Beyoncé ties her husband Jay-Z's record for most Grammy nominations with 9
Beyoncé has propelled herself into the highest Grammy echelon: The star singer claimed a leading nine nominations Tuesday, making her tied with her husband Jay-Z as the most nominated music act in the history of the awards show.
Beyoncés Break My Soul reeled in record and song of the year nominations, while Renaissance which ventured into the world of dancehall music netted an album of the year nod. With Jay-Z also earning five nods this year, each spouse now holds the record for the most-ever Grammy nominations at 88 apiece.
Kendrick Lamar came away with the second-most nominations, with eight. Adele and Brandi Carlile both received seven nods. Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Future, DJ Khaled, The-Dream and mastering engineer Randy Merrill each picked up six.
Nearly half of this years leading nominees announced by the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, John Legend, Machine Gun Kelly and Smokey Robinson are women and more than half are people of color, according to the recording academy. The ceremony will be held Feb. 5 in Los Angeles.
This makes me feel very proud, but it makes me conscious of the fact that we have to maintain the work we have done, said Harvey Mason jr., the Recording Academys CEO. He said there have been strides in the peer-driven voting system and increased membership, but he still believes more progress can be made.
This year, Im pleased with the result and work the voters did, he continued. We have almost 13,000 voters now. Its really important work. Im pleased to think they spent the time listening to the music and evaluating. I think you see by the type of nominations that they are not only going for just popular music or music that has a lot of streams. Its just music of high quality.
The academy added a special song for social change and five new categories including songwriter of the year, which Harvey says will further help diversify the 65th edition of the annual awards.
The non-classical songwriter category will recognize one individual who was the most prolific non-performing and non-producing songwriter for a body of new work during an eligibility year. It will take a different approach than song of the year, which awards the songwriters who wrote the lyrics or melodies to one song.
Harvey said implementing the songwriters category is a significant step forward for the music industry. Last year, a rule update allowed that any songwriter, producer, engineer or featured artist on a work nominated for album of the year could ultimately earn a nomination.
The academy and voters are placing a high importance on the craft of songwriting, Harvey said of the new category, in which nominees include The-Dream, Amy Allen, Nija Charles, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Laura Veltz. Personally, as a songwriter, Im happy to see it being a significant part of our process. We realize that songwriting is at the heart of our industry. Its one of the building blocks for every artists career.
Beyoncé, the most decorated woman in Grammy history with 28 wins, could break the late Hungarian-British conductor Georg Soltis record for most awards won if she wins four awards. Solti, who has 31 Grammys, has held on to the record since 1997.
For the first time in Beyoncés lauded career, she was nominated in the dance category. Her seventh studio project Renaissance is up for best dance-electronic music album and Break My Soul is nominated for best dance-electronic recording. Other nominations include best R&B song for Cuff It, R&B performance for Virgos Groove, traditional R&B performance for Plastic Off the Sofa and song written for visual media for Be Alive, the Oscar-nominated song from the King Richard soundtrack.
Merrill grabbed two nominations in the record of the year category for the second straight year for his work on Adeles Easy on Me and Styles As It Was. Its also his first time being nominated three times in the same year for album of the year.
Other album of the year nominees include: Adeles 30, ABBAs Voyage, Bad Bunnys Un Verano Sin Ti, Mary J. Bliges Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe), Carliles In These Silent Days, Coldplays Music of the Spheres, Lamars Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Lizzos Special and Styles Harrys House.
Tracks competing with Break My Soul for record of the year include Styles As It Was, Doja Cats Woman, Adeles Easy On Me, ABBAs Dont Shut Me Down, Bliges Good Morning Gorgeous, Steve Lacys Bad Habit, Lamars The Heart Part 5, Lizzos About Damn Time and Carliles You and Me On the Rock featuring Lucius.
Three of Jay-Zs nominations came through DJ Khaleds God Did, a song featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy. The track is up for best rap performance and rap song along with song of the year, which also has Jay-Z nominated for his writing efforts on Beyoncés Break My Soul. The rapper also received a nod for album of the year for his work on his wifes Renaissance album.
Young Thug and Gunna both received nominations despite being currently locked up in a racketeering criminal case. The rappers are up for best rap song and rap performance through Gunnas pushin P, featuring Thug and Future.
Christina Aguileras comeback to Latin music with her self-titled album earned her two nominations for best Latin pop album and immersive audio album.
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