Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: WireImage (Joseph Okpako, Kevin Mazur), Dana Jacobs/FilmMagic
The Grammy nominations are here, with precisely zero regard for whether we can actually handle more controversial results of another vote. At least this one tilts a bit more progressive: The Recording Academy’s yearslong project to expand and diversify its membership seems to be paying off, with a younger and especially more women-heavy slate this year (just don’t look at the rock categories). As always, there are still head-scratchers, like big nominations for the Beatles and Jacob Collier. But there’s also plenty to celebrate, including Beyoncé’s massive haul and Charli XCX’s surprise showing. Before the Academy heads back to the ballot box, let’s review some snubs and surprises.
We’ve come a long way from 2017, when the Grammys booted “Daddy Lessons” from the country field. Beyoncé didn’t just earn her first country nomination for Cowboy Carter, she showed up across the board, in Best Country Solo Performance (for “16 Carriages”), Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus), Best Country Song (for “Texas Hold ’Em”), and Best Country Album. She even got a Best Americana Performance nod for “Ya Ya”! The Academy’s country voters have trended a touch more progressive than the Nashville institutions that continue to snub Bey, so this isn’t revolutionary. But such a widespread embrace is definitely a big win for her. And she didn’t even have to glad-hand Nashville record execs to get there.
Beyoncé topped out with 11 nominations, a new record for her (and breaking her out of a tie with husband Jay-Z for the most Grammy nods ever, at 99). In addition to the country categories, she showed up in pop and rap, along with the generals. Her only miss was a surprise snub in Best R&B Song. The R&B field has always been generous to Beyoncé, even with her dance project, Renaissance. But maybe Cowboy Carter just didn’t have the right song; her submission, “Tyrant,” feels like a stretch, with a fiddle loop and a Dolly Parton feature.
Before today, Charli XCX had been nominated for just two Grammys, both for Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” So while I expected her breakthrough Brat to be represented, I had my reservations about just how much the Grammys would embrace her. Joke’s on me. Charli received seven nods, tied for second-most of the day, including Album, Record, and Song of the Year. But if you really want to see how much the Academy was bumpin’ that, look a little further downballot: “360” is up for Best Music Video, and A. G. Cook is up for Best Remixed Recording for “Von Dutch.” Brat even got a Best Recording Package nod for that viral cover. These nominations can be bellwethers of support across the Academy’s branches — and might forecast a Brat AOTY winter come February.
The two biggest pop breakouts of 2024 showed up everywhere they were expected: All of the big four categories, along with Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. That gives us very little clarity as to who the Best New Artist front-runner is. But as of today, I’m picking Carpenter for two reasons. One, she was nominated for different songs in Record and Song of the Year — “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” respectively — which could be a sign voters are a touch more interested in her music. And, two, Short n’ Sweet showed up in Best Engineered Album, which might earn her more respect among technical voters. But this race won’t be settled for months.
Of the bizarre 2021 Grammys slate, Jacob Collier’s AOTY nom for Djesse Vol. 3 seemed like the most shocking: Collier’s project had never even charted on the “Billboard 200.” Turns out, it wasn’t a fluke. Collier is up for the same award, with Djesse Vol. 4, the final installment in his cerebral series. He also earned a nod in the arrangement categories for the sixth straight year. Call him your favorite musician’s favorite musician.
Congratulations to the Beatles for their first Record of the Year nomination since 1971. It’s a send-off for “Now and Then,” the band’s allegedly final song — which John Lennon started to write in 1977 — with new audio-restoration technology. I had eyes on “Now and Then” sneaking in at Song of the Year, but Record of the Year might make more sense, given its technical achievement.
How’s this for a return: Twenty-one years after winning Album of the Year for Outkast’s double-opus Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, André 3000 is back in the running with his jazz-flute album, New Blue Sun. The Academy never cooled on Three Stacks in the meantime — he picked up a few trophies last year for his feature on Killer Mike’s “Scientists & Engineers” — but it’s pretty impressive to see his embrace by a whole new wing of voters. (He’s also up for Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Instrumental Composition.) Jazz voters recently flexing their muscles in the generals, with awards for Jon Batiste and Samara Joy, means André could have a decent chance at a second AOTY trophy.
Shaboozey’s runaway hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” was somehow snubbed in Record of the Year, usually the category that most reflects the charts. Yet the track still got some general-category love in Song of the Year, a surprise to many who thought the Academy wouldn’t appreciate Shaboozey’s flip of J-Kwon’s rap hit “Tipsy.” (It’s more than deserved, as I previously noted — an interpolation like that takes the ear of a good songwriter!) That tops off a great day for Shaboozey — who also earned requisite nods in Best New Artist and the country field, plus a Best Melodic Rap Performance nod alongside Beyoncé and Linda Martell for “Spaghettii” — and for Jerrel Jones, a.k.a. J-Kwon, who earns his first two Grammy nominations as well.
With Shaboozey earning a hearty showing for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” there was just no room for a fourth new artist to crack the top categories. That hurt Benson Boone, who earned only one nomination, in Best New Artist, despite having one of the most-streamed songs of the year.
Earlier this year, the Academy changed the criteria for Songwriter of the Year to make the award more open to artists who also write songs for other artists. No one benefited from that more than Raye, who earned nods in both Best New Artist and Songwriter of the Year. Her writing portfolio contains three of her own songs, along with the most random assortment of work you’ve ever seen: Beyoncé’s “Riiverdance,” Jennifer Lopez’s “Dear Ben, Pt II,” and a Rita Ora track.
He still earned five nominations, off his work with Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter. But after five straight nominations — and three straight wins — in Producer of the Year, the Academy is finally making room for others in that category.
At this point, Taylor Swift is a given in the Grammys’ top categories — and she cleaned up again, with nods in Album of the Year for The Tortured Poets Department and Record and Song of the Year for “Fortnight” with Post Malone. But down in the pop field, Swift actually underperformed. She missed in Best Pop Solo Performance for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” which isn’t a total shock in such a competitive category. But “Fortnight” also missed in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, which could be bad news for Swift’s Record and Song chances. She did still get a nod there for “us.” with Gracie Abrams, but what does it mean that voters chose that song over her own hit single?
Country singer-songwriter Megan Moroney was a highly tipped pick ahead of this year’s nominations, thanks to her viral song “Tennessee Orange” and follow-up album, Am I Okay? While she didn’t earn a single nomination, somehow two of her co-writers are up for Songwriter of the Year for songs they wrote with Moroney. If voters liked those songs so much, why didn’t they have any room for Moroney herself?
Exactly zero of the acts up for Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, or Best Rock Album are first-time nominees. Yet again, rock voters are sticking to what they’re familiar with: Pearl Jam, Green Day, the Black Keys, St. Vincent, and, of course, the Beatles and the Stones. Congrats to the Black Crowes on their first nomination since 1991, I guess?
It’s rare to see a single woman in Best Metal Performance, which has been one of the most male-dominated Grammy categories in its 36-year history. But this year, for the first time ever, there are three: Marina Viotti (with Gojira and Victor Le Masne), Poppy (with Knocked Loose), and the woman-fronted Spiritbox. All of them stand a chance to win — as long as voters don’t give Metallica their eighth trophy instead.
More than 40 years into their careers, both indie-rock legends are finally seeing their music nominated for the first time — and with two apiece, in Best Alternative Music Performance and Album.
Everyone knows women have been running the decade in hip-hop so far. The Grammys have tacitly acknowledged this, nominating a woman rapper in Best New Artist for five straight years now (including this year’s deserved recognition for Doechii). But this year’s rap nominations finally made it obvious. At least one woman is nominated in every rap category, including three in the crowded Best Rap Performance, a majority in Best Melodic Rap Performance, and the first woman in Best Rap Album since 2018. There are still a few typical Grammy picks (congrats, Common & Pete Rock), but overall, the rap field hasn’t looked this fresh in years.
Just ask Linda Martell, a country-soul pioneer earning her first-ever Grammy nomination in Best Melodic Rap Performance.
A whopping three “Hot 100” No. 1s are competing here: “Texas Hold ’Em,” “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” and Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help.” The other two slots go to past AOTY winner Kacey Musgraves’s “The Architect” and breakout Jelly Roll’s “I Am Not Okay.” The Academy didn’t even have room for its favorite country artist, Chris Stapleton!
Well, they didn’t nominate Jessica Pratt or Sufjan Stevens, but it was a quietly good day for indie singer-songwriters. Clairo capped off a breakthrough year with a nod for Best Alternative Music Album, while Waxahatchee earned her first career nod in Best Americana Album, and Adrianne Lenker added to her tally (solo and with Big Thief) with Best Folk Album.
After Tyla’s debut album was controversially moved from R&B to pop, the nominations did little to restore confidence in the Academy’s ability to handle African music. Rema and Tems are both (deservingly) nominated in Best Global Music Album, despite making overtures toward pop, R&B, and hip-hop — raising questions as to why Tyla couldn’t have been slotted there too. Tems even earned a nomination for Best R&B Song, showing that R&B voters are certainly open to recognizing African music. Meanwhile, the Best African Music Performance category is already being westernized, with Chris Brown up for “Sensational,” his foray into Afrobeats alongside Davido and Lojay.
Though Cave has previously been nominated for Best Music Film and Best Recording Package.