R&B and soul singer SZA received the most nominations on Friday, with nine categories, for the next Grammy Awards, the American music industry’s awards that recognize female artists and the must-see “Barbie.”
• Also read: Missy Elliott, Kate Bush and George Michael enter the pantheon of music
With her hit song “Kill Bill” inspired by the films of Quentin Tarantino and her second album “SOS,” SZA, 34, will be able to try to win the Grammy in key categories such as song and recording on February 4 in Los Angeles. of the year and best album.
Unveiled with her first studio effort, Ctrl, in 2017, SZA has since established herself as a big name in R&B, collaborating with hip-hop heavyweights like Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
The competition will come primarily from other female artists, such as country-pop steamroller Taylor Swift (6 categories), former Disney muse Olivia Rodrigo, 2022 “Revelation of the Year” who released an album with “Guts”, which received critical acclaim (6 categories) or even Billie Eilish (6), rocker Phoebe Bridgers (7, including 6 with her supergroup boygenius) and the rising R&B star Victoria Monét (7).
Taylor Swift in history?
Taylor Swift is breaking all records with her re-recorded albums to win back the rights and with her “Eras Tour”, which promises to be the first to gross more than a billion dollars and whose film adaptation also brought the cinemas into darkness.
She could make a little more history if she wins Album of the Year with her 10th album, Midnights, which would make her the artist to have won the category most often and most prestigiously. She would surpass Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder, who like her had already been crowned three times.
But at the 66th Grammy Awards on February 4th in Los Angeles, another phenomenon to be seen is the cinema blockbuster “Barbie”, whose soundtrack title is “What was I made for?” (Billie Eilish) and “Dance The Night” (Dua Lipa) compete for song of the year, against “Anti-Hero” (Taylor Swift) and the energetic “Vampire” (Olivia Rodrigo). Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster took over the “Best Song for a Visual Medium” category with four of the five nominated titles. In total, “Barbie” has eleven nominations.
In 2023, the ceremony crowned Beyoncé, who became the most awarded female artist with a total of 32 awards throughout her career, but the top prize for album of the year eluded her in favor of British pop star Harry Styles.
evolution
“Women have made damn good music, some of the best records and songs of the year,” Harvey Mason Jr., executive director of the Recording Academy, the organization that represents music professionals, told the Los Angeles Times of the American music industry and organizes the Grammy Awards.
“Our voters were clearly convinced,” he rejoiced, while the institution was often criticized for the lack of diversity of the awarded artists, with an imbalance in favor of men.
This week, former Recording Academy boss Neil Portnow was the target of a complaint in New York, accused of drugging and raping a female artist who remained anonymous in 2018.
The complaint also accuses the Recording Academy of negligence. The organization and Neil Portnow have vehemently denied the allegations.
While pop and R&B make up the lion’s share, rock and hip-hop have to fight their battles in genre-specific categories. So the Rolling Stones can hope to win a gramophone with “Angry” (best rock song in the category) 60 years after their formation.
Also appearing in the top group of nominations are the sound engineer Serban Ghenea (7 categories), who mixed Taylor Swift’s album “Midnight”, the jazzer Jon Batiste (6) and the country singer-songwriters Brandy Clark (6) and pop Miley Cirus ( 6).
The charismatic Jon Batiste, who triumphed in 2022 (particularly as Best Album), is the only male artist competing in the main recording and album of the year categories.
Producer Jack Antonoff also received six nominations for his work with Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey.