Grammys
Page: 63
Brazilian powerhouse Anitta is among the nominees for best new artist at the 2023 Grammys, and before she walks down the red carpet in February, Billboard invited her into the studio to talk about her first Grammy nod and much more.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Speaking with Billboard News, Anitta reveals that when she found out she was nominated, she was already in full Grammy mode, as she was hosting the Latin Grammys in Las Vegas. She also shared that the best new artist nomination is something of an irony, given that she began her career in Brazil 12 years ago.
“But here in America,” she says, “I’m just starting right now … It’s so different, it’s so hard for me to get to this other level of jumping into another market and working there that for me it is a new artist, because for me it is a new career from zero.”
She also notes that the last time a Brazilian act was nominated for best new artist was in 1964, when Astrud Gilberto earned a nod on the heels of the hit “Girl From Ipanema,” a song Anitta pays homage to on “Girl From Rio” from her 2022 LP Versions Of Me.
She continues that while it’s been challenging to get non-Brazilian audiences to get used to her native language — Portuguese — global markets are warming up to it via her work, and that’s she’s working on a funk album that will fully showcase the sounds and style of her homeland.
“For me,” she says, “I understand that this whole moment was like the construction of the foundation for me to actually introduce my culture.”
Watch the interview above, and stay tuned for part two of the conversation in the coming weeks.
Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 Songs chart included a total of 15 artists who were both entered and eligible for this year’s Grammy’s best new artist award, but only two musicians — Latto and Muni Long — were able to make this cut for 2023.
One of the biggest Hot 100 success stories is Gayle and her breakout track “abcdefu.” Though she is not nominated for best new artist this year, the track allowed her to peak at the year end Hot 100 at No. 17, and earned her a nomination in the coveted song of the year category, but also has a series of fellow hitmakers who fans believed deserved a spot in the best new artist category at the Grammy’s this year.
Former Disney Channel star Dove Cameron came into her own in 2022 — the singer release her EP, Girl Like Me, in December, which included hit track “Boyfriend” as its lead and breakout single. Though snubbed for best new artist, the track gained her enough traction to be named best new artist at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28 and secure at spot on the year-end Hot 100 at No. 51.
And while Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” didn’t start making waves until the end of 2022, the track made a big splash and instead is up for best pop duo/group performance, though Petras was left out of the best new artist nominees at the Grammys.
So who do you think should have been nominated for best new artist at the Grammy’s this year? Vote in out poll below.
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.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
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.
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.
Fifteen artists who had songs on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 Songs chart were entered and eligible for the Grammy Award for best new artist. Guess how many of those 15 hitmakers were actually nominated for best new artist. (Keep in mind that there are now 10 nominees for best new artist.)
Would you believe, just two? Latto, whose “Big Energy” was the No. 7 song of 2022, is nominated, as is Muni Long, whose “Hrs and Hrs” was the year’s No. 57 song.
Among the rookies who didn’t rate best new artist nominations: Gayle, whose “abcdefu” (No. 17 for the year) was nonetheless nominated for song of the year; and Kim Petras, whose late-breaking, Hot 100-topping collab with Sam Smith, “Unholy” (No. 98 for the year) is up for best pop duo/group performance.
Also passed over: Dove Cameron, who was named best new artist at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28; Lainey Wilson, who won new female artist of the year at the ACM Awards on March 7 and new artist of the year at the CMA Awards on Nov. 9; and country star Bailey Zimmerman, who has two songs on the year-end Hot 100: “Fall in Love” (No. 54) and “Rock and a Hard Place” (No. 70).
With so many hitmakers left behind, who was nominated for best new artist? Besides Latto and Long, the nominees are Anitta, Omar Apollo, DOMi & JD Beck, Samara Joy, Måneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg.
Some artists who were passed over for best new artist nods this year may be eligible again next year, though the hitmakers listed below may run afoul of one of the cardinal rules in the category. In the “rules and guidelines” handbook for the 65th annual Grammy Awards, the first guideline under “not eligible” is “any artist who achieved a breakthrough in a prior eligibility year.” If placing a song on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 doesn’t constitute “achieving a breakthrough,” it’s hard to know what does.
Here’s a complete list of the 13 new artists who were eligible for best new artist, but failed to receive a nomination, together with the ranking they hold on the year-end Hot 100:
Gayle, “abcdefu” (No. 17)
Em Beihold, “Numb Little Bug” (No. 32)
Cody Johnson, “’Til You Can’t” (No. 34)
Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange” (No. 39)
Dove Cameron, “Boyfriend” (No. 51)
Joji, “Glimpse of Us” (No. 52)
Bailey Zimmerman, “Fall in Love” (No. 54) and “Rock and a Hard Place” (No. 70)
Ckay, “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah) (No. 55)
Becky G, “MAMIII” (collab with Karol G) (No. 59)
Lauren Spencer-Smith, “Fingers Crossed” (No. 75)
Lainey Wilson, “Never Say Never” (collab with Cole Swindell) (No. 92)
Tate McRae, “She’s All I Wanna Be” (No. 94)
Kim Petras, “Unholy” (collab with Sam Smith) (No. 98)
The Recording Academy has added the names of dozens of collaborators to Bad Bunny’s historic album of the year contender, Un Verano Sin Ti. It has also amended the credits on five other nominees in the category.
The nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Nov. 15, but the Academy has made dozens of tweaks and corrections to the list, which it posts on its website. That’s to be expected in a list of this size, with thousands of nominees across 91 categories.
Some of the changes on Bunny’s credits are minor (but of course important to these individuals). The name of songwriter Martin Coogan was corrected from Mick Coogan. The spelling of songwriter Julian Quiles Betancourt’s last name was corrected from Bentancourt.
Un Verano Sin Ti is the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for album of the year. Here’s how the nominations credits now read on that album. (Changes and additions are in bold.)
Un Verano Sin Ti
Bad Bunny
Rauw Alejandro, Bomba Estéreo, Buscabulla, Chencho Corleone, Jhay Cortez, Tony Dize & The Marías, featured artists; BYRD, De La Cruz, Demy & Clipz, Elikai, Hassi, HAZE, Albert Hype, La Paciencia, Cheo Legendary, Richi Lopez, MAG, MagicEnElBeat, Masis, MICK, Jesus Alberto Molina, Mora, Jota Rosa, SCOTT, Subelo Neo, TAINY & ZULIA, producers; Josh Gudwin & Roberto Rosado, engineers/mixers; Raul Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz, Kamil Assad, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, Julian Quiles Betancourt, Leutrim Bequiri, Raquel Berrios, Abner Jose Cordero Boria, Marco Daniel Borrero, Joaquin Calderon Bravo, Harry Alexis Ramos Cabrera, Joshua Conway, Martin Coogan, Kaled Elikai Cordova, Orlando Javier Valle Vega, Jesus Nieves Cortes, Jose Cruz, Misael De La Cruz, Luis Del Valle, Scott Dittrich, Etienne Gagnon, Jason Garcia, Juan Diego Linares Gonzalez, Nicolas Jara, Ritchie Lopez, Steve Martinez-Funes, Marcos Masis, Michael Masis, Adrian McKinnon, Alberto Carlos Melendez, Jesus Alberto Molina, Freddy Montalvo, Gabriel Mora, Hector Pagan, Darwin Cordale Quinn, Tony Felician Rivera, Jose Raphael Arce Rodriguez, Joel Hernandez Rodriguez, Egbert Rosa, Roberto Rosado, Joselly Rosario, Elena Rose, Liliana Margarita Saumet & Maria Zardoya, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer
Here are the changes that have made to date to five of the other nominees in the category.
Renaissance/Beyoncé
The names of four songwriters – Jerel Black, Jimi Stephen Payton, Andrew Richardson and Freddie Ross – were removed. The phrase “From the Internet” after songwriter Patrick Paige II’s name was removed.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers/Kendrick Lamar
Several names were added — Mike Larson, engineer/mixer; Johnny Juliano, producer; Timothy Maxie, producer; and John Julian, Danny McKinnon & Ely Rise, songwriters.
The Donuts were removed as a producer. Two names were changed: songwriter/producer Tyler Mehlenbacher was changed to Tyler Reese; mastering engineer Michelle Mancini was changed to Emerson Mancini.
Special/Lizzo
Here too, mastering engineer Michelle Mancini was changed to Emerson Mancini.
30/Adele
John Hanes was added as an engineer/mixer.
Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)/Mary J. Blige
Adriana Flores & Bryan Ponce were removed as songwriters.
Raj Kapoor and Ben Winston, two of the executive producers of the 2023 Grammy telecast, are Grammy nominees for best music film as the video producers of Adele’s Adele One Night Only.
This marks the first time that someone who is executive producing the Grammy telecast has also been nominated in a competitive category — though Pierre Cossette, who was responsible for turning the Grammys into a live telecast in 1971, came very close at the 1992 show, where The Will Rogers Follies won for best musical show album (now called best musical theater album).
Cossette was a producer of that musical, which starred Keith Carradine as the genial humorist, best known today for his saying “I never met a man I didn’t like.” The crowd-pleasing show won six Tonys, including best musical, which Cossette shared with the other producers. But he was not a Grammy nominee for the cast album. The Grammy went to Cy Coleman, the composer of the show; Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the lyricists; and Mike Berniker, who co-produced the cast album with Coleman.
The fact that Cossette wasn’t nominated didn’t stop the hammy producer from joining his colleagues on the Grammy stage and giving an acceptance speech. But the Recording Academy, to its credit, didn’t bend the rules to give him an award.
Cossette and Ken Ehrlich, his successor as executive producer of the Grammy telecast, received trustees awards from the Academy in years they were executive producing the show. (Trustees awards are the equivalent of lifetime achievement awards for non-performers.) Cossette received it in 1995, during his reign as executive producer; Ehrlich in 2020, for his final show as executive producer.
Kapoor and Winston won Primetime Emmys in September as executive producers of Adele One Night Only, which won five Emmys, including outstanding variety special (pre-recorded). They shared that award with Adele, Jonathan Dickins, Tara Montgomery, Terry Wood and Rob Paine.
Adele and video director Paul Dugdale are also nominated for Grammys for their work on Adele One Night Only. The other nominees for best music film are Justin Bieber’s Our World, Billie Eilish’s Billie Eilish Live at the O2, Rosalía’s Motomami (Rosalía TikTok Live Performance), Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (which is credited to Various Artists), and Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s BARN.
The Recording Academy has added compilation producer and music supervisor credits for the nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media. These names were not on the nominations list when it was first published on Nov. 15.
The category pits the soundtracks to four feature films – ELVIS, Encanto, Top Gun: Maverick and West Side Story – against the soundtrack to a TV series, Stranger Things. The soundtrack from that Netflix series is vying to become the second from a TV series to win in this category, following Boardwalk Empire: Vol. 1 (2012).The category was introduced in 2000.
Four of these five soundtracks are credited to Various Artists, rather than specific artists. The exception is Top Gun: Maverick, which is credited to Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe. Those individuals are also credited as compilation producers, but they would each win just one Grammy if the album won. Gaga won in this category three years ago for A Star Is Born. She was also credited as both an artist and compilation producer on that soundtrack.
ELVIS would be the sixth soundtrack from a biopic to win in this category, following Ray (Ray Charles, 2006), Walk the Line (Johnny Cash, 2007), Miles Ahead (Miles Davis, 2017), The Greatest Showman (P.T. Barnum, 2019) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Billie Holiday, 2022).
Here are the nominees for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, with newly added credits shown.
ELVIS (Various Artists)
Dave Cobb, Baz Luhrmann, Jamieson Shaw & Elliott Wheeler, compilation producers; Anton Monsted, music supervisor
Encanto (Various Artists)
Mike Elizondo, Tom MacDougall & Lin-Manuel Miranda, compilation producers
Stranger Things: Soundtrack From the Netflix Series, Season 4 (Vol 2) (Various Artists)
Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer, compilation producers; Nora Felder, music supervisor
Top Gun: Maverick (Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer & Lorne Balfe, artists)
Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga & Hans Zimmer, compilation producers
West Side Story (Various Artists)
David Newman, Matt Sullivan & Jeanine Tesori, compilation producers
In June, the Recording Academy announced five new competitive categories for the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, hosted by Trevor Noah. The additions spotlight performers, songwriters, video game soundtrack composers and more, with CEO Harvey Mason Jr. telling Billboard at the time, “We’re doing it in a way to make sure we’re representing music and that’s ultimately our goal.”
With the music industry always evolving, Billboard asked artists spanning several genres,What category would you like to see the Recording Academy add to the Grammys next and why? See their responses below:
Omar Apollo: I’d love for the Recording Academy to add an engineer of the year award. Engineers are so important to the musical process and should get as much shine as producers and writers. Thank you to my engineer, Nathan Phillips — he was a big part of the process for my album, Ivory.
Taylor Bennett: I would love to see hip-hop join the Grammy categories. For years now, I’ve seen record stores, digital streaming platforms and awards shows branding “hip-hop/rap.” Although hip-hop and rap can be considered close cousins, I do believe there is great distinction between the two.
Priscilla Block: Best new (genre) artist: As a new artist, it means the entire world to get recognized by an association as prestigious as the [Recording Academy]. There is so much new talent in every genre, so I think it would add a lot to the Grammys to recognize each one’s best new artist. These are the rising stars that will turn into music’s next superstars.
Robert Glasper: Best mixed genre album: This category doesn’t exist. It’s for the people who make albums that represent and speak to more than one genre of music!
Gryffin: I would like to see the Recording Academy add best electronic/dance producer. Due to the nature of dance/electronic music, most artists [nominated] are producers, and it would be incredible for the Recording Academy to recognize the producers in the space who are innovating and pushing the genre forward. I believe that there are so many incredible producers who are pushing the boundaries of electronic dance music whose songs may not qualify under the best dance/electronic song or album categories.
Wet Leg: Best lo-fi recording. Our track “Angelica” was recorded on the Isle of Wight in our living room on a laptop with just a few mics. It would be great to have a category that highlights other artists who are making music in this way despite not having access to many resources.
Lolo Zouaï: It would be cool to have a special bilingual album category — not language-specific — to highlight all the multilingual artists out right now mixing English with other languages. Either that or a category awarding independently released albums that doesn’t focus on genre necessarily.
Kim Petras: The category I would add to the Grammys would be “the biggest slay,” of course. Woo-ah!
A version of this story originally appeared in the Dec. 17, 2022, issue of Billboard.