With new classes, SZA, and “Barbie” — there’s loads to debate concerning the 2024 Grammy Award nominations. Who did not make the reduce? What had been the most effective surprises of all? Let’s have a look.
There’s loads to like in regards to the nominations for the 66th Grammy Awards — and fairly a bit to be slightly confused by. Reneé Rapp, Peso Pluma and PinkPantheress are absent from the most effective new artist class regardless of having outstanding years. Rapp’s “Snow Angel” was the largest debut solo album from a feminine artist this yr.
Rapp and PinkPantheress had been each shut out and Peso Pluma solely picked up one nomination: finest música Mexicana album (together with Tejano) for his third studio album, “Génesis.”
In truth, in a yr dominated by música Mexicana, it’s shocking to see no nods for Eslabon Armado or Grupo Frontera, notably for his or her songs “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma and “Un x100to” with Bad Bunny, respectively. Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida are additionally noticeably absent.
This yr, there are solely three nominees for finest música urbana album — as a result of the class acquired fewer than 40 entries — and accounts for Karol G’s sole nomination, for her historic 2023 album “Mañana Será Bonito.”
Undeniably, nation music has had an enormous 2023. In July, nation acts held the highest three spots on the Hot 100 for the primary time: Controversy hoisted Jason Aldean’s “Try That In a Small Town” to No. 1, adopted by Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ cowl of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”
Also, over the summer time, nation singer Oliver Anthony Music’s turned the primary artist to debut on the Hot 100 on the prime of it, with the viral “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Aldean and Anthony’s dominance wasn’t lengthy — and Combs did earn a 2024 Grammy nomination for finest nation solo efficiency — however Wallen stands out as an apparent exclusion.
While “Last Night” is nominated for finest nation music, a songwriter’s award, Wallen himself is not regardless of his profitable yr. His newest album, “One Thing at a Time,” had, as of Oct. 14, spent 16 weeks on the prime — which meant he is held the highest spot for almost 40% of the yr to this point … and his file was launched in March.
This is not the primary time Wallen has been absent from nominations. In 2021, after video surfaced of him utilizing a racial slur, he was disqualified or restricted from a number of award reveals and acquired no Grammy nominations for his bestselling “Dangerous: The Double Album.”
The eligibility window ran from Oct. 1, 2022, by way of Sept. 15, 2023, which implies fairly a number of Ok-pop heavyweights may have been nominated: TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Stray Kids and the Y2K-loving lady group NewJeans. But they weren’t.
All three had releases hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — TXT’s “The Name Chapter: Temptation” in February, Stray Kids’ “Maxident” and NewJeans’ “Get Up.”
Some critics had theorized that NewJeans would possibly earn a finest new artist nomination, which might have made them the primary ever Ok-pop lady group to obtain a Grammy nod. It may’ve been them, or the Ok-pop lady group Fifty Fifty, whose bubblegum pop single “Cupid” was inescapable on TikTok this summer time — they turned so ubiquitous, they even appeared on the “Barbie” movie soundtrack.
Yet, after Friday’s announcement, BTS stays the one Ok-pop group to ever obtain a Grammy nod. And regardless of 5 nominations, they don’t have any Grammy wins.
Much to the chagrin of followers of Michelle Williams’ studying of Britney Spears’ memoir “The Woman in Me,” the actor won’t be eligible in the most effective audio e book, narration & storytelling recording class this cycle. That’s a 2025 risk.
But maybe most stunning of all is the omission of Prince Harry, whose memoir “Spare” offered greater than 3.2 million copies worldwide in only one week. The British royal narrated the audiobook however didn’t obtain a nomination. Instead, Meryl Streep, William Shatner, Rick Rubin, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Michelle Obama did.
Using charts as probably the most rapid metric of recognition: There’s been a little bit of a dearth of dominant hip-hop releases. It’s a stunning shift, because the Luminate 2022 Year-End report discovered that R&B/hip-hop is America’s hottest style, accounting for probably the most U.S. on-demand music streams and the biggest share of whole album consumption. In truth, no rapper was in a position to prime the Billboard 200 till Travis Scott’s “Utopia” dropped in August. This time round, Scott solely picked up one nomination: finest rap album.
Curiously lacking from the record is Gunna, whose 2023 album “A Gift & a Curse” was massive. It is clear that some of the biggest hits in the genre were pushed to rap-specific categories (think Lil Durk ft. J. Cole’s “All My Life,” or Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock.”)
If there’s something to pop bottles over, it is Victoria Monét’s seven nominations. The R&B singer-songwriter is not any stranger to Grammy nominations — however for a distinct skillset. Monét was nominated as a producer for album of the yr on the 2020 Grammys, for her work on Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next.” At the time, she was finest often known as hit maker for Grande and Chloe x Halle, although she’s at all times been one to observe as a soloist.
This time round, she’s the one main nominee additionally up for finest new artist. Monét has additionally picked up file of the yr and finest R&B music nominations for her shiny, brassy “On My Mama,” finest R&B efficiency and finest conventional R&B efficiency. Her 2023 launch, “Jaguar ll,” is up for finest R&B album and finest engineered album, non-classical.
The finest story of the 2024 Grammy nominations, in fact, is simply what number of ladies are represented within the main classes.
The majority of main nominees are ladies and embrace superstars like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo. In each the file and album of the yr classes, the one man represented is Jon Batiste.
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