Grammy Nominations
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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.
BTS got a triple dose of good news when the 65th annual Grammy nominations were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15). The group is vying for best pop duo/group performance for the third year in a row with “My Universe,” a collab with Coldplay. They are up for best music video for “Yet to Come.” And they are nominated for album of the year as featured artists on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres.
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It’s the first time the K-pop sensations have been nominated in more than one Grammy category in any given year.
BTS was nominated for best pop duo/group performance with “Dynamite” (2020) and “Butter” (2021). They are the only act to be nominated three years in a row in this category since it was introduced as part of a Grammy revamp of its category structure in 2011.
This category is home to both ongoing groups/duos and collaborations by solo artists. Looking strictly at ongoing groups and duos, Coldplay has had the most nods in the category (five), followed by Maroon 5 (four), BTS (three), and The Chainsmokers and Florence + the Machine (two each).
“My Universe” is the second collab by two groups to be nominated for best pop duo/group performance. Coldplay was also involved with the first, “Something Just Like This,” a 2017 collab with The Chainsmokers.
Three members of BTS – J-Hope (Jung Ho-Seok), RM (Kim Nam-Joon) and Suga (Min Yoon-Gi) — are also credited as songwriters on the Coldplay album, so they would have been album of the year nominees even if BTS were not listed as featured artists.
The other nominees for best pop duo/group performance are ABBA’s “Don’t Shut Me Down” and three collabs by solo artists – Camila Cabello featuring Ed Sheeran’s “Bam Bam,” Post Malone & Doja Cat’s “I Like You (A Happier Song)” and Sam Smith & Kim Petras’ “Unholy.”
The other nominees for best music video are Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Doja Cat’s “Woman,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was” and Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film.
Beyoncé is the top nominee for the 2022 Grammy Awards, which were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15). Bey received nine nods, followed by Kendrick Lamar with eight, and Adele and Brandi Carlile with seven each. This is the sixth time Beyoncé has led (or co-led) the annual Grammy nominations.
This brings Beyoncé’s career total of nominations to 88, which puts her in a tie with her husband Jay-Z for the most Grammy nominations in history. Jay received five nods this year. Paul McCartney (81 nods) and Quincy Jones (80 nods) are next in line.
Beyoncé and Adele are competing in each of the Big Three categories – album, record and song of the year — just as they did six years ago. Three other artists — Lamar, Lizzo and Harry Styles — are also nominated in each of those categories.
ABBA, Mary J. Blige, Carlile and Steve Lacy are each nominated in two of the Big Three categories.
Beyoncé moves ahead of Frank Sinatra to become the artist with the most career record of the year nods. Beyoncé and Sinatra had been tied for that record with seven nods each
Beyoncé is the first woman of color to receive four album of the year nominations (as a lead artist). She had been tied with Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and H.E.R. with three nods each in the category.
There are more history-makers among the nominations. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is the first Spanish-language album to receive an album of the year nomination. Latin crossover pioneer José Feliciano was nominated in 1968 for Feliciano!, but that album consisted of English-language tracks. Related factoid: Un Verano Sin Ti is the first album to receive album of the year nods at both the Grammys and the Latin Grammys.
Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is his fourth studio album to be nominated for album of the year, which puts him in a tie with Ye (a.k.a. Kanye West) as the rapper with the most nods in this category (as a lead artist). And unlike Ye, Lamar’s nominations are for four consecutive studio albums. Furthermore, Lamar is the first artist from any genre to be nominated with four consecutive studio albums since Billy Joel (1979-83).
Taylor Swift ties the all-time record for most song of the year nods (six) with the nomination of the expanded version of “All Too Well.” Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie had long been the songwriters with the most song of the year nods. They now have company.
This is Adele’s third time being nominated for record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album in the same year. She won in all of these categories at the awards for 2011 and 2016.
Doja Cat is just the third female artist to receive record of the year nods three years running. She was nominated in this marquee category for “Say So” (2020) and “Kiss Me More” (featuring SZA, 2021). She makes it this year with “Woman,” which enables her to tie Roberta Flack (1972-74) and Billie Eilish (2019-21) as the only female artists to appear in this category in three consecutive years.
Coldplay received its third album of the year nomination for Music of the Spheres. Coldplay is one of just five pop or rock groups or duos to receive three or more nominations in that category. The Beatles lead with five, followed by U2 with four, and Steely Dan and Radiohead, also with three. Moreover, this is Coldplay’s second album of the year nomination in the past three years. The veteran band is one of just two artists – along with Swift – to receive two album of the year nods in the first three years of the 2020s.
Trailing Beyoncé, Lamar, Adele and Carlile in number of nominations are six people with six nods each – Blige, The-Dream, DJ Khaled, Future, Styles and mastering engineer Randy Merrill. Merrill received three album of the year nods, for his work on Adele’s 30, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres and Styles’ Harry’s House.
Bonnie Raitt lands her first song of the year nomination for “Just Like That,” which she wrote by herself. It’s the first song written by a solitary songwriter to be nominated in this category since Swift’s “Lover” two years ago.
At the other extreme, nine songwriters are credited as co-writers of DJ Khaled’s “GOD DID.” That’s not quite a record. Eleven songwriters joined forces to create Justin Bieber’s jam “Peaches,” a nominee last year. “GOD DID” is in a tie with Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” as the song of the year nominee with the second-most credited songwriters.
The-Dream is also nominated for song of the year for co-writing Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” and in the newly added songwriter of the year, non-classical category. The other nominees in the latter category are Amy Allen, Nija Charles, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Laura Veltz.
In the analogous producer of the year, non-classical category, Jack Antonoff and Dan Auerbach each received their fourth nods. Boi-1da landed his second. Dahi and Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II landed their first.
The Recording Academy reports that a total of 16,741 eligible entries were submitted for Grammy consideration this year.
The Academy also reports that six of the 10 nominees for record of the year are by female solo artists, while five of the 10 albums nominated for album of the year are by female solo artists. Best new artist nominees include five female solo artists. (The last five winners for best new artist have been female solo artists.)
The Academy’s new membership class consists of nearly 2,000 voting and professional members. The Academy reports that 44% of the 2022 membership class are from “traditionally underrepresented” communities; 47% are under the age of 40.
The final-round voting window extends from Dec. 14 through Jan. 4, 2023. Winners will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center) in Los Angeles. This will mark the show’s return to its longtime home after two years away.
Academy statisticians are already looking ahead to the awards ceremony. If Beyoncé wins three of her nine nominations, she will tie the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti for the most Grammy wins ever. If she wins four, she will claim the record outright.
The 65th annual Grammy Awards will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Academy. Ben Winston, Jesse Collins and Raj Kapoor are executive producers, with Kapoor also serving as showrunner.
Winston and Kapoor are also first-time Grammy nominees. Both are nominated for best music film as video producers of Adele’s Adele: One Night Only. Winston and Kapoor won Primetime Emmys in September as executive producers of Adele’s special.
It’s hardly a surprise that Adele and Beyoncé are squaring off in the Big Three Grammy categories again, or that Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo are joining them. But there were plenty of snubs and surprises elsewhere on the ballot for the 65th annual Grammy Awards.
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Snub: Nicki Minaj: Minaj was vocal about her displeasure with the Academy moving “Super Freaky Girl” from rap to pop. Minaj would have had a far easier time being nominated in rap than in pop. Of course, the Academy’s role is not to put records in the category where the artist is most likely to best nominated or win, but to put them in the category in which they fit best. We’ll never know if Minaj would have been nominated in rap, but we do know she wasn’t nominated in pop.
Surprise: ABBA: The Swedish group received its first nomination in any category last year when “I Still Have Faith in You” was up for record of the year. Still, it felt to some like a fluke. It was no fluke. The group is back in that category this year with “Don’t Shut Me Down” — and also rated an album of the year nod for Voyage.
Snub: Morgan Wallen: Wallen is one of the best-selling recording artists of the past couple of years, but he has yet to land a Grammy nomination. Wallen was radioactive at awards shows for a year or more following his videotaped use of the N-word in early 2021. But he was nominated for two key awards at the CMA Awards on Nov. 9 – entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year. He was entered and eligible for nominations in several key Grammy categories, including record and song of the year, best country solo performance and best country song, all for “Wasted on You,” but was skipped over in every category.
Surprise: Mary J. Blige: The queen of hip-hop soul has broad appeal, but few thought she had a good chance of landing nods for both record of the year (her second) and album of the year (her first). Blige’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy, reminded people how much they like her.
Snub: Em Beihold, Dove Cameron, GAYLE, Tate McRae and Lauren Spencer-Smith: Five promising young pop stars, all of whom have landed top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, were all passed over for best new artist nominations. In past years, they would have likely been shoo-ins for nominations. (GAYLE did rate a song of the year nod for her delightful “abcdefu.”)
Surprise: DOMi & JD Beck, Samara Joy, Tobe Nwigwe: These best new artist nominees are probably going to be sending a lot of people to Wikipedia. It won’t do much good in the case of Joy, a jazz vocalist who doesn’t have a Wiki page just yet.
Snub: Country music: No country artists cracked the Big Four categories, which happens all too often. Lainey Wilson, who won the CMA Award for new artist of the year, was passed over for a best new artist nod. Morgan Wallen’s “Wasted on You” and Cody Johnson’s “‘Til You Can’t” were passed over for song of the year nods. Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak, Luke Combs’ Growin’ Up and Miranda Lambert’s Palomino were passed over for album of the year nods. No country album has received an album of the year nod since Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour four years ago (which went on to win the award). Country is a major genre and should get more attention from Grammy voters. The Academy could do better here.
Surprise: Coldplay: The group landed its third album of the year nomination; its second in the past three years. No one is surprised at the group’s continued success, but who expected Coldplay to be one of only two acts (along with Taylor Swift) to land two album of the year nods in the first three years of the 2020s?
Snub: “Encanto”: Encanto dominated pop culture in the opening months of 2022 but it didn’t get any love in the Big Four categories. Encanto is up for three awards in the music for visual media field, but was passed over up top. For Lin-Manuel Miranda, winning a Pulitzer Prize was easier than landing a Grammy nod in a Big Four category.
Not a snub: Sam Smith and Kim Petras: The pair’s “Unholy” was nominated for best pop duo/group performance but was passed over for record and song of the year nods. But you couldn’t call that a snub. The arresting single, which was released just eight days before the Sept. 30 eligibility cut-off date, didn’t have enough time to really register before voting in the nominations round closed on Oct. 23. This is Smith’s first nomination in any category since he won four Grammys, including record and song of the year for “Stay With Me,” eight years ago.
Surprise: Randy Rainbow: Everybody loves Rainbow’s song parodies, but who knew he would land his first Grammy nomination for best comedy album? He’s facing past category champs Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K. and Patton Oswalt, and seven-time nominee Jim Gaffigan.