Women dominate music’s Grammy nominations, SZA tops with nine

NEW YORK – It will be a woman’s world at the upcoming Grammys, with SZA scooping the most chances for gold ahead of the star-studded music gala with nine nominations, as pop’s superstars Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish dominated across the categories with six nods apiece.

Olivia Rodrigo, Phoebe Bridgers and indie rock supergroup boygenius will also be strong contenders at the Feb 4 event in Los Angeles, where music from the blockbuster film Barbie (2023) will almost certainly clean up, according to the nominations list released on Friday.

SZA – the acerbic, R&B risk-taker whose layered tales of romance earned her acclaim with her debut, Ctrl, in 2017 and saw her top the charts again with SOS (2022) – is poised to rule the night, with nominations spanning the categories.

And Bridgers, one-third of the supergroup boygenius with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, earned seven nominations while the group earned six, both in the top fields as well as in the rock categories.

The already decorated Eilish has six chances for a Grammy, thanks to her work on director Greta Gerwig’s summer smash Barbie film.

The soundtrack, which also features Dua Lipa, earned a total of 11 nominations in the major categories and the visual media fields.

Rodrigo, who already has three Grammy wins under her belt, including for Best New Artist, earned six nods this time around and will vie for the night’s top awards.

In-demand producer Jack Antonoff scored six nominations for his work, notably with Swift and Lana Del Rey, the baroque pop singer whose album, Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, earned her five nominations.

If Swift’s Midnights wins Album of the Year, it would be a record-breaking fourth win of the prize for the 33-year-old, who is already the toast of the music world as she continues her monumental Eras tour.

She is currently tied as the top winner of the most prestigious Grammy with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.

Women on top

Jazz polymath Jon Batiste is the sole man up for Record and Album of the Year, two years after he beat pop’s royalty to dominate the 2022 gala. He earned six nominations this time.

Coveted engineer Serban Ghenea – who mixed Swift’s Midnights – earned seven nods.

Rising R&B star Victoria Monet also finished with seven nominations, including for the prestigious Record of the Year and Best New Artist prizes.

Industry watchers predict Ice Spice will win the latter category, after a banner year that saw the bubbly Bronx rapper go viral on loop and collaborate with Swift.

And pop futurist Janelle Monae earned her second Album of the Year nomination for The Age Of Pleasure.

Rihanna picked up a nomination for the song she worked on for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), but the best visual media category will likely go to one of four songs from the Barbie movie.

That award is for songwriters, and includes tracks performed by Eilish, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, Dua Lipa and Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken in the film.

Bernie Sanders – yes, that Bernie Sanders – has a second chance to win a Grammy in the audiobook and narration category.

The leftist American senator’s reading of It’s Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism is up against efforts by former US first lady Michelle Obama, actress Meryl Streep, actor William Shatner and record producer Rick Rubin in one of the night’s quirkier categories.

The Rolling Stones earned a nomination for Best Rock Song for Angry, while Grammy catnip Foo Fighters are poised to take home prizes in the rock fields, where boygenius could also be a factor.

The banner year for music’s women is a long time coming for many critics of the Recording Academy – the institution behind the Grammys – which, for many years, has faced flak that it overwhelmingly honours white, male acts.

Women had good music – “some of the biggest records of the year and the biggest songs”, Recording Academy chief executive Harvey Mason Jr told The Los Angeles Times. “And our voters were obviously moved by a lot of it.”

The sea change comes as scandal continues to brew within the ranks of the academy.

In 2019, its former chief Neil Portnow left his post after saying that women artistes should “step up” if they want more recognition, comments he delivered at the #MeToo movement’s peak.

Last week, Mr Portnow was sued in Manhattan for allegedly drugging and raping an unnamed woman artiste in 2018.

The suit also accuses the academy of negligence, saying it protected Mr Portnow and dismissed accounts of his abuse. Both the organisation and Mr Portnow deny the allegations. AFP