Grammy Nominations: Taylor, SZA, Meryl Streep (!), and "Barbie"

by Nathaniel R

The Grammys are not a focus here at TFE (pick your lane!) but we do like to sound off at least a bit when the nominations are announced. Our primary excuse is that there are some categories that overlap with the acting arts (film, tv, stage). But before we get to those a quick look at the big four categories. The nominees for the top prizes at the 66th Grammys are...

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• "The Age of Pleasure" -Janelle Monae
• "Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd" - Lana Del Rey
• "Endless Summer Vacation" - Miley Cyrus
• "GUTS" - Olivia Rodrigo
• "Midnights" - Taylor Swift
• "the record" - boygenius
• "SOS" - SZA
• "World Music Radio" - Jon Batiste

Because the Grammys have a nearly infinite amount of categories most of these are also up for another 'album' honor Miley, Taylor, and Oliva (Pop Vocal) boygenius (Alternative), Janelle and SZA (Progressive R&B).

Surprises? While most Grammy pundits have proclaimed Taylor Swift the one to beat this year, SZA is the overall nomination leader with 9 nominations. Some notable snubs: Pundits were somewhat high on the chances of Morgan Wallen "One Thing at a Time", Foo Fighters "But Here We Are", and "Barbie the Album" showing up in this category but they didn't.

And the three other most high profile categories...

RECORD OF THE YEAR
for performers

• "Anti-Hero" - Taylor Swift
• "Flowers" - Miley Cyrus
• "Kill Bill" - SZA
• "Not Strong Enough" -boygenius
• "On My Mama" - Victoria Monét
• "Vampire" - Olivia Rodrigo
• "What Was I Made For?" - Billie Eilish
• "Worship" - Jon Batiste

SONG OF THE YEAR
for songwriters

• "A&W" - Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew
• "Anti-Hero" - Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff
• "Butterfly" - Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
• "Dance the Night" - Dua Lipa, Caroline Ailin, Mark Ronson, ANdrew Wyatt
• "Flowers" - Miley Cyrus, Gregory Aldae Hein, Michael Pollack
• "Kill Bill" - SZA, Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Solana Rowe
• "Vampire" - Olivia Rodrigo and Daniel Nigro
• "What Was I Made For?" - Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

"Anti-Hero", "Flowers", "Kill Bill", "Vampire" and "What Was I Made For?" hit both of the top single song categories making them major threats for wins. Interestingly enough Taylor Swift has never won in this particular category though she's been up an all-time record number of times (seven now). 

BEST NEW ARTIST

• Gracie Abrams
• Fred again...
• Ice Spice
• Jelly Roll
• Coco Jones
• Noah Kahan
• Victoria Monét
• The War and the Treaty

Okay now on to the categories with film, tv, and theater overlap which is more our speed.

MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM

• Kimberly Akimbo 
• Parade
• Shucked
• Some Like It Hot
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

While the delightful Kimberly Akimbo was the big winner coming out of the Tony Awards, this Grammy Award feels very competitive as none of the contenders feel like inevitabilities. Though all five of these shows were well regarded and successful none were the kind of blockbuster phenomenons that can result in crossover slam dunk Grammy appeal (given that Grammy has the most populist taste of the big awards shows).  Kimberly Akimbo is probably too 'small' to repeat its win here. Might it be Sweeney Todd. It's still running with the original stars during Grammy time (Tony nominees Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford leave the show in January after which Tony winners Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster replace them as Sweeney & Mrs Lovett). 

COMEDY ALBUM

• "I Wish You Would" - Trevor Noah
• "I'm an Entertainer" - Wanda Sykes
• "Selective Outrage" -Chris Rock
• "Someone You Love" - Sarah Silverman
• "What's In a Name" - Dave Chappelle

Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle have both won in this category (or earlier iterations of it) previously. Sarah Silverman and Trevor Noah are previous nominees. Wanda Sykes is the only first time nominee here.

AUDIO BOOK NARRATION

• "Big Tree" - Meryl Streep
• "Boldly Go: Reflections On a Life of Awe and Wonder" - William Shatner
• "The Creative Act: A Way of Being" - Rick Rubin
• "It's Okay to Be Angry About Capitalism" - Senator Bernie Sanders
• "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" - Michelle Obama

This is Meryl Streep's 7th Grammy nomination across four categories (Compilation Soundtrack, Recording for Children, Audio Book, Spoken Word Album) but she's actually never won. She has 3 Oscars and 3 Emmys but she's still waiting on a Tony to Triple Crown or a Tony and a Grammy to EGOT. 

Michelle Obama won in this category quite recently for "Becoming"

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Though the overall story of the Grammy Awards was 'women rule!' with 80% of the big nominations, curiously the music video category is almost all men this year. But we're happy to see Troye Sivan nab his first Grammy nominations ("Rush" right here and in Dance recording).

BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA

• "Aurora" - Daisy Jones and the Six
• "Barbie The Album" - Various Artists
• "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" - Various Artists
• "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3" - Various Artists
• "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" - Weird Al Yankovic

Given its #1 film of the year status and the huge amount of Grammy nominations for its songs, Barbie The Album has to be the frontrunner. 

BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA

• "Barbie" - Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt
• "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" -Ludwig Göransson
• "The Fabelmans" - John Williams
• "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" - John Williams
• "Oppenheimer" - Ludwig Göransson

They said "only John Williams and Ludwig Göransson -- we refuse to listen to anyone else!"

BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA

• "Barbie World" - Barbie
• "Dance the Night" - Barbie
• "I'm Just Ken" - Barbie
• "Lift Me Up" - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• "What Was I Made For?" - Barbie

They said "only Barbie songs please!"

What were your fav Grammy nominations? 

Comments

[Mr Ripley79]

Well Done Kylie Minogue 35 years into a fantastic career and Grammy nominated for a sixth time.

[eurocheese]

I'll be annoyed if they go with Taylor Swift in Album again when SZA and Olivia Rodrigo are right there. Spread the love.

I'm a huge Barbie soundtrack fan and the Grammys did right by it (and an Album nod was probably too much). They didn't do right by Pink and her terrific album Trustfall or my favorite album of the year, Jessie Ware's That! Feels Good!

Very happy for Troye Sivan and Kylie's "Padam Padam" - I hope one of them wins in their Pop Dance category.

Wanda Sykes has never been nominated before? Insanity. Fingers crossed for her and Meryl.

[Angelo]

Some odd choices for Album of the Year, but it IS the Grammys after all.

I like Janelle Monae, but her most recent album is essentially a collection of snippets, and the record came and went without much fanfare--I'm surprised it's up for the top prize. Miley Cyrus' nod is also a bit of a head-scratcher.

I am a Taylor Swift fan and I like Midnights, but no way does she deserve to win this. She is over-rewarded as it is. From that lineup it really deserves to go to SZA, whose album is excellent.

My favorite Grammy nod is PJ Harvey for Best Alternative Album for "I Inside The Old Year Dying," which is terrific. She's been nominated in this category many times and has never won. I don't think this will be the one to break her losing streak, but it's a well deserved nomination.

[Amy Camus]

Just a nit-pick. Lana Del Rey, like boygenius, is nominated for both Best Album and Best Alternative Album.

[par]

thank goodness you included the gay categories - i don't know any of the big four songs/albums/new artists [aka the serenity of getting older]

i love the troye sivan video - takes me right back to wasted morning afters

[charlea]

I’m in my mid 30’s and I recognize like 2 names….what happened to music? Is Ice Spice the daughter of a Spice Girl?

[thevoid99]

The Grammys... oh wait. Never mind. They're crap.

[jules]

As someone who listens to around 60 audiobooks a year, I am consistently annoyed by their audiobook nominations. They always just nominate the biggest names available when there are people who are really genius at narrating audiobooks but have the disadvantage of being unknowns. And even among the biggest names, they make odd choices. It seems everyone who loves audiobooks was talking about Meryl Streep's narration of Ann Patchett's Tom Lake this year, and yet that wasn't the Meryl narration they nominated? (Not to mention Diane Ladd and Laura Dern, whose conversational dual narration of their memoir was brilliant).

Anyway, yeah. I love Miley, Taylor, and Olivia but am rooting for Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For in the Song and Record categories - that is an incredible song and it really enhances Barbie.

[DK]

There’s no way out of Taylor Swift dominance at the Grammys. I’m not exaggerating when I say she’s going to win Album of the Year *many* more times by the time she’s elderly.

That’s partly because every few albums she makes something that’s genuinely worthy of AOTY. And partly because it’s impossible to imagine the public and the industry losing interest in her…she’s going to keep making commercially impactful, critically respected music for the next five decades. So even if you don't like it, you're gonna have to get used to it.