grammy awards
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Female artists dominated the 2024 Grammys, just as they dominated pop music – and pop culture in general – last year. The 66th annual Grammy Awards were presented at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday (Feb. 4).
Female artists swept the Big Four awards for the third time in the past five years. Taylor Swift’s Midnights won album of the year. Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” took record of the year. Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” (which she wrote with her brother Finneas) won song of the year. Victoria Monét grabbed best new artist.
Swift became the first four-time winner for album of the year. She previously won for Fearless, 1989 and Folklore. Swift had been tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon with three wins each in this category.
Serban Ghenea won as an engineer/mixer on Swift’s album. He’s the first person (not artist, mind you) to win album of the year five times. The Canadian engineer/mixer previously won in the category as an engineer/mixer on Swift’s 1989 and Folklore, Adele’s 25 and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic.
“Flowers” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks – Cyrus’ longest run by far. “Flowers” represented a major breakthrough for Cyrus: If anyone still thinks of her as the former Hannah Montana star who then went a little overboard in trying to smash that image, it’s time to get over it. “Flowers” proved that she’s a thoroughly credible mainstream pop star.
Eilish and Finneas first won song of the year four years ago for “Bad Guy.” This year’s win for “What Was I Made For?” puts the sibling pair in a tie for the most wins in this category with (take a deep breath) Henry Mancini & Johnny Mercer, James Horner, Will Jennings, U2, Adele, Bruno Mars & Christopher Brody Brown and Dernst Emile II (D’Mile).
“What Was I Made For?” is likely to win the Oscar for best original song on March 10. If it does, it would be the first song to win a Grammy for song of the year before winning the Oscar since “You Light Up My Life” 46 years ago.
Monét’s win for best new artist marks the seventh consecutive year that a female solo artist has won in that category, following wins for Alessia Cara, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Olivia Rodrigo and Samara Joy. This equals the longest consecutive win streak by female artists in the category’s history. From 1997-2003, the award went, in turn, to LeAnn Rimes, Paula Cole, Lauryn Hill, Christina Aguilera, Shelby Lynn, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones.
Female artists or female-led groups also took top album awards in most major genres, including pop (Taylor Swift’s Midnights), alternative music (boygenius’ The Record), rock (Paramore’s This Is Why), progressive R&B (SZA’s SOS), R&B (Victoria Monét’s Jaguar II) and country (Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country).
Boygenius, SZA, Victoria Monét and Killer Mike were the night’s top winners in terms of number of awards won, with three awards each.
Trevor Noah hosted the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. Songwriter Justin Tranter hosted the Premiere Ceremony, where more than 80 of the 94 awards were presented, live from Peacock Theater, which is adjacent to Crypto. Both hosts were Grammy nominees this year. Noah was nominated for best comedy album; Tranter for songwriter of the year, non-classical. Alas, both lost.
Killer Mike swept the rap categories, winning best rap album for Michael and best rap performance and best rap song for “Scientists & Engineers.” Killer Mike, 48, accepted the awards exuberantly, saying they proved that you’re never too old to rap.
Boygenius’ The Record won best alternative music album. This is the fourth consecutive year that a female solo artist or all-female or female-led group has won in this category. Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters won three years ago. St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home won two years ago. Wet Leg’s eponymous debut album won last year.
Jack Antonoff became only the second producer to win producer of the year, non-classical three years in a row. The first was Babyface, who managed to threepeat in 1995-97. In his acceptance speech, Antonoff gave thanks to Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, praising Swift for remaining loyal to him back when he wasn’t that big a name.
Theron Thomas won songwriter of the year, non-classical, a newish category which is in its second year. Thomas’ credits for the year include Lil Durk featuring J. Cole’s “All My Life,” which won best melodic rap performance.
Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country won best country album, having already won album of the year at both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Awards. It’s the ninth album to complete country music’s “triple crown” by winning at all three of these shows. Here’s a list with full details.
“Ghost in the Machine” by SZA featuring Phoebe Bridgers won best pop duo/group performance. This marked the third time in four years that an all-female collab won in that category. Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me” won three years ago. Doja Cat featuring SZA’s “Kiss Me More” won two years ago.
Chris Stapleton took best country solo performance for a record-extending fourth time. Carrie Underwood and Willie Nelson have each won twice in the category. Stapleton won this year for “White Horse.” The song, which Stapleton co-wrote with Dan Wilson, was also voted best country song. A different song with the exact same title (by Taylor Swift and Liz Rose) won in the category 14 years ago.
Joni Mitchell’s Joni Mitchell at Newport (Live) won best folk album, 54 years after she won her first Grammy – best folk performance for Clouds. This Mitchell’s 10th Grammy won in competition.
Metallica won best metal performance for a record-extending seventh time. They won this year for “72 Seasons.”
Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito, which made history as the first all-Spanish language album by a woman to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, won best música urbana album. The Colombian singer is the first woman to win in that category. Karol G’s album won album of the year at the 2023 Latin Grammys, which was held on Nov. 16 in Seville, Spain.
Samara Joy, last year’s surprise winner for best new artist, won best jazz performance for “Tight.”
Ludwig Göransson won best score soundtrack for visual mediafor Oppenheimer. The Swedish composer first won in the category five years ago for the first Black Panther.
John Williams won best instrumental composition for “Helena’s Theme” from his score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It makes him just the seventh person in Grammy history to win 26 or more Grammys. Beyoncé leads with 32 awards, followed by classical conductor Sir Georg Solti (31), Quincy Jones (28), Alison Krauss (27), Chick Corea (27) and classical conductor Pierre Boulez (also 26).
Williams, who turns 92 on Thursday (Feb. 8), is the fifth-oldest Grammy winner in history. He trails only blues artist Pinetop Perkins, who was 97 when he won in 2011; Tony Bennett, who was 95 when he won in 2022; comedian George Burns, who was 95 when he won in 1991; and former President Jimmy Carter, who was 94 when he won in 2019.
The Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping” won best music video, though the Fab Four (or what’s left of it) didn’t personally win. The award went to the video’s director, Em Cooper, and its four producers. The Beatles were credited as winners in the category 27 years ago for “Free as a Bird.”
Michelle Obama became the first first lady or former first lady to win twice for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording. She won this year for The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, having won four years ago for Becoming. Moreover, by winning a second Grammy, Obama pulls even with her husband, who won twice while he was a U.S. Senator. The Obamas are the first First Couple in Grammy history to each become multiple Grammy winners.
Elaine Martone won producer of the year, classical, for the second time. She previously won in 2007. In her acceptance speech, Martone thanked her husband, Robert Woods, who has won seven times in the category. They are the only husband-and-wife team to have each won in this category. Martone is one of three women who have won in that category, along with Joanna Nickrenz (a two-time winner) and Judith Sherman (a seven-time winner). No woman has ever won for producer of the year, non-classical.
Julian Marley & Antaeus’ Colors of Royal won best reggae album. Julian is the fourth member of the Marley family to win in this category, following Ziggy, Damian and Stephen. The patriarch of the family, Bob Marley, died in 1981, three years before the category was introduced.
Dave Chappelle won best comedy album for the fifth time in the past seven years. He won this time for What’s in a Name? He’s one of just four artists to win as many as five times in the category. Bill Cosby leads with seven. George Carlin and Richard Pryor also won five.
The Count Basie Orchestra Directed by Scotty Barnhart won best large jazz ensemble album for Basie Swings the Blues. Basie was a double winner at the very first Grammy Awards in May 1959. The jazz legend died in 1984, so he won’t personally be credited with this year’s win.
Some Like It Hot won best musical theater album, beating, among others, Kimberly Akimbo. This helps makes up for the fact that, at the Tony Awards last June, Kimberly Akimbo beat Some Like It Hot in three key categories – best musical, best book of a musical and best original score written for the theatre.
Three current trustees of the Recording Academy won Grammys. Michael Romanowski won best immersive audio album for a deluxe edition of Alicia Keys’ 2004 album The Diary of Alicia Keys. J. Ivy won best spoken word poetry album for The Light Inside. P.J. Morton won best traditional R&B performance for “Good Morning” (featuring Susan Carol). All three had won previously in those categories. Some have questioned whether their high-profile involvement in the Academy gives them an unfair advantage in the voting.
The best thing about the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards, where they dispense Lifetime Achievement Awards and other career-capping honors, is the warm way the recipients reach across genres and generations to acknowledge each other. And so it was when the 2024 honors were presented on Saturday (Feb. 3) at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles.
Hip-hop innovator DJ Kool Herc, who received a Trustees Award, spied fellow honoree Gladys Knight in the front row and said of “Midnight Train to Georgia,” her 1973 classic with the Pips – “now, that’s flow.”
Ice Cube also praised Knight and the gospel singing group The Clark Sisters in his remarks, in which N.W.A received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“We knew when we started to do music in 1985/1986 that a Grammy was not in the cards for the type of music we were doing, and we were cool with that. We can’t sing like Gladys or hold a note like The Clark Sisters. We wanted to make sense of the world around us, Long Beach, Compton, Watts.”
He noted that when N.W.A started out they had their lane all to themselves. “We didn’t think the whole world would be doing it. We thought it was ours. What it showed was when you do your thing, the world will come to you and you don’t have to go to the world.”
N.W.A is the fifth rap group to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in the past eight years, following Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and Salt-N-Pepa. (In addition, Slick Rick, who rose to prominence in Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew, was honored on his own last year.)
In welcoming the audience to the Special Merit Awards, Ruby Marchand, the Academy’s chief awards and industry officer, said “This ceremony is a highlight of Grammy Week, so heartfelt.” That’s the right word for it. Especially since the Grammy Awards scaled up to arenas in 1997 when they were held at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time, the Special Merit Awards are seen as the warmer, more intimate show, with good feelings all around. Perhaps that’s because it’s not a competition and because these acknowledgements usually come late in the honorees’ careers, when they are in a reflective mood.
Four of the honors were presented posthumously – Lifetime Achievement Awards to Donna Summer, Tammy Wynette, Eazy-E of N.W.A and a Technical Grammy Award to sound engineer Tom Kobayashi. In addition, attorney Joel Katz, who received a Trustees Award, “[is] addressing his health concerns,” in the words of fellow attorney Jason M. Karlov, who accepted for him.
Dr. Dre, being honored as a member of N.W.A sent a text message, read by Harvey Mason, jr. CEO of the Recording Academy, in which he explained that the ceremony fell on his daughter’s birthday and he put family first, but nonetheless said “I’m honored to receive this award with my N.W.A brothers.”
Two well-chosen guest artists introduced segments. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who had a No. 1 smash on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996 with “Tha Crossroads,” a tribute to Eazy-E, presented the award to N.W.A. The members said that N.W.A “changed music, culture and America forever.” And Shelby Lynne presented the award to one of her idols, Wynette. Lynne also sang a good bit of Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” which she correctly called “a country classic for the ages.”
Wynette’s award was accepted by Tamala Jones, her daughter by George Jones. The daughter credited the Showtime miniseries George & Tammy for being a factor that may have helped Wynette, who died in 1998, finally receive this award. George Jones received the honor in 2012.
Bruce Sudano, who was married to Summer for more than 30 years, accepted Summer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, along with their daughters Mimi, Brooklyn and Amanda. He said the phone call in which he was notified of the honor stirred “feelings I didn’t anticipate. My body filled with pure joy, connected to a tear in my eye. It’s gratifying for us that, more than 10 years after her passing, her voice and music are still omnipresent in the zeitgeist.”
He credited Universal Music Group and Warner Chappell, among others, for coming up with creative ways to keep her music alive. “I’m grateful that she continues to inspire young fans, [whether newcomers or] beautiful Beyoncé and her Summer Renaissance.”
The Summer segment ended when her daughter Mimi sang a few ethereal lines from Summer’s 1977 dance/electronica classic “I Feel Love.”
Summer was the first female artist to win Grammy Awards in four different genres: R&B (“Last Dance”), rock (“Hot Stuff”), inspirational (“He’s a Rebel” and “Forgive Me”) and dance (“Carry On”).
Knight spoke emotionally about family in accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award. She noted that her mother would never allow her to sing “easy.” It had to come from a deeper place. All credit, then, to Gladys Knight’s mother for encouraging her daughter to find the perfect blend of “pain and glory” that has always been her trademark.
In 1974, Gladys Knight & the Pips became the first group to win Grammys in both pop and R&B categories the same night.
Laurie Anderson accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award with an eloquent speech. “I make music that doesn’t have a snappy name,” she said. “‘Multi-media’ is the one I dislike the least. ‘Experimental’ sounds like I’m making things in a laboratory that might explode.”
She also related three rules to live by that she and her late husband, Lou Reed, came up with.“1) Don’t be afraid of anyone. 2) Get a really good bullshit detector. 3) Be really tender.”
Anderson could win a competitive Grammy on Sunday, one day after accepting this honorary one. She is nominated for best historical album for Words & Music, May 1965 (Deluxe Edition). Anderson is one of two of this year’s Special Merit Awardees who are current Grammy nominees. Karen Clark-Sheard of The Clark Sisters is nominated for best gospel performance/song for “God Is Good.”
Peter Asher, who received a Trustees Award, had scanned the list of previous recipients of that award, and said he found it “intimidating.” Citing in particular The Beatles, Mo Ostin, Ahmet Ertegun, Sir George Martin, Lou Adler, Carole King and Clive Davis, he said “the phrase ‘We are not worthy’ comes to mind when I get this award.”
In a video setting up the presentation, the Grammys reached back to a clip from the 1990 telecast where Asher won producer of the year, non-classical for the second time. “I would like to thank the artists I worked with,” he said. “They could very easily have made the records without me, but I certainly couldn’t have made them without them.”
There were moments of humor in the proceedings. Sound engineer Tom Scott, who received a Technical Grammy Award in tandem with his late partner Tom Kobayashi, had to sheepishly admit that even he sometimes has technical issues. “I had this [acceptance speech] on my cell phone, but it’s on a little red zone that says it has 5% power, so I had to fall back on analog,” he said, as he pulled out a printed copy of his remarks to read.
Jason M. Karlov, an attorney at Katz’s law firm, Barnes + Thornburg, said this in accepting Katz’s Trustees Award, which are generally given to non-performers. “I’ve heard Trustees Awards are not for performances but if you’ve ever known Joel, it’s a performance.”
Karlov also said that Katz feels that “his most prideful work is his 41 years of service on behalf of the Academy.” As an outside general counsel for the Recording Academy, Katz is credited with leading the negotiations for the Grammys’ 10-year, $500 million deal with CBS in 2016. (The Academy has rewarded a handful of Grammy insiders with Trustees Awards over the years, including Christine Farnon, the Academy’s first full-time employee; Pierre Cossette, who was instrumental in turning the Grammys into a live telecast; Walter C. Miller, the show’s longtime director; and Ken Ehrlich, who produced or executive produced the telecast for 40 years.)
K’naan’s “Refugee” was the Best Song for Social Change Award Honoree.This award, now in its second year, honors songwriter(s) of message-driven music that speaks to the social issues of our time and has demonstrated and inspired positive global impact.
“Refugee,” which K’naan co-wrote with Steve McEwan and Gerald Eaton, serves as a tribute to refugees around the world. K’naan, 45, was nominated in a comparable category, best video with a message, at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for “Is Anybody Out There?,” a collaboration with Nelly Furtado.
Annie Ray of Annandale High School in Annandale, Virginia, received the 2024 Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum. Ray serves as both the orchestra director and performing arts department chair at Annandale High School in the Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) system. “Orchestra is much more than just a class – it’s a second family,” Ray said.
Sorry, Swifties. Taylor Swift will not be performing at the 2024 Grammys Awards, Billboard has learned. The 34-year-old pop superstar, who is nominated for six awards at this year’s Grammys, is expected to attend the ceremony on Sunday (Feb. 4) but won’t be stepping onto the stage for a live musical performance. Immediately after the […]
Miley Cyrus is set to perform her smash “Flowers” at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 4) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Billboard has confirmed. Variety was first to report the news. The ceremony will air live on CBS and Paramount+. Surprisingly, this will be the first time Cyrus has performed the song on TV since its release in January 2023.
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Sixteen years into her post-Hannah Montana pop career, Cyrus received her first Grammy nominations in “Big Three” categories – album, record and song of the year. Cyrus’ father, Billy Cyrus, has landed two record of the year nominations – for “Achy Breaky Heart” (1992) and as a featured artist on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (2019). The Cyruses are just the third parent-child pair to each receive record of the year nominations, following Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra and Nat “King” & Natalie Cole.
“Flowers,” which entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1 and remained there for eight consecutive weeks, is also nominated for best pop solo performance.
Cyrus co-wrote “Flowers” with Gregory Aldae Hein and Michael Pollack. It appears on Cyrus’ album Endless Summer Vacation, which is also nominated for best pop vocal album.
Also set to perform on the show are Burna Boy, Luke Combs (with Tracy Chapman), Billie Eilish, Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Joni Mitchell (in her first Grammy performance), Olivia Rodrigo, Travis Scott, SZA and U2. Burna Boy is expected to be joined by 21 Savage and Brandy. Mitchell is expected to be joined by Brandi Carlile.
In addition, Stevie Wonder, Fantasia Barrino, Annie Lennox and Jon Batiste will perform in the In Memoriam segment, in which they will honor Tony Bennett, Tina Turner, Sinéad O’Connor and Clarence Avant, respectively.
Stevie Wonder, Fantasia Barrino, Annie Lennox and Jon Batiste are set to honor recently departed music icons at the 2024 Grammy Awards, set for Sunday (Feb. 4) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Most have deep personal connections to the honorees. Wonder will pay tribute to Tony Bennett, with whom he teamed to perform “For […]
Joni Mitchell will make her Grammy performance debut at the 2024 Grammy Awards, set for Sunday (Feb. 4) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It’s surprising that Mitchell has never performed on Music’s Biggest Night because she has been a Grammy fixture for decades. She won her first of nine competitive Grammys in 1970. In addition, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2002.
The legendary singer-songwriter is nominated for best folk album for Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live]. She won her first Grammy 54 years ago in a folk category (best folk performance) for Clouds.
Mitchell is the ninth performer to be announced for this year’s telecast. These performers range in age from three in their 20s (Olivia Rodrigo, 20; Billie Eilish, 22; and Dua Lipa, 28) to three who are 60+ – the four members of U2, who are in their early 60s; Billy Joel, 74; and Mitchell, 80). Also booked for the show are Burna Boy and Travis Scott, both 32, and Luke Combs, 33.
Mitchell is the fourth of these performers who is a past album of the year winner, following Joel, U2 and Eilish. But you may be surprised to learn what album Mitchell won for. It wasn’t her 1971 classic Blue (which, surprisingly, wasn’t nominated in any categories), or her 1974 creative and commercial hit Court and Spark (which was nominated for album of the year). It was Herbie Hancock’s jazz tribute to her, River: The Joni Letters. She won as a featured artist on that album.
U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas, home of the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. The segment will also feature a special awards presentation.
Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced in coming days.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He too is a Grammy nominee. Noah is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. He won a Primetime Emmy on Jan. 15 for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday (Feb. 4) from 8:00-11:30 p.m. live ET/5:00-8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
U2 will perform from Sphere in Las Vegas on the 2024 Grammy Awards, set to take place Sunday Feb. 4 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The segment will also feature a special awards presentation.
The news broke today on U2’s social media channel, complementing the record-setting run of U2’s acclaimed “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.”
This is the first broadcast performance from Sphere, a first-of-its kind venue that has garnered worldwide headlines. The Grammys were held in Las Vegas two years ago, at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Billboard’s Katie Atkinson reviewed U2’s opening night show at Sphere on Sept. 29. Her main takeaway: “U2 was exactly the right band to welcome the mind-blowing space.”
Expanding on that thought, Atkinson wrote: “You might think that all the technological bells and whistles could overshadow the performance, but U2’s music and message always remained the focal point throughout the two-hour set. … In the end, Sphere never overshadows U2; Sphere magnifies U2, pairing a band that has attempted to innovate with each new tour over their 40-plus-year career with a venue that seemingly has no limits of innovation.”
U2 have amassed 22 Grammys over the course of their career, including two awards in each of the top three categories – album, record and song of the year.
Previously announced Grammy Awards performers include Burna Boy, Luke Combs, Billie Eilish, Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and Travis Scott. Three of the first eight performers announced for the show are past album of the year winners – U2, Joel and Eilish.
Additional performers for the Grammy telecast will be announced.
Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year. He too is a Grammy nominee. He is up for best comedy album for I Wish You Would. He’s the first Grammy host to be nominated for a Grammy that same year since Queen Latifah in 2005. Noah won a Primetime Emmy last week for outstanding talk series for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4 from 8:00-11:30 p.m. live ET/5:00-8:30 p.m. live PT on CBS and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.
Songwriter Justin Tranter will host the Premiere Ceremony prior to the 2024 Grammy Awards, live from Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The event will stream live on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com.
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More than 80 of this year’s 94 Grammy Awards will be presented at this ceremony. Tranter is nominated for songwriter of the year, non-classical in recognition of his work with such artists as Miley Cyrus, Måneskin and Reneé Rapp.
The show will also include several performances. The opening number will feature J. Ivy, Larkin Poe, Pentatonix, Sheila E., and Jordin Sparks. Other artists scheduled to perform include current Grammy nominees Adam Blackstone, Brandy Clark, Kirk Franklin, Robert Glasper, Bob James, Laufey, Terrace Martin, and Gaby Moreno, as well as one artist who isn’t nominated this year, but has been in the past, acclaimed drummer Harvey Mason Sr., the father of Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr.
Mason Sr. amassed 10 Grammy nominations between 1975 and 2009. That’s twice as many nods as his son has garnered. Oddly, neither musician has yet won a Grammy.
Presenters for these first Grammy Awards of the day include Patti Austin, Natalia Lafourcade, Carly Pearce, Molly Tuttle, Rufus Wainwright, and five-time Grammy winner Jimmy Jam, former chair of the Recording Academy’s board of trustees. Mason jr. and Tammy Hurt, current chair of the board of trustees, will provide opening remarks.
“The Premiere Ceremony is the most incredible lead-up to Music’s Biggest Night,” Mason jr. said in a statement. “With an amazing line-up of presenters and performers, we’ll reveal and celebrate the winners of more than 80 categories, spanning the diverse genres and crafts that have contributed to such a spectacular year in music.”
This year’s Premiere Ceremony is produced by Branden Chapman, Ruby Marchand, Chantel Sausedo, and Rex Supa on behalf of the Recording Academy. Greg V. Fera is executive producer and Cheche Alara is music producer and music director.
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will broadcast live following the Premiere Ceremony on CBS from 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT. It will also stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
Nominees: Jon Batiste’s World Music Radio, boygenius’ The Record, Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure, Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, Taylor Swift’s Midnights, SZA’s SOS
This is the most female-dominated fields of album of the year contenders in Grammy history. Here are all the times female artists have dominated in the category.
Analysis: I asked three Billboard colleagues who they thought would win in each of the Big Four categories. They are all super-smart and plugged-in. In this category, they gave me three different answers (Swift, SZA and boygenius), so I guess I’m on my own here.
Each of Swift’s three album of the year winners represented a major chapter in her career – Fearless, her breakthrough as a pop/country superstar; 1989, a risky and hugely successful transition into pop; and Folklore, a perfectly-timed folkie side-step during the pandemic. The capsule summary of this album – a concept album about late-night ruminations inspired by her sleepless nights – isn’t quite as compelling.
SZA is a very strong challenger with SOS, which topped the Billboard 200 for 10 nonconsecutive weeks, longer than any of these other nominees. The narrative here is the emergence of a newly-minted superstar in an industry that relies on them.
SZA is vying to become the first Black woman to win in this category as a lead artist since Lauryn Hill 25 years ago for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Last year, many (including me) thought Beyoncé would win for Renaissance. Instead, Harry Styles won for Harry’s House, and while he was a deserving winner, there is a pent-up frustration on the part of many that R&B and hip-hop are so often passed over in the Big Four categories. That Grammy history is unavoidably playing into this year’s contest.
Boygenius is also aiming to make history. The all-female trio, consisting of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, would become just the second all-female group or duo to win in this category, following The Chicks, who won in 2007 for Taking the Long Way.
Boygenius wrote their entire album by themselves and produced it with Catherine Marks. The album even had a female mastering engineer, Pat Sullivan. (The album had both male and female engineer/mixers, so men weren’t completely sidelined here.) This is the only album of the year finalist to also be nominated for best engineered album, non-classical.
Batiste’s World Music Radio is nominated two years after he was the surprise winner in the category for We Are. Winning again so soon is a longshot, but if it happens, he’ll be the first artist to win twice in the space of three years as a lead artist since the mid-’70s, when Stevie Wonder won three times in a four-year span.
A side-note here: If Midnights (or Rodrigo’s Guts) wins, Serban Ghenea would become the first person (not artist, mind you) to win album of the year five times. The Canadian engineer/mixer previously won in the category as an engineer/mixer on Swift’s 1989 and Folklore, Adele’s 25 and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic.
Predicted winner: SZA
And if not her: Taylor Swift, boygenius
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It seems Diddy will stay away from the public eye much longer than many expected. He will not be attending the 2024 Grammy Awards despite being nominated.
Digital Music News is reporting that the Bad Boy Entertainment mogul will not be in the house for the 66th edition of the ceremony that will honor the best in music. The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively confirmed this with one of Diddy’s representatives. His decision to bow out seems to stem from the multiple allegations of sexual assault made against the New York City native. While the Board of Trustees of the Recording Academy have not formally rescinded his invite, they told Radar Online on Dec. 11 that they are “taking very seriously and we are in the process of evaluating it with the time and care that it deserves.”
Diddy’s latest effort, The Love Album: Off The Grid, was nominated for Best Progressive R&B album along with SZA’s SOS, Janelle Monáe’s The Age Of Pleasure, 6LACK’s Since I Have A Lover and Nova by Terrence Martin and James Fauntleroy. This nod marks Diddy’s first Grammy Award nomination since 2004 when he won for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Shake Ya Tailfeather” with Nelly and Murphy Lee.
In the past, the Recording Academy has faced criticism for including talent facing scandal. Last year, Dave Chappelle, Dr. Luke and Louis CK were all respectively nominated for awards. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, they made it clear that the nominations do not necessarily reflect the feelings of the Academy. “Our job is to evaluate the art and the quality of the art. The thing that we can control is making sure that people that attend our events feel safe … and don’t feel threatened by anyone,” Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said.
Diddy has denied all the allegations against him.