For the most part, the nominations for next year’s Grammy Awards—which is set to take place February 4 in Los Angeles—are a pleasant surprise. SZA leads the pack with nine nods, while Phoebe Bridgers and R&B songwriter-turned-headliner Victoria Monét are each close behind at seven nominations apiece. (Six of Bridgers’ noms come alongside her Boygenius bandmates Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus.) Grammys mainstays like Taylor Swift and Jon Batiste are still in the mix, and artists including Ice Spice and Neutral Milk Hotel (!) received their first-ever nods. Here’s our rundown of all the highs, lows, and head-scratching choices from this year’s Grammy nominations.
SZA’s masterful second album, SOS, is already one of the most commercially and critically successful records in recent memory, and now it’s poised to be a big winner at the Grammys, too. In addition to nominations for Album of the Year and Best Progressive R&B Album, her playfully murderous single “Kill Bill” is up for Song and Record of the Year as well as Best R&B Performance. Elsewhere, SZA racked up nods for tracks from all across her 23-song opus: Her electronic duet with Phoebe Bridgers, “Ghost in the Machine,” got a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, “Love Language” is up for Best Traditional R&B Performance, “Snooze” is recognized in the Best R&B Song category, and the trap banger “Low” got a nod for Best Melodic Rap Performance. That wide range of songs mirrors the unconventional way SZA synthesizes her influences, making her slew of noms feel even sweeter. Even a historically traditionalist organization like the Grammys can’t deny her visionary excellence. –Nina Corcoran
The nominations for the biggest awards—Album, Record, and Song of the Year—are almost entirely filled with music by women: Billie Eilish, Boygenius, Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Taylor Swift, and Victoria Monét. (Their grasp is so tight that only one man, Jon Batiste, is welcome to join their company.) Elsewhere, Paramore, led by fire breather Hayley Williams, break up the boys club that is Best Rock Album; PJ Harvey adds some maturity to Best Alternative Music Album; and Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, and Ice Spice crash land into the typically dude-dominated Best Rap Song category.
The timing of this takeover—pure happenstance, at best—carries a refutative undertone; Neil Portnow, the former chairman and chief executive of the Recording Academy who infamously told women to “step up” after only one was nominated for Album of the Year in 2018, was sued for sexual assault this week. Following Portnow’s departure, the Academy recruited nearly 2,000 “diverse musicians and music industry professionals” into its ranks. It was never a matter of women needing to step up, of course, but rather for the old guard to stop obstructing the way forward. –Nina Corcoran
On the eve of their Saturday Night Live debut, Boygenius earned two of the biggest Grammy nominations you can get: Record and Album of the Year. Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus also got nods for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for “Not Strong Enough,” Best Alternative Music Performance for “Cool About It,” and Best Alternative Music Album for The Record. It’s a fitting string of accolades for a trio of friends who recently headlined Madison Square Garden and seemingly accomplished every single commercial and critical feat a rock band could hope to accomplish throughout 2023. For Bridgers, it’s a second victory lap of sorts, having previously earned four Grammy nominations in 2021. For Baker and Dacus, however, it’s a wild new reality they can’t help but laugh their way through in disbelief.
As artists who cut their teeth in DIY scenes and scrappy clubs, the members of Boygenius know the importance of extending the ladder back down to pull up worthy talent as you ascend. Sarah Tudzin, better known by her musical moniker Illuminati Hotties, is nominated three times by way of Boygenius, after co-engineering The Record. The most direct award for her contributions is Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, a cherry on top of one of the most feel-good Grammy stories this year. –Nina Corcoran
Largely thanks to his former role as the bandleader on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, Jon Batiste’s crowd-pleasing virtuosity has been clear for a while now. Nevertheless! When the jazz musician won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2022, for the relatively little-heralded We Are, it led to some quizzical reactions. For all of Batiste’s affability and skill, the record’s old-school universalism made it feel like something the Academy would have developed in a lab if they could.
The warm fuzzies between the Grammys and Batiste haven’t faded. He has six nominations this time, including Record, Album, and Song of the Year. But his talents hardly seem best served on his recent record of random collaborations, World Music Radio, which features everyone from Lil Wayne, to Kenny G, to Lana Del Rey. Another one of the Grammys’ classic cringe-y onstage pairings seems all but inevitable. –Marc Hogan
If we were in charge of the Grammy nominations, things would look a lot different. So it’s always disappointing when the Academy fails to recognize some of the best music released over the last year or so. Just like with Charli XCX last year, the Grammys mostly passed over another amazing album from one of our most exciting pop stars: Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You was awarded only one nod, for the definitely-not-televised Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category. What is it with the Grammys not recognizing adventurous alt-pop pioneers who are just famous enough to be potential gimmes?
On the other side of the coin, power-pop band Alvvays’ first-ever nomination, for Best Alternative Music Performance, feels like something to celebrate. (The Canadian group’s nominated track, “Belinda Says,” happened to be Pitchfork’s No. 1 song of 2022.) And 1990s indie heroes Neutral Milk Hotel, led by singer-songwriter Jeff Mangum, were also recognized by the Academy for the first time, with a Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package nom for their career-spanning The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel. Better late than never! –Marc Hogan
The Grammys’ Best New Artist category is a notorious magnet for the not-exactly-new and the well-connected. This year, Southern white rapper du jour Jelly Roll becomes the oldest Best New Artist nominee since 40-year-old Andrea Bocelli at the 1999 Grammys. Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, a friend and opener for Olivia Rodrigo whose dad is Star Wars/Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, is also in the running.
There are some more worthy noms, too. Bronx drill breakout Ice Spice was one of the most readily predictable Best New Artist nominees this year, but there’s no question she deserves her laurels. (Still, the fact that Ice Spice’s year-defining PinkPantheress collaboration “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” was shut out while her respectively tacked-on and schlocky Taylor Swift and Barbie brand tie-ins each pulled nods is a corporate-friendly sign of what you’re dealing with at the Grammys.) Victoria Monét’s Jaguar II is a delightfully extravagant indulgence, and it’s a thrill to see the R&B star nab a nomination here, especially alongside a Record of the Year nod for her serotonin-inducing album highlight “On My Mama.” –Marc Hogan
Scroll through the list of the 2024 Grammys’ most-nominated artists, and you’ll see an unfamiliar name ahead of Olivia Rodrigo, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift: Serbean Ghenea, who collected seven noms. The Canadian audio and mixing engineer has already been nominated 38 times, and he has won 19 Grammys. This year, Ghenea’s nominated efforts include Rodrigo’s “Vampire” and Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” for Record of the Year, plus Rodrigo’s Guts and Swift’s Midnights in the Album of the Year category. (He’s a four-time Album of the Year winner, for Swift’s 1989 and folklore, Adele’s 25, and Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic.) If there’s an X-factor in common between contemporary Grammy juggernauts, this just might be it. –Marc Hogan
“Fast Car” was born to be a hit. A tale of desperation and determination, Tracy Chapman’s 1988 song appealed to both downtrodden folks in the heartland and urbanites trapped in the invisibility of city life, slowly nestling into millions of hearts worldwide. At that year’s Grammy Awards, it won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and earned nominations for Record and Song of the Year. During her acceptance speech, a humbled Chapman thanked her mother for buying her first guitar and her sister for being her best audience.
Fast forward 35 years: Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car” is now nominated for Best Country Solo Performance. His version became an unexpected hit this summer, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart. When the Country Music Awards honored Chapman with Song of the Year earlier this week to mark the occasion, Combs explained why he covered the song: “It’s meant so much to me throughout my entire life. It’s the first favorite song I ever had from the time I was 4 years old.” His cover doesn’t match the original but it does highlight exactly what he saw in it as a kid: Chapman’s gift for storytelling, and how an understated arrangement can overcome even the most stiff-lipped listener. –Nina Corcoran
Best African Music Performance is a new category at the 2024 Grammys, reflecting the global dominance of Afrobeats, amapiano, and other thriving genres from the continent. Even better, the Academy came through with nominees that really reflect the breadth of exciting creativity happening in African music right now. Nigerian singer-songwriter Asake’s “Amapiano,” a collaboration with countryman Olamide from this year’s Work of Art, demonstrates his pop-inflected twist on continent-spanning dance music styles. Both Nigerian pop star Ayra Starr’s “Rush” and South African kindred spirit Tyla’s “Water” lean more toward slinky, mid-2000s R&B.
The closer you look, the more a category like this feels overdue. Nigeria’s Burna Boy is already a stadium-packing superstar, and his nominated track, “City Boys,” from I Told Them…, had its own viral challenge. Another established Nigerian star, Davido, further highlights the scene’s international nature with “Unavailable,” an effervescent pairing with South African producer Musa Keys. Our main complaint would be the absence of Amaarae, the Ghanaian-American singer and songwriter whose brilliant and unorthodox Fountain Baby should have been an obvious shoo-in for this category and many others. But overall, as new categories go, the Grammys deserve some encouragement here. –Marc Hogan
Even though she wasn’t the most-nominated artist this year, Taylor Swift is always going to be a huge player at any awards show—dominating cutaway shots and casually making history with her mere presence. With “Anti-Hero” landing a Song of the Year nod this time, Swift has officially pulled ahead of Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie for most nominations in that category, tallying a total of seven.
Exceeding an all-time record makes the rest of Swift’s nominations this year appear less exciting, although they’re nothing to sneeze at. Midnights is up for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, while “Anti-Hero” also grabbed nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Plus her other radio hit, the Ice Spice-featuring “Karma,” is in the running for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. While it’s still unclear who will perform at February’s ceremony, it seems safe to say that we can rely on a new round of Taylor reaction GIFs to drop immediately after the show. –Nina Corcoran
