State Champ Radio Grammy Nominations
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If Harry Styles’ “As It Was” or Doja Cat’s “Woman” wins record of the year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, it would become the single with the shortest playing time to win in that marquee category since The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away,” which won at the Grammy ceremony in 1968. “Woman” runs 2:52. “As It Was” is even shorter – a brisk 2:47. The 5th Dimension’s sunshine-pop classic ran just 2:40.
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A third record of the year nominee at next month’s Grammy telecast run less than three minutes. Mary J. Blige’s “Good Morning Gorgeous” runs 2:54 and would be the shortest record of the year winner since Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me (Darkchild Mix),” the winner eight years ago, which also ran 2:54.
The first record of the year winner, Domenico Modugno’s lounge staple “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” (which won at the ceremony in May 1959) ran 3:29. The second, Bobby Darin’s suave “Mack the Knife” (which won at the ceremony in November 1959 — yep, there were two ceremonies that year) ran 3:03.
The next eight record of the year winners in a row clocked in at less than three minutes. The shortest of them all – and the shortest winner in Grammy history – was Henry Mancini’s recording of his classic film title song “Days of Wine and Roses,” which won in 1964. The melancholy ballad ran just 2:05.
The other winners in that eight-single streak that proved that you can be concise and still make a big impact were Percy Faith and His Orchestra’s “Theme From ‘A Summer Place’” (1961, 2:24), Mancini’s “Moon River” (1962, 2:41), Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (1963, 2:51), Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto’s “The Girl from Ipanema” (1965, 2:44), Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’ “A Taste of Honey” (1966, 2:42), Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” (1967, 2:36) and the 5th Dimension’s aforementioned “Up, Up and Away” (1968, 2:40).
The first record of the year winner to crack the four-minute barrier was Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” (1969, 4:00). Its status as the longest-running record of the year winner in history lasted just one year. The 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (1970), a sleek coupling of two songs from Hair, ran 4:49. It also held the record as the lengthiest winner for just one year. Simon & Garfunkel’s power ballad “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the winner in 1971, ran 4:52.
The first record of the year winner to top both five and six minutes was Eagles’ “Hotel California” (1978, 6:08), which was also the first rock (as opposed to pop) track to win for record of the year. The longest winner ever was a special case, USA for Africa’s star-studded “We Are the World” (1986, 6:22).
In recent years, the music industry has rediscovered the virtues of brevity. Norah Jones’ jazzy ballad “Don’t Know Why,” the winner in 2003, ran just 3:01, the shortest playing time for a record of the year winner since “Up, Up and Away.” Smith’s “Stay With Me (Darkchild Mix),” the winner in 2005, was even shorter than Jones’ hit — as noted above, it ran just 2:54. (The primary version of Smith’s hit ran 2:51, but the Grammy specifically went to the Darkchild Mix.)
You could play both of “As It Was” and “Woman” in 5:39, which is less time that it would take you to get through not only “We Are the World” (6:22) and “Hotel California” (6:08), but also Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ “Please Read the Letter,” the winner in 2009 (5:57).
Eight of this year’s 10 record of the year nominees run four minutes or less. The only songs to exceed that time are Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” (4:38) and Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” (5:32).
Here are the 15 shortest and longest record of the year winners in Grammy history.
The 15 shortest record of the year winners:
(counting down from the shortest)
Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses,” 1964 (2:05)
Percy Faith and his Orchestra’s “Theme from A Summer Place,” 1961 (2:24)
Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night,” 1967 (2:36)
The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away,” 1968 (2:40)
Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” 1962 (2:41)
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, “A Taste of Honey,” 1966 (2:42)
Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, “The Girl From Ipanema,” 1965 (2:44)
Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” 1963 (2:51)
Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me (Darkchild Mix),” 2015 (2:54)
Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” 2003 (3:01)
Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife,” 1959 (3:03)
Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” 2020 (3:14)
George Benson’s “This Masquerade,” 1977 (3:17)
Natalie Cole featuring Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable,” 1992 (3:23)
Captain & Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together,” 1976 (3:24)
The 15 longest record of the year winners:
(counting down from the longest)
USA for Africa’s “We Are the World,” 1986 (6:22)
Eagles’ “Hotel California,” 1978 (6:08)
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ “Please Read the Letter,” 2009 (5:57)
Adele’s “Hello,” 2017 (4:55)
Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings,” 1990 (4:52)
Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” 1971 (4:52)
The 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” 1970 (4:49)
Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise,” 1991 (4:48)
Paul Simon, “Graceland,” 1988 (4:48)
Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” 1974 (4:46)
Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose,” 1996 (4:43)
Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” 1999 (4:36)
Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” 1994 (4:32)
U2’s “Walk On,” 2002 (4:30)
Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” 1993 (4:29)
Notes: All the years shown here refer to the year of the Grammy ceremony (or, starting in 1971, live telecast) in which the record was honored. We took the singles’ running times from Joel Whitburn’s Pop Annual 1955-2016, which lists every single that made the Billboard Hot 100 by year, in ranked order. We took the running times on more recent singles from Wikipedia.
Bonnie Raitt wrote the title song to her latest album, Just Like That, by herself. The tender ballad, which is sung from the point of view of a mother of a son whose organs were harvested to save others’ lives, is the first song written by just one songwriter to receive a Grammy nomination for song of the year since Taylor Swift’s “Lover” three years ago.
In 1971, when Raitt launched her recording career, solo-written songs weren’t at all unusual. Three of that year’s song of the year nominees were written by just one writer – the James Taylor smash “You’ve Got a Friend” (written by Carole King), the Sammi Smith classic “Help Me Make I Through the Night” (written by Kris Kristofferson) and the Lynn Anderson smash “Rose Garden” (written by Joe South).
As late as 2002, songs written by just one writer weren’t outside the norm. Four of the song of the year nominees that year were the work of just one writer – the Norah Jones hit “Don’t Know Why” (written by Jesse Harris), Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” and Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”
But in recent years, the trend has been toward songs written by collectives of writers. Last year, the Justin Bieber-led smash “Peaches” set a new record as the song of the year nominee with the most co-writers (11). This year, the DJ Khaled-led “God Did” nearly matched that record. It has nine co-writers.
Here are all of the songs written by just one writer to receive song of the year nominations since 2000. We show the peak Hot 100 position for each song. All songs spent one week at peak position unless otherwise noted.
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.
Jack Antonoff, who won producer of the year, non-classical at the Grammy Awards in April, is back to defend his title. If he wins again at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, he’ll become the first person to win back-to-back awards in that category since Greg Kurstin in 2017-18.
He is competing with another past winner in the category, Dan Auerbach (who won in 2013), and three producers who are looking for their first wins in the category: Boi-1da, Dahi and D’Mile. Boi-1da has been nominated in this category before, but these are first nods in the category for Dahi and D’Mile.
Boi-1da has two nominations for album of the year (Beyoncé’s Renaissance and Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers). Dahi is also nominated for album of the year for his work on Lamar’s album. D’Mile is nominated in that category for his work on the deluxe edition of Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Antonoff has been in the running in this category. He’s the first producer or producing team to receive four consecutive nods in this category since Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis landed six straight nods (2000-05).
Thom Bell, one of the architects of the Philadelphia soul sound, was the first winner in this category, in 1975. Babyface is the only four-time winner in the category’s history. He won once with his partner L.A. Reid and three times on his own. David Foster, Quincy Jones and Pharrell Williams are three-time category champs.
Let’s take a closer look at this year’s nominees for producer of the year, non-classical.
Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar shared a Grammy for best music video seven years ago for the visual for their smash collab “Bad Blood.” This year, they’re competing in that category – and both would achieve major firsts if they won.
Swift, nominated for “All Too Well: The Short Film,” would become the first artist to win for a video on which she or he was the sole director.
Lamar, nominated for “The Heart Part 5,” would become the first three-time winner as an artist in the category’s history and the first two-time winner as a co-director. He co-directed the clip with Dave Free.
Lamar and Swift are competing in a second category this year — song of the year. Lamar is nominated for co-writing “The Heart Part 5,” Swift for co-writing “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film).”
Let’s take a closer look at the competition in the two video categories, best music video and best music film.
Best music video
Nominees: Adele’s “Easy on Me” (Xavier Dolan, director); BTS’ “Yet to Come (Yong Seok Choi, director); Doja Cat’s “Woman” (Child., director); Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” (Dave Free & Lamar, directors); Harry Styles’ “As It Was” (Tanu Muino, director); Swift’s “All Too Well: The Short Film” (Swift, director).
Four artists have won best music video for videos they co-directed. Missy Elliott co-directed “Lose Control,” the 2005 winner, with Dave Meyers. OK Go co-directed “Here It Goes Again” (2006) with Trish Sie. Lamar co-directed “Humble.” (2017) with Free, his partner in The Little Homies and Meyers. Beyoncé co-directed “Brown Skin Girl” (2020) with Jenn Nkin.
But Swift would break new ground, becoming the first artist to win for an entirely self-directed video.
If Swift wins, she’d become the seventh artist to win twice in the category (as an artist, without regard to who directed the clips). She would follow Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Johnny Cash, Lamar and Beyoncé.
If Lamar were to win, he’d become the first three-time winner as an artist. He first won for “Bad Blood,” which was directed by Joseph Kahn. He next won for “Humble.,” which he co-directed with Free and Meyers. As noted above, he co-directed “The Heart Part 5” with Free.
Adele could also join the club of two-time winners (as an artist). She won the 2011 award for “Rolling in the Deep.”
Best music film
Nominees: Adele’s Adele One Night Only (Paul Dugdale, director); Justin Bieber’s Our World (Michael D. Ratner, director); Billie Eilish’s Billie Eilish Live at the O2 (Sam Wrench, director); Rosalía’s Motomami (Rosalía Tiktok Live Performance) (Ferrán Echegaray, Rosalía Vila Tobella and Stillz, directors); Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s A Band A Brotherhood A Barn (Daryl Hannah, director); and the Various Artists film Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (Frank Marshall & Ryan Suffera, directors).
In this category, two artists have won for films they co-directed, but again no artist has won for an entirely self-directed film. Alanis Morissette won for Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997), which she co-directed with Steve Purcell. Beyoncé won for Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce (2019) which she co-directed with Ed Burke.
Spanish superstar Rosalía could join that short list this year. She is nominated for Motomami (Rosalía Tiktok Live Performance), which she co-directed with Ferrán Echegaray and Stillz.
This is Daryl Hannah’s first nomination for an EGOT-level award. The veteran actress and budding director directed her husband Neil Young’s music film.
When the 65th annual Grammy nominations were announced last week, 12 groups or duos received two or more nods. They include some of the biggest bands in the world — but the group that received the most nods may surprise you.
The groups represented on this list hail from a wide range of genres – alternative music, dance/electronic, R&B, rock and metal, Americana, contemporary Christian and gospel and contemporary instrumental.
There are three duos on the list (Wet Leg, Nova Wav and DOMi & JD Beck). The largest ensembles on the list are the nine-member Maverick City Music and the seven-member BTS.
Two of these acts – Wet Leg and DOMi & JD Beck – are nominated for best new artist. Two more – Idles and Turnstile – vied for nominations in that category but fell short.
Some of these groups were boosted by their involvement with other artists. Lucius received all three of their nominations for work with Brandi Carlile. Nova Wav received both of theirs for work with Beyoncé.
Want to know the groups or duos that have won the most Grammys? U2 is the top group with 22 Grammys, followed by Foo Fighters (15), Alison Krauss & Union Station (14), The Chicks (12), Pat Metheny Group (10) and Emerson String Quartet (nine).
Coldplay has won seven Grammys. They are nominated for three more this year. If they win them all, they’ll tie Pat Metheny Group for fifth place on the leaderboard.
Without further ado, here are the groups or duos that received two or more Grammy nominations this year.
Gayle must have had mixed emotions when the 65th annual Grammy nominations were announced last week. Her delightful pop smash “abcdefu” was nominated for song of the year, but she was passed over for a best new artist nod.
Gayle would not have been the first artist to have a “Oh great!!! – wait – what?” reaction – a blend of delight, disappointment and confusion. Since 2000, this is the 13th instance of a new artist who was entered and eligible for best new artist and was passed over for a nod in that category, but got one in song of the year.
Why has this happened so often? In the years that a select committee made the final choices in the Big Four categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist – the committee members may have consciously or subconsciously tried to “share the wealth.” They may have figured one nomination in a marquee category was enough in many cases, so why not let another artist have some shine?
In the past two years, the nominations have been determined strictly by voting members of the Recording Academy, but that kind of thinking could still be in play.
When a new artist is nominated for song of the year but not for best new artist, it leaves an impression (whether intended or not) that the nominating committee – and now the voters – liked that one song very much, but they weren’t sure that the artist would have a big future. If that was the thought process, in some cases it was more or less right. In others, it was very wrong. Sara Bareilles and Lorde, both of whom were passed over for best new artist nods, both went on to receive album of the year nominations. Other artists who have amassed Grammy nods since being passed over for best new artist in their rookie years are Miguel, Estelle and Ella Mai.
Note: Ed Sheeran was nominated for song of the year in 2012 for writing “The A Team,” but he was passed over for a best new artist nod that year. The Academy allowed him a second year of eligibility for best new artist (when his debut album dropped) and he was nominated in 2013. Since he was eventually nominated for best new artist, we left him off this list.
Let’s scroll back through the new artists who were nominated for song of the year but were passed over for best new artist nods. All of these artists were entered and eligible for best new artist in these years. The last data point tells you how many nominations the artist has received since their rookie year. (That tally doesn’t count nominations from their rookie year.)
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:
The Grammy nominations were just announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15) and already people are looking ahead to who might win when the 65th annual Grammy Awards are presented on Feb. 5 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. And not just who might win, but what it would mean in Grammy history.
Some potential winners would truly be groundbreaking:
Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is vying to become the first Spanish-language album ever to win album of the year.
Adele is vying to become the first three-time winner for song of the year. She is nominated this year for co-writing “Easy on Me” with Greg Kurstin. She previously won for co-writing “Rolling in the Deep” with Paul Epworth and “Hello” with Kurstin.
Kendrick Lamar is vying to become the first male solo rapper to win album of the year. He is nominated for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. The only other hip-hop artists to win album of the year (as lead artists) are Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1998) and OutKast (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003).
If Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous or Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers wins album of the year, it would set a new record as the album of the year winner with the most credited producers. A whopping 36 producers worked on Beyoncé’s album; 24 worked on the Blige and Lamar albums. The current record for the album of the year winner with the most credited producers is held by the multi-artist Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, with 16 producers. The current record for an individual artist’s album with the most credited producers is held by Celine Dion’s Falling Into You, which had 14 producers.
Here are more potential record-setters in the Big Four categories:
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.
