-row seat, where she’s greeted and hugged by GAYLE and Sabrina Carpenter. Moments later, she’s announced as the winner in the category for Red (Taylor’s Version).
6:12 p.m.: GloRilla’s backup dancers file into the talent glam tent outside the arena. The girls are screaming and laughing as they celebrate the rapper’s debut AMA performance. Outside the tent, Glo and Cardi are at their trailers catching up, taking pictures with their team and family.
6:37 p.m.: As Måneskin is announced as the winner of favorite rock song for “Beggin,’” half of the audience stands for the Italian rock act.
6:43-6:45 p.m.: Dancers and instrumentalists eagerly leave the glam tent to head into the arena for Dove Cameron’s set. “The wait is over!,” one dancer says.
6:49 p.m.: J.I.D. chats with friends outside the snack trailer backstage after his performing “Enemy” with Imagine Dragons. The rapper was nominated for favorite rock song along with the band who had three other nominations.
6:55 p.m.: Swift re-enters the room, and this time pauses on the way to her seat to chat and take a photo with Smokey Robinson. As she nears center stage, she stops and chats at length with Jimmie Allen. Sure enough, she wins the award for favorite music video for the “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” short film and the entire front row remains standing for her speech.
7:12 p.m.: Ari Lennox emerges from her trailer in a long orange gown and makes her way to the theater. Minutes after, Charlie Puth does the same, dressed in a glittery black suit jacket. The two, along with Stevie Wonder, later share the stage for their tribute to Lionel Richie, who received the Icon Award.
7:21 p.m.: Lionel Richie walks over to say his hellos to Swift and for the two snap a photo. Moments later, Swift wins for artist of the year, followed by Richie being honored with the Icon Award.
7:55 p.m.: Swift walks out with GAYLE and Sabrina Carpenter in her entourage — signaling that her winning streak and the night had both come to a close.
Taylor Swift won a night-topping six awards at the 2022 American Music Awards, which brings her career total to an even 40. This extends her already considerable lead as the most-awarded artist in the show’s 50-year history. Swift is followed on the AMA leaderboard by three superstar artists who have died: Michael Jackson (26 wins), Whitney Houston (22) and Kenny Rogers (19).
The 2022 AMAs, hosted by Wayne Brady, were held at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday (Nov. 20).
Swift extended her leads as the artist with the most wins for artist of the year (seven), and favorite pop/rock female artist (also seven).
In addition, Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) won favorite pop album. It’s her record-extending fifth win in the category. And “All Too Well” won favorite music video. It’s Swift’s third win in the category, which is also a record. She also won in two country categories.
Beyoncé, who was not present at the show, won three awards, making her the night’s runner-up for most wins. She won favorite soul/R&B female artist for the seventh time, which puts her in a tie with Rihanna for the most wins in the history of the category.
Two-time winners were Bad Bunny, BTS, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles and Morgan Wallen. These artists, likewise, did not appear on the show.
BTS won favorite pop duo or group for the fourth time, which makes them the most awarded group in the category, which has been presented every year since the show began. BTS were previously tied with Daryl Hall & John Oates, Aerosmith, Black Eyed Peas and One Direction with three wins each. BTS also won in the new favorite K-pop artist category.
Styles won favorite male pop artist for the first time. One Direction were three-time winners for favorite pop/rock group. The genial Brit is the third artist to win in both categories. Justin Timberlake has won the male pop award twice and the pop group award once with *NSYNC. Phil Collins has won the male pop award once and the pop group award once with Genesis.
Marshmello won favorite dance/electronic artist for the fourth time, extending his record as the most awarded artist in the category.
Nicki Minaj won favorite female hip-hop artist. It’s her fifth win a rap/hip hop artist category – which is more than any other artist. (The name of the category and whether it was gendered or not has changed over the years). Eminem is in second place, with four wins.
Dove Cameron, who was surprisingly passed over for a Grammy nomination for best new artist last week, won the AMA award for new artist of the year. She’s the first AMA new artist of the year winner who wasn’t even nominated for the Grammy for best new artist since 5 Seconds of Summer eight years ago. (That’s discounting three solo stars who emerged from successful groups – Zayn, Niall Horan and Camila Cabello, because they wouldn’t have been eligible for a Grammy nod.)
Dan + Shay took favorite country duo or group for the fourth year in a row. That’s the longest consecutive win streak in that category since Lady A won four straight from 2010-13. But it’s far from the record. Alabama won 14 years in a row from 1983 to 1996.
Elvis beat Encanto for favorite soundtrack, which likely reflects the fact that Elvis was more current at the time of voting. But a track from Encanto, Sebastián Yatra’s “Dos Orguiitas,” won favorite Latin song. Yatra performed the Oscar-nominated song on the Academy Awards in March.
Coldplay won favorite touring artist. It’s the band’s second win in that category, which was introduced in 2016. No other act has won more than once. The category was on hiatus the last two years when touring was hindered by the pandemic.
Elton John & Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart – PNAU Remix” won collaboration of the year. Elton was nominated for favorite pop/rock male artist at the very first AMAs on Feb. 19, 1974. He lost to Jim Croce, whose tragic death in a plane crash the previous September triggered a huge sales boom.
Smokey Robinson, who co-hosted that first AMAs show with the late Roger Miller and Helen Reddy, presented the Icon Award to Lionel Richie.