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With 10 nominees apiece in each of the Big Four categories at the 2023 Grammy Awards, predicting the night’s winners is tougher than ever — but that won’t stop the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast from trying.
On the latest episode, Katie & Keith are breaking down Billboard awards editor Paul Grein’s Big Four predictions — in the record of the year, song of the year, best new artist and album of the year categories. Will Harry Styles and Lizzo snag their first Big Four wins, thanks to nods in three of the four categories each? And after years of being passed over for album of the year, could Renaissance be Beyoncé’s golden ticket — or will Bad Bunny continue on his unstoppable path toward global domination and take the top prize with Un Verano Sin Ti instead?
There’s a lot to discuss ahead of the Feb. 5 awards show, so let’s get to it in the brand-new episode of the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast below.
Also on the show, it’s a rather exciting week on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as both The Weekend and Beyoncé notch new top 10 hits, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “Blue (I’m Good)” hits a new peak, and Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” jumps back to No. 1 for a seventh week — tying for the most weeks any Swift song has spent atop the chart. Plus, on the Billboard 200, SZA’s SOS clocks a fourth straight week at No. 1 — becoming the first R&B album by a woman to spend its first four weeks atop the list in nearly 30 years.
Plus, we happened to get some breaking pop news while we were recording the podcast: The 2023 Coachella headliners have arrived! And Keith shares his experience attending ABBA’s Voyage concert in London — what it was like to see he virtual concert in person?
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
By now you’ve heard that Trevor Noah will host the 2023 Grammys, set for Feb. 5 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It’s the third year in a row that Noah has been tabbed as host of Music’s Biggest Night. He’ll be the first person to host the show three years running since LL Cool J hosted five straight shows from 2012-16.
Noah wrapped a seven-year run as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show on Dec. 8, so this will be his first Grammy hosting gig as the former host of The Daily Show. Jon Stewart, his predecessor as host of The Daily Show, was a two-time Grammy host in 2001-02.
In a Q&A with Billboard’s Neena Rouhani for the 2023 Grammy Voter Guide, Noah discussed the appeal of the Grammy telecast.
“In a world where everything is becoming increasingly niche,” he said, “there are few collective experiences that we can share where everyone gets something they want.”
Noah said he enjoys the challenge of hosting a live awards show. “I’m enjoying the fact that we’re juggling flaming swords,” he said. “Just putting it all together, combining different genres, getting the musicians in sync with each other and the audience, keeping the audience in tune with what’s happening. One of my favorite things about the Grammys as a whole is it is one of the few places where you get to experience artists in their rawest element, which is performing their music live.”
Noah also shared his hosting philosophy. “I’m always aware that I am there in service of the show. This is not my show, nor do I try to pretend that it is. A good host is somebody who keeps the show moving in the right direction, makes sure that they bring the audience into what’s happening, engages and entertains everybody who’s in the room and really turns it into a party. Everyone is there to have a good time. It’s an awards show, but it’s also one of the greatest concerts you’ll ever get the opportunity to go to.”
Here are five fun facts about Grammy host Trevor Noah.
Grammy voters, it’s time to do your due diligence and vote in the 65th annual Grammy Awards. Final round voting opened on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 9 a.m. PT and continues until Jan. 4, 2023 at 6 p.m. PT. That may seem like a long voting window, but there are some major holidays in there that will compete for voters’ time and attention.
The 2023 Grammys telecast will be held on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, formerly (and more gracefully) known as Staples Center. It will mark the first time since 2020 that the Grammys have been back in the venue that has hosted all but four Grammy telecasts since 2000.
The Grammys’ three-week voting window in the final round is significantly longer than the Oscars’ five-day voting window in the final round (March 2-7, 2023). Advantage: Grammys. But final-round Grammy ballots are due a little more than a month before the big show, whereas final-round Oscar ballots are due just five days before the show, which is set for March 12. Advantage: Oscars.
As a result of these deadlines, the first Grammy votes will be submitted and locked (after which no changes are possible) on Dec. 14, a full seven weeks before the winners are revealed. By contrast, the first Oscar votes will be submitted and locked on March 2, just 10 days before the winners are announced. That allows voting in the Oscars to be timelier. Oscar voters have more of a chance to check out that movie they’ve been meaning to watch, for example.
There are five new Grammy categories this year, the biggest one-year spike in the number of categories in 28 years. The new categories are songwriter of the year, non-classical; best alternative music performance; best Americana performance; best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media; and best spoken word poetry album. There are 91 categories this year, the most since the Grammys purged 31 categories in 2011, dropping from a bloated 109 categories to a lean-and-mean 78.
Recording Academy voting members can vote in up to 10 categories across up to three fields on their ballot, in addition to all four categories in the General Field, better known as “The Big Four” – record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist. To help ensure the quality of Grammy voting, members are asked to vote only in their areas of expertise – but they are on the honor system to do so. There’s nothing to prevent a traditional pop enthusiast from voting in rap – or vice versa.
As they cast their votes, voting members will have the ability to stream nominated recordings on select streaming services, a welcome voting innovation in recent years.
The eligibility period for the 65th Grammy Awards was Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 – Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.
The 2023 Grammys will broadcast live on CBS – the Grammys’ network home since 1973 — and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ from 8-11:30 p.m. ET / 5-8:30 p.m. PT.
The inaugural nominees in the Grammys’ new songwriter of the year, non-classical category range from a five-time Grammy winner, The-Dream, to a first-time nominee, Tobias Jesso Jr.
The-Dream is the only nominee in this category who has previously won a Grammy. His awards include song of the year and best R&B song for co-writing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” The-Dream received six more nominations this year, including five that were expressly for his work on Beyoncé’s latest album, Renaissance.
Like The-Dream, Nija Charles is nominated for album of the year as a songwriter on Renaissance. Amy Allen and Jesso both have double album of the year nominations. Allen is nominated as a songwriter on Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Lizzo’s Special. Jesso is nominated as a songwriter on Harry’s House and Adele’s 30.
The fifth nominee in the category, Laura Veltz, has no other nominations this year, though she was nominated for best country song in each of the three previous years.
Here are excerpts from the Recording Academy’s official description of the category, taken from the rules and guidelines handbook for the 65th annual Grammy Awards: “This category recognizes the written excellence, profession and art of songwriting for non-performing and non-producing songwriters … Songwriters must have written a minimum of five songs in which they are credited ‘solely’ as a songwriter or co-writer. Songs in which the songwriter was also credited as a primary or featured artist, producer or [in] any other supporting role do not qualify to achieve a minimum song threshold for consideration. Songwriters may supplement their core five song submission with up to four more songs … Songs from albums released in a previous year are not eligible, even if released as a single or added to a new album released during the current eligibility year. Re-released, covered, remixed, reissued, and historical recordings of songs are not eligible.
The addition of this new category coincides with the launch of the Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing. Last week, we took a closer look at the nominees for producer of the year, non-classical. Now, let’s look at the nominees for songwriter of the year, non-classical.
Lady Gaga took to social media on Wednesday (Nov. 16) to react to her latest pair of Grammy nominations for “Hold My Hand” and the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack.
“I am so honored to be nominated for 2 Grammys for ‘Hold My Hand’ and the Top Gun: Maverick Soundtrack with my fellow composers,” the superstar wrote on Instagram alongside a black-and-white shot of the single’s cover art. “It’s a real dream to be included in this celebration of music with a song and musical theme so close to my heart thank you… I fully cried, this never gets old and I’m super humbled.”
Released ahead of the Top Gun sequel’s theatrical release, “Hold My Hand” is up for best song written for visual media at the 2023 ceremony while the soundtrack notched a nominated for best compilation soundtrack for visual media. The album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Soundtracks chart, while Gaga’s single ultimately flew to No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart.
Mother Monster’s track was also recently nominated in the song – feature film category at the 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Awards alongside Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Taylor Swift’s “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing, Jazmine Sullivan’s “Stand Up” from Till and more.
Last month, Gaga wrapped up her Chromatica Ball world stadium tour with a stunning $112 million. Next, she’s set to portray Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker in the upcoming movie musical Joker: Folie à Deux.
Read Gaga’s emotional reaction to her newest Grammy nominations below.
Megan Fox could not be more psyched for her fiancé Machine Gun Kelly. The actress gushed on Tuesday (Nov. 15) about MGK’s Grammy nomination for best rock album for his Mainstream Sellout album, writing in her Instagram Story, “WOW congratulations to my Grammy-nominated fiancé and hottest Edward Scissorhands cosplayer.”
Over a picture of the smiling rapper/rocker sporting a bunch of barrettes in his bleach blonde hair, she added, “You work harder than anyone I’ve ever known and are twice as talented. You deserve this.”
Kelly celebrated the moment on Instagram, writing, “Call me what you want as long as it starts with ‘grammy nominated’… I LOVE YOU,” he wrote along with a metal salute emoji. In a series of photos, MGK also posted the actual envelope with the rock album nominees, with his nom circled in red alongside albums by the Black Keys, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Idles, Ozzy Osbourne and Spoon. The slides show also featured a short video of the moment the nomination was announced, in which Colson — holding hands with Fox — absolutely loses his mind and runs screaming across the room.
In another video, he called longtime collaborator Travis Barker and eagerly delivered the news: “Wake up birthday man, we’re nominated for a mother f–king Grammy!”
Some of his Baker’s pals commented on the good news as well, including Avril Lavigne, who wrote, “F–k yeah,” with another friend producer Blackbear adding, “WTF im on a grammy nominated album !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATSSSSSSS.” The 2023 Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 5 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena.
Check out MGK’s post below.
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.
Michael Bublé, a four-time Grammy winner for best traditional pop vocal album, is in the running for another nomination in the category for his latest studio album, Higher. This would be Bublé’s ninth nomination in the category, a total surpassed only by Tony Bennett (17 nods) and Barbra Streisand (13 nods).
First-round voting closed on Sunday (Oct. 23). Nominations in this and 90 other categories will be announced on Nov. 15.
The Recording Academy introduced this category in 1991 as a way to honor the music that by that point had a hard time competing in the pop categories. The first winner was a single, Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable,” a duet with her late father Nat King Cole, but all subsequent winners have been full-length albums.
Here’s the description of the category from the current Grammy rules and guidelines booklet: “This category is for performances of a type and style of song that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music. This includes older forms of traditional pop such as the Great American Songbook, created by the Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley songwriter of the period between the 1920s and the end of World War II, as well as cabaret/musical theater-style songs and previous forms of contemporary pop. This would also include contemporary pop songs performed in a traditional pop style – the term ‘traditional’ being a reference, equally, to the style of the composition, vocal styling and the instrumental arrangement, without regard to the age of the material.”
A total of 78 albums are vying for nominations in this category this year. There will be five nominees (except in the event of a tie).
Here are 10 albums that are thought to be most likely to receive a nomination, listed in descending order of their perceived likelihood of being nominated — followed by a quick listing of eight more albums that could surprise us with a nomination.
Taylor Swift may well make history when the 65th annual Grammy nominations are announced on Nov. 15. If “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” is nominated for song of the year, Swift will tie Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie for the most nominations ever in that marquee category.
Swift’s eligibility in that category was hardly assured. The ballad is an expanded version of a song that appeared on her Red album, which was nominated for album of the year and best country album nine years ago. “All Too Well” was not entered, much less nominated, in a songwriting category at the time.
The Grammy rules and guidelines handbook doesn’t offer clear direction on how the Academy should handle rare cases like this. It states: “A song…must have been released on a recording for the first time, or achieved prominence for the first time, during the current eligibility year.” The Academy decided that there was enough new content in “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” that it should be considered a new song.
First-round voting for the Grammy Awards closed on Sunday Oct. 23.
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” is thought to have a good chance of landing a song of the year nomination, though the category has more entries (686) than any other this year. Ten songs will be nominated. If Swift is nominated, three of her six song of the year nods will have come since the Recording Academy expanded the number of nominations in the Big Four categories from five to eight (and now 10). This complicates historical comparisons because McCartney and Richie might have amassed more than six nods if there had been more than five nomination slots in their heydays.
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)” is also vying for a nod for best pop solo performance. It is not entered for best country song. This suggests that the screening committees thought the song and performance were more at home in pop than country. By contrast, Red (Taylor’s Version) is competing for a nod for best country album (as well as album of the year), which suggests that the committees thought the album as a whole was more at home in country than pop. “All Too Well: The Short Film” is also competing for a nod for best music video.
Bruno Mars was also in line to potentially land his sixth song of the year nomination for Silk Sonic’s “Smokin’ Out the Window,” but his and Anderson .Paak’s decision to not enter Silk Sonic music this year – on the heels of last year’s awards bounty for “Leave the Door Open” – precluded that possibility. For now, Mars is tied with Swift, Burt Bacharach and John Lennon with five song of the year nods each.
Here’s a recap of the six song of the year nominations for McCartney and Richie and the five for Swift.
Nicki Minaj isn’t done lashing out at the Recording Academy for moving her hit “Super Freaky Girl” out of the Grammy’s rap category and placing it in a pop one. “The Grammys is having blogs post that Variety article to distract you from the fact that ‘SUPER FREAKY GIRL’ was unfairly moved from the rap category while other poppy rap songs remain in the RAP CATEGORY,” Minaj wrote in an Instagram Story on Tuesday morning (Oct. 18).
“They’re having blogs post that I pulled a ‘stunt’ and that it worked b/c ‘Do We Have a Problem’ is being submitted in rap categories,” she continued about the earlier single that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in February. “But what does ‘SFG’ have to do with “DWHAP????” In an earlier slide in Tuesday’s Story, Minaj displayed what appeared to be a post from The Shade Room blog chronicling the first time Minaj called out the Grammys for moving the song, noting that “it looks like the stunt may have gotten their attention.”
The post then cited a recent Variety story that reported that Grammy voters who’ve received their ballots “reportedly say that Nicki is in contention in the best rap performance category for another song of hers.” Responding to that Shade Room post, Nicki wrote, “This is gaslighting @ it’s finest & even this post specifically, @theshaderoom is not posting that part of my live. This is done constantly to make ppl look ‘crazy.’”
At press time a spokesperson for the Recording Academy had not returned requests for comment on Minaj’s post.
A third slide found Minaj continuing her rant against the category switch, with the rapper writing, “It was done to decrease my chances of winning awards for ‘Super Freaky Girl.’ It was done to remove me from the category that they don’t want COMPETITION in!!!!!!! They are all scared to death of the success of that song & thought it would be super EASY for them (like it’s been for the last few years) but ‘SFG’ is such a global smash, certain members are AFRAID to keep it in the competition.”
Last week Minaj hit out at the Recording Academy after it was reported that “Super Freaky Girl” — which her team submitted to the Grammy’s rap categories — was moved to a pop one after the Recording Academy’s rap committee overturned the submission, according to a story in The Hollywood Reporter. “That group determined that Minaj’s playful and pop-sounding song sampling Rick James’ 1981 classic ‘Super Freak’ should compete for best pop solo performance instead of rap awards,” THR reported.
It’s worth noting that MC Hammer also sampled Rick James’ “Super Freak” for “U Can’t Touch This,” which won the best rap solo performance Grammy back in 1991.
“Super Freaky Girl” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August and has spent eight weeks atop Billboard’s hot rap songs chart. Minaj has suggested that the category switch was part of a broader agenda to celebrate rising rap artists over veterans. In 2017, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” took best rap song and best rap/sung collaboration, Minaj pointed out, though even Drake himself admitted it was a pop number.
On the flip side, Minaj said last week that the same rules applied to Latto’s pop-leaning “Big Energy.” “Now, let’s say that ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song. Let’s just say that, right. What is ‘Big Energy?’ If ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song, what song is ‘Big Energy.’ What genre is ‘Big Energy?,’” Minaj tweeted.
“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve, over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” Minaj continued. “And soon female rap will really not have any black women. If you pay attention, you’ll see, you’ll understand.”
The Recording Academy doesn’t reveal reasons when its screening committees relocate tracks into categories other than those that eligible recordings were submitted in, THR noted. The general ballot, which can include thousands of submissions in a single category, isn’t released to the public.