Grammys
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The Recording Academy will announce the nominations for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards across all 91 categories live from the Grammy Museum and Latin Grammy Week on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET.
The event will stream live on live.Grammy.com and on the Academy’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok channels. The full list of nominees will be published on Grammy.com (and on Billboard.com, among other outlets) immediately following the presentation. Presenters will be announced in the coming days.
The nominations will be revealed just two days before the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards are held at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Bad Bunny is the top nominee at that show with 10 nods, including album of the year for Un Verano Sin Ti. That album, which has topped the Billboard 200 for 13 nonconsecutive weeks, has an excellent chance of becoming the first Latin pop album to receive an album of the year nomination at the all-genre Grammys.
Anitta, Luis Fonsi, Laura Pausini and Thalía are set to host the Latin Grammys, which will air on Thursday, Nov. 17, on Univision.
“We are so excited to celebrate all of this year’s Grammy nominees who contributed to such a prolific year in music,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “With the addition of five new categories and a new, diverse class of voting members, we look forward to honoring all of this incredible music and the people who made it.”
The five 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. In addition, a new special merit award will be given out for best song for social change, which “celebrates a song that addresses a timely social issue and promotes understanding, peacebuilding and empathy,” according to the Academy.
The 65th Annual Grammy Awards returns to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sun, Feb. 5, 2023. The show will broadcast live on CBS will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET / 5-8:30 p.m. PT.
Follow “Recording Academy / GRAMMYs” on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn, and use #GRAMMYs to join the conversation as it unfolds on Nov. 15.
Christine Farnon, the Recording Academy’s first full-time employee and one of its longest-serving, died on Monday Oct. 24 in the Los Angeles area of natural causes. She was 97.
Farnon started as an unpaid volunteer in May 1957 – when the Academy was just in its formative stages — and rose to become executive vice president. From 1957 through 1987, she worked alongside a succession of 18 elected, volunteer presidents. These men — and yes, they were all men — served their terms and moved on. Farnon provided continuity and stability. In early 1988, Michael Greene became the Academy’s first paid, permanent president. Farnon stayed on through 1992, to ensure a smooth transition.
Farnon received a trustees award from the Academy upon her retirement. An appreciation in that year’s Grammy program book was fittingly titled “The Recording Academy’s Guiding Light.”
In announcing the honor for Farnon earlier in 1992, Greene said, “The Recording Academy owes much of what it is today to the selfless, conscientious dedication that Christine has exhibited in her years of contributions to the Recording Academy. Chris is a vital member of our [Academy] family and is most deserving of the trustees award.”
The late musicologist George T. Simon, who wrote the aforementioned appreciation, noted, “Chris has always been an integral part of the organization – a seemingly impossible combination of guiding light and steady anchor. Deeply involved from the start in all the Academy’s activities, this warm, intelligent, soft-spoken, sensitive lady has helped tremendously, often leading the way, in chartering and steering the course of [the Academy].”
Simon’s piece quoted Farnon as saying “This has been a rare opportunity, to have one of the most challenging and rewarding careers anyone could wish for, and to work with and for some of the finest people in the recording field.”
Billboard included Farnon in a gallery of groundbreaking female executives that appeared in the Feb. 26, 2022 issue, noting “Decades before Deborah Dugan became the Recording Academy’s first female president/CEO in 2019, Farnon was the top executive at the organization — and while she never held the big title, there was no question of who was in charge.”
Farnon’s responsibilities at the Academy included maintaining contact with disc jockeys and radio personnel and development of annual mailers and special albums designed for radio stations highlighting Grammy nominees. Farnon was a talent coordinator for most of the seven Grammy-branded Best on Record TV shows that aired on NBC. From 1971, when the Grammy Awards became a live telecast, until 1992, when Farnon retired, she was an integral part of the Academy’s TV committee, which oversaw format development, contract negotiations and TV scripts. She eventually received on-screen credit in the crawl at the end of the telecast.
Folklorist and author Bill Ivey, the only person in Academy history to serve two, non-consecutive stints as chairman of the board of trustees (1981-83 and 1989-91), gave Farnon a great deal of credit in an interview with this writer a decade ago for a Grammy.com piece on the Academy’s early days.
“Chris Farnon was central to the Academy’s success,” he said. “She was quite ferocious in protecting the integrity of Grammy and the telecast. …In large part because she was so conservative and protective, Chris handed future leaders an asset of tremendous potential value that converted to earning power as sponsorships and TV revenues really took off in the ’90s.”
In an interview for that same piece, Farnon said that she was “gratified and delighted” to have played a role in the Academy’s growth, though, characteristically, she shared the credit. “The Academy’s present achievements are something that everyone, past and present, can be very proud of,” she said.
“The original vision of what the Academy was meant to be and do hasn’t changed,” Farnon added. “Many of its significant programs had their roots in the Academy’s original goals, although they operate on a much wider and grander scale today.”
Farnon was still able to tick off the Academy’s early goals. “In the early years its goals included the annual Grammy Awards on live TV, scholarships, university courses on the recording arts and sciences, open membership meetings where leading recording individuals explored developments in the recording field, and magazines and/or newsletters to members. Unfortunately, some years most of these programs didn’t come off because there wasn’t enough money or support staff to produce them.”
The Academy was able to realize more of its goals after it struck a better deal with CBS, the long-time network of the Grammy Awards. “By the time I ended my 35-year career at the Recording Academy, the increasing income made it possible for the Academy to be taken to another level,” Farnon said.
Farnon held various positions with the Recording Academy. In the early 1960’s she was named executive director of the Los Angeles chapter. In 1971, she was promoted to national executive director, and in 1986 was appointed executive vice president, a position she held until her retirement.
Farnon also belonged to the local chapter of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE); the California Copyright Conference; and was a co-founder of the first Toastmistress Chapter in Hollywood – the very name of the latter organization is a sign of the times in which Farnon came up.
Farnon died three years after her ex-husband, Dennis Farnon, who had been the last surviving founder of the Recording Academy. Dennis Farnon died in May 2019 at age 95. Christine Farnon and Dennis Farnon were divorced in 1960.
Dennis Farnon co-founded the Academy in 1957 with Sonny Burke, who died in 1980; Lloyd W. Dunn, who died in 1991; Paul Weston, who died in 1996; and Jesse Kaye, whose date of death is unknown. All five founders were top executives at leading record companies of the period. Farnon was from RCA; Burke, from Decca; Dunn, from Capitol; Weston, from Columbia; and Kaye, from MGM.
Following her retirement, Farnon spent more than 20 years studying painting and was given three commissions of her paintings, plus recognition by the Chatsworth (Calif.) Fine Arts Council for her work.
Farnon is survived by one daughter, Joanna, as well as nieces, nephews and cousins.
A gathering of family and friends will be held at a future date. Condolences to her family may be sent to P.O. Box 150, Ripton VT 05766.
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.
Motown legends Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson are poised to make history as the 2023 MusiCares person of the year recipients. As we reported when the news was announced on Thursday Oct. 20, it’s the first time that two individuals have been co-honorees at the annual fund-raising gala.
But that’s not the only way in which Gordy and Robinson will be making history. The two music greats will be the oldest person of the year honorees to date. Gordy turns 93 on Nov. 28. Robinson is 82. The oldest honoree until now was Joni Mitchell, who was 78 when she was honored earlier this year.
And Motown founder Gordy will be the first non-artist to receive the honor, as well as the first honoree who has not won a Grammy in competition. Gordy has received just one nomination – as a co-writer of the Jackson 5 smash “I’ll Be There,” a 1993 nominee for best R&B song. That requires explanation: The song wasn’t nominated when the J5 record was a hit, but it was nominated 22 years later when Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz covered it. (Gordy probably wasn’t too disappointed when it lost to a then-current Motown smash – Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road.”)
Gordy and Robinson are the third and fourth person of the year honorees who are Motown royalty. Stevie Wonder received the honor in 1999. Lionel Richie received it in 2016.
According to MusiCares, the person of the year award “celebrates our honoree’s creative accomplishments and philanthropic work. This star-studded dinner and concert experience raises funds for MusiCares’ vital programs and relief efforts.”
That blurb hints at what MusiCares is looking for in an honoree. They certainly want to recognize an accomplished artist who seems worthy of the honor, but just as important, they want to sell tables and individual tickets, ads in the program book and auction offerings. So, they’re looking for someone who has the connections and history in the music industry to fill the room. That’s why most of the honorees are well along in their careers by the time they are selected.
The next person of the year event will be held on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 at Los Angeles Convention Center – two days before the 65th annual Grammy Awards are presented at the adjoining Crypto.com Arena.
Here are all of the person of the year honorees to date, shown in reverse chronological order. All years refer to the year the person of the year event was held and the year of the corresponding Grammy telecast (or year of award presentations for the years before the launch of the live telecast in 1971.)
Nicki Minaj‘s frustrations regarding her Grammy genre shuffle have resulted in the latest rap beef.
During an Instagram Live on Thursday, Minaj voiced her concerns over “Super Freaky Girl” being moved from the rap category to pop on the 2023 Grammy ballet, deeming it unfair. Minaj — who despite countless hit singles and albums and 10 nominations over the years has yet to win a Grammy — is not the first artist to raise questions about the Recording Academy’s categorizing methods. In the video, she mentions Drake’s best rap song win with “Hotline Bling” at the 2017 Grammys (a point of contention for the Toronto rapper, who said the song was pop but only categorized as rap because of his race and past music) and Latto’s “Big Energy” being eligible to compete in this year’s rap field.
“If ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is a pop song, what genre is ‘Big Energy?’” Minaj asked.
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Like “Super Freaky Girl,” Latto’s chart-topper was also produced by Dr. Luke and Vaughn Oliver; a live version of “Big Energy” is eligible to compete in the best melodic rap performance category at the 2023 Grammys. (A live version is in contention because the original “Big Energy” was released in September 2021, outside the eligibility period.) “They stay moving the goal post when it comes to me,” Minaj added multiple times.
While Minaj also brought up names like Doja Cat, Post Malone, Harry Styles and Adele, she continued to circle back to Latto, both by name and also in ways that the 23-year-old burgeoning rap star could have perceived as subliminal.
“If you know something is unfair as an artist, speak on that sh–,” Minaj went on. “If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, they you not paying attention.”
Minaj also accused “corporate giants” of elevating “someone they can profit off of” and intentionally moving “Super Freaky Girl” to create less competition for other artists in the rap categories. She even mentioned the future of female rap, adding that the genre will no longer “have any Black women.” The comment can be understood as a dig against Latto, whose mother is white and father is Black. Minaj also went on to say in a tweet that Latto is “wiping that spray tan off & being a Karen,” a term typically reserved for white women.
On Twitter, Minaj echoed the sentiments expressed during her Live about “Super Freaky Girl” and “Big Energy,” even quoting tweets from fans who were drawing the comparison.
This didn’t sit well with Latto, who had been trying to celebrate her AMA nominations (including favorite female hip-hop artist and favorite hip-hop song with “Big Energy”) amidst social media backlash to her BET Hip Hop Awards win, sparked by Kodak Black. “Damn I can’t win for losing…all these awards/noms I can’t even celebrate,” she tweeted.
From there, Latto and Nicki went back and forth exchanging a tirade of jabs, airing out past subliminal digs and insulting family members, with fans egging them on in the replies. Nicki posted a screenshot of a text Latto sent her, and Latto returned the favor by releasing an audio recording of a phone conversation she and the “Super Bass” rapper had. The exchange went on for hours, with other female rappers, including Azealia Banks, Erica Banks and Chika, chiming in. In the end, Minaj deleted all of her tweets to Latto, only leaving behind a video clip of Whitney Houston laughing uncontrollably in a music video.
See some of the Twitter feud below:
The walls that separate genres are coming down, which is a good thing in many ways. But it complicates things for the screening committees that decide where records should compete in the annual Grammy Awards process.
Here are some albums that probably gave the screening committee pause – and where they are competing in the 65th annual Grammy Awards process.
Demi Lovato’s Holy F*ck, Avril Lavigne’s Love Sux and Tears for Fears’ The Tipping Point were all on the line between pop and rock; all are competing for best rock album. Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres and 5 Seconds of Summer’s 5SOS5 are also somewhere on that line; they are competing for best pop vocal album.
Florence + the Machine’s Dance Fever is vying for best alternative music album. Two previous albums by the English indie rock band – Ceremonials and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – were nominated for best pop vocal album.
Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak topped Billboard’s folk, country and rock album charts — and reached No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200. At the Grammys, it’s competing for best country album.
Lizzo’s Special and Beyoncé’s Renaissance danced on the line between pop, dance and R&B. Special is competing for best pop vocal album. Renaissance is vying for best dance/electronic music album. (Bey won best contemporary R&B album three times (for Dangerously in Love, B’Day and I Am…Sasha Fierce) and best urban contemporary album twice (for Lemonade and Everything Is Love, a collab with her husband Jay-Z as The Carters).
The line between R&B and progressive R&B is often blurry. The Grammys have classified Summer Walker’s Still Over It and Chris Brown’s Breezy as R&B, but have slotted Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights and Brent Faiyaz’s Wasteland as progressive R&B.
Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) is vying for a nod as best country album. The original Red album was nominated in that category nine years ago but lost to Kacey Musgraves’ Same Trailer, Different Park. In terms of genre album awards, Swift has won best country album once (for Fearless) and best pop vocal album once (for 1989).
Jason Aldean is competing for best country album with Macon, Georgia, a combination of his two single-disc albums Macon (released on Nov. 12, 2021) and Georgia (released on April 22).
The Encanto soundtrack is competing for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, not best pop vocal album, even though it topped the Billboard 200 for nine weeks.
The four Latin albums that made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the Grammy eligibility year (Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30) are competing in three different categories. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti and Daddy Yankee’s Legendaddy are vying for best música urbana album. Romeo Santos’ Formula Volume 3 is competing for best tropical Latin album. Eslabon Armando’s Nostalgia is vying for best regional Mexican music album (including Tejano).
Several stars didn’t submit their albums for Grammy consideration, for a broad range of reasons. Silk Sonic didn’t submit An Evening With Silk Sonic. They probably figured (correctly) that they were amply rewarded last year when they won four Grammys for “Leave the Door Open” and they would be better off letting some other artists have some Grammy shine. No artist wants to run the risk of having fans say, “Haven’t they won enough?”
Drake and The Weeknd didn’t submit Honestly, Nevermind and Dawn FM, respectively. They are probably still nursing past disappointments. Drake, one of the most successful musicians of the past 15 years (and, really, in recording history) has won just four Grammys. The Weeknd was inexplicably snubbed in the year that he released “Blinding Lights,” one of the biggest and most universally admired hits of recent years, but has also collected four Grammys over the years.
Other albums that aren’t to be found on the entry list include Meek Mill’s Expensive Pain, Roddy Ricch’s Live Life Fast, Lil Durk’s 7220, Rod Wave’s Beautiful Mind and Tory Lanez’s Sorry 4 What.
All Grammys count the same toward someone’s career Grammy total, but we all know they’re not really on an equal footing. Every media outlet on Earth will report the winners of album of the year and record of the year next Feb. 5, but good luck trying to find out who won best regional roots music album (we’ll have it, of course).
Some categories are far more competitive than others. There are more than 20 times as many entries in this year’s most populated category, song of the year (686), as in this year’s least populated category, best opera recording (30). (More than 22 times, actually, but I didn’t want to sound too nerdy.)
Since final-round voting for the 65th Grammy Awards opened Thursday, Grammy voters have been conscientiously wading through the entry lists for 85 of the 91 Grammy categories. (Or so Academy leaders fervently hope.) The nominees in the other six categories are determined by committees.
Voters may find some surprises as they study the entry lists. The number of entries in each of the Big Four categories dropped significantly compared to last year, perhaps due to the Academy’s new policy of charging a fee for entries beyond five “courtesy entries.”
There are 619 entries for record of the year, down from 1,172 last year; 518 entries for album of the year, down from 837; 686 entries for song of the year, down from 1,163; and 368 entries for best new artist, down from 463.
This is actually a positive trend. The entry lists were far too long. It’s asking too much of busy people to expect them to diligently wade through a list of 1,172 entries – and that was just for one category!
Here’s the new rule, and the rationale behind it, taken from the 65th Grammy Awards rules and guidelines booklet: “The per-entry fee structure encourages entrants to consider the value of each entry and make mindful decisions to put forward work that they truly believe is Grammy-worthy. All professional and voting members of the Recording Academy will receive five courtesy entries every year. Any member who would feel burdened by the entry fees can request the fees be waived by reaching out to the awards department.”
In other surprises, best music video has more entries (661) than all but one category (song of the year). Given how competitive it is, this should really regarded as one of the top awards, but it’s tucked away in the music/video film field, not in the general field (usually called the Big Four).
There are nearly five times as many entries for best score soundtrack for visual media (including film and television) (250) as there are for best compilation soundtrack for visual media (51).
The most populated songwriting category (outside of song of the year) is best American roots song (333). Country, though generally thought of as a songwriter-driven genre, lags behind all other genres with 128 entries.
Here are all songwriting categories, ranked from most to least number of entries this year: song of the year (686), best American roots song (333), best rock song (300), best rap song (219), best R&B song (218), best contemporary Christian music performance/song (172), best song written for visual media (154), best gospel performance/song (134) and best country song (128).
All five of the categories that were added this year had a healthy number of entries. There are 270 entries for best alternative music performance, 226 for best Americana performance, 84 for best spoken word poetry album, 71 for best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media and 62 for songwriter of the year, non-classical.
The number of entries for songwriter of the year, non-classical is only about one-quarter of the number of entries for producer of the year, non-classical (214), probably because of the new category’s restrictive rules, which were intended to put the focus on songwriters who are not also artists or producers.
The Recording Academy keeps track of the number of entries in each category. Here’s the relevant rule from the rules and guidelines booklet: “Each category shall have at least 40 distinct artist entries. If a category receives between 25 and 39 entries, only three recordings will receive nominations in that year.” That’s the case for both best opera recording, which as noted above, had 30 entries this year, and best choral performance, which had 35.
The rules further state: “Should there be fewer than 25 entries in a category, that category will immediately go on hiatus for the current year – no award given – and entries will be screened into the next most logical category. If a category received fewer than 25 entries for three consecutive years, the category will be discontinued, and submissions will be entered in the next most appropriate category.” (That doesn’t apply to any categories this year.)
If you’re curious, the six categories where the nominations are determined by committees, rather than by voters at large, are all four categories in the package, notes and historical field (best recording package, best boxed/special/limited edition, best album notes, best historical album) and two categories in the production field (best remixed recording, best immersive audio album).
First-round voting continues through Oct. 23. Nominees will be announced on Nov. 15. Final-round voting runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, 2023. The winners will be revealed at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023.
Here are the categories with most and least entries.
Categories with the most entries
(in descending order)
Song of the year, 686
Best music video, 661
Record of the year, 619
Album of the year, 518
Best new artist, 368
Best rock performance, 350
Best American roots song, 333
Best instrumental composition, 321
Best arrangement, instruments and vocals, 318
Best pop solo performance, 309
Best rock song, 300
Best improvised jazz solo, 284
Best American roots performance, 283
Best engineered album, non-classical, 282
Best global music performance, 280
Categories with the fewest entries
(in ascending order)
Best opera recording, 30
Best choral performance, 35
Best regional roots music album, 40
Best música urbana album, 41
Best large jazz ensemble album, 41
Best musical theater album, 42
Best country duo/group performance, 44
Best roots gospel album, 47
Best bluegrass album, 48
Best compilation soundtrack for visual media, 51
Best gospel album, 54
Best Latin rock or alternative album, 56
Best Latin jazz album, 56
Best tropical Latin album, 58
Best classical solo vocal album, 60
Nicki Minaj has called out The Recording Academy for switching her hit “Super Freaky Girl” out of the Grammy Awards’ rap category, and into pop, a decision she reckons is a contradiction, and part of a broader agenda to celebrate rising rap artists over veterans.
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Earlier this week, Billboard’s sister title The Hollywood Reporter disclosed the Grammys change-up, despite “Super Freaky Girl” logging its eighth week on top of Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart.
Minaj’s team submitted the track to the rap categories at the Grammys, but the decision was overturned by the Recording Academy’s rap committee, a source told THR.
The Trinidadian star addressed the situation in a series of tweets, and went deeper still in a 17-minute rant posted on social media.
“’Super Freaky Girl’ was removed from the rap category, we found out today in the Grammy submission. ‘Super Freaky Girl,’ where I only rapped on the song, was removed out of the rap categories at the Grammys, right. And put it in pop,” she explains.
It should be noted 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.
Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” however, in 2017, took out best rap song and best rap/sung collaboration, she points out, though even Drake himself admitted it was a pop number.
On the flip side, Minaj wants 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?’
Suggesting she’s been hard done by, Minaj continued, “If you know something is unfair as an artist, speak on that shit. Drake could’ve just let that shit slide and added it to his collection, but he spoke up.”
If you move “Super Freaky Girl” out of rap and “put it in pop,” she adds, “do the same for ‘Big Energy’. Same producers on both songs, by the way. So let’s keep shit fair.”
Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” was a mainstream hit, blasting to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August. Its shift into the pop frame, or “moving the goal post,” she says, is part of a process to “uplift the people who they want to shine, the people who these corporate giants can make the money off of the people, control things behind the scenes, they have to elevate someone that they profit off.”
Minaj also issued a warning, claiming unnamed power players had an agenda that would eventually upend diversity in hip-hop.
“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. 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 notes. The general ballot, which can include thousands of submissions in a single category, isn’t released to the public.
Despite it all, Minaj insists she’s still the queen of rap.
“I know one thing,” she says, “even when I’m rapping on a pop track, I still out-rap.”
The list of 62 songwriters or songwriting teams that are vying for the newly created Grammy Award for songwriter of the year, non-classical includes such major names as Desmond Child, James Fauntleroy, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, Shane McAnally, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter.
It also includes some surprises. The-Dream, who had a pair of top five albums on the Billboard 200 in 2009-10, and Michael Wilson Hardy, who records as HARDY, are both eligible. This award was specifically designed to celebrate songwriters who primarily write for other artists, rather than songwriters who are also artists or producers.
So how did they make the list? The-Dream’s entered work this year focused on his work as a songwriter for Beyoncé, Brent Fayiaz and Pusha T. Hardy’s entries include songs for such artists as Blake Shelton and Brantley Gilbert featuring Jason Aldean. HARDY is featured as an artist on only one of his entries (Cole Swindell’s “Down to the Bar”).
One songwriting team is entered – Denisia “Blue June” Andrews and Brittany “Chi” Coney, who comprise the record production and songwriting duo Nova Wav. They submitted songs that they wrote for Mary J. Blige and Beyoncé.
The eligibility list includes nine Grammy winners – The-Dream (five awards), Fauntleroy (four), Jason Ingram (three), Lindsey (three), McAnally (three), Hemby (two), David Leonard (two), Jonathan Smith (two), and Edgar Barrera (one).
Most of the eligible songwriters submitted credits reflecting work with multiple artists, to show their range. But three of the writers show credits with just one artist — Steve Cooper (The Group Fire), Ed Miranti (Vischious Fishious), and Adam Garzilli (Adam King).
Four of Ryan Hurd’s submitted credits are for songs he wrote for his wife, Maren Morris, but he also has a credit for Jordan Davis. Most of Jozzy’s credits are for work with Latto, though the writer also has a credit for Beyoncé.
Lauren Christy is entered with songs she wrote for such artists as Korn and Jenn Bostic. Christy was nominated for producer of the year (non-classical) in 2003 as part of The Matrix (along with Graham Edwards and Scott Spock).
This new category is analogous to producer of the year, non-classical, which was introduced in 1974. Thom Bell, one of the architects of the Philadelphia soul sound, was the first winner in that category. The Recording Academy should be so lucky to have as esteemed a first winner in this category.
First-round voting in this and all Grammy categories began on Thursday (Oct. 13) and continues through Oct. 23. Nominees will be announced on Nov. 15. Final-round voting runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 4, 2023. The winners will be revealed at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023.
Here are the 62 songwriters who are in the running for songwriter of the year. They are listed in alphabetical order.
Sarah Aarons
Andy Albert
Amy Allen
Denisia “Blu June” Andrews and Brittany “Chi” Coney (of Nova Wav)
Edgar Barrera
Evan Kidd Bogart
Nija Charles
Desmond Child
Lauren Christy
Steve Cooper
Kat Dahlia
Sean Douglas
Tom Douglas
Ed Miranti
James Fauntleroy
Omer Fedi
Douglas Ford
James Aaron Foster
Edgar Galeano
Adam Garzilli
Natalie Nicole Gilbert
Andrew Goldstein
Ashley Gorley
Michael Wilson Hardy
Joyce V Harrison
Scott Harris
Natalie Hemby
Cory Henry
Jacob “Jkash” Hindlin
Sarah Hudson
Ethan Hulse
Ryan Hurd
Jason Ingram
Ink
Tobias Jesso Jr.
Steph Jones
Jozzy
David Leonard
Hillary Lindsey
Natalie Litza
Marcus Lomax
Madison Love
Shane McAnally
Chase McGill
Julia Michaels
Kayla Morrison
Michael Pollack
Elena Rose
Tia Scola
Shekinah Grace Moyes
Jonathan Smith
Skyler Stonestreet
Ali Tamposi
The-Dream
Theron Thomas
Jake Torrey
Justin Tranter
Laura Veltz
Billy Walsh
Besy Walter
Emily Warren
Victoria “Ryann” Zaro