SZA leads 2024 Grammy nominations as women outpace men in top categories

LOS ANGELES – Killing his ex? This is a bad idea. Will he write “Kill Bill” and release his critically acclaimed second album “SOS” earlier this year? This was a great thing. SZA is the leading contender for the 66th Grammy Awards with nine nominations announced Friday.

“Kill Bill,” a revenge anthem disguised as an R&B song, earned nominations for record of the year, song of the year and best R&B performance. “SOS” is also nominated for album of the year and best progressive R&B album. The 2024 ceremony will mark SZA’s second nomination for record, album and song of the year in the same year.

Just like at the box office, “Barbie” will be seen and heard at the Grammys. The score, taken from the hit film’s soundtrack, earned 11 nominations, including capturing four of five categories in the visual media song category.

If there’s a general trend in the 2024 nominations, it’s that women are outperforming their male counterparts. The majority of the leading candidates are women, including superstars such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo. The only person represented in the record and album of the year categories is Jon Batiste.

“Seeing the female nominees and the number of them this year wasn’t a surprise, but it was something that made me happy,” said Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason Jr. he told the Associated Press. He believes representation allows the next crop of creators to look at the candidates and say, “Maybe someone will love what I do one day, or maybe I will have the opportunity to express myself or voice my thoughts like that person.”

SZA is leading the charge, of course, and she’s also up for best traditional R&B performance (“Love Language”), best R&B song (“Snooze”), best melodic rap performance (“Low”), and best pop duo/group. taking. performance (“Ghost in the Machine”). The latter include Victoria Monét, who is also the only leading nominee for best new artist, as well as Phoebe Bridgers, who is in second place with seven nominations.

Six of Bridgers gave a nod to her band boygenius, which was nominated for record of the year, album of the year, best rock performance, best rock song, best alternative music performance and best alternative music album for the first time.

It also earned six nominations: Swift, Rodrigo, Cyrus, Eilish, Brandy Clark, Batiste and producer Jack Antonoff.

Only records published between October 1, 2022 and September 15, 2023 were eligible.

In addition to Monét, the best new artist category includes Gracie Abrams, Fred.., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan and The War and Treat.

For album of the year, Batiste, boygenius, Cyrus, Rodrigo, Swift and SZA are again included, but this also includes Lana Del Rey’s “Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” and Janelle Monáe’s “The Age of Pleasure” is added. ”

In the song of the year category, Del Rey’s “A&W”, Swift’s “Anti-Hero”, Batiste’s “Butterfly”, Cyrus’ “Flowers”, SZA’s “Kill Bill”, Rodrigo’s “vampire” and ” There are two pieces from Barbie. soundtrack: Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night” and Eilish’s “What Am I Made For?”

Although “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie” earned a nomination, it is in the songwriting category; hence actor Ryan Gosling is not nominated for a Grammy.

What else is missing? Some fans may notice the lack of Latin and country musicians in the main categories.

“We need to work more with our country voters and continue to invite more country voters into the process,” says Mason Jr. “The other thing that surprised me was that even though Latino had a big year this year, we didn’t have more Latino representation in some of the general areas.”

“We want to make sure our membership represents the music being created and cared for,” he added. “So these nominations always inform us about what we will do in the next few years. “And these nominations in particular told us that we need to continue to reach out and engage with voting groups in the country and Latino countries.”

There are three new categories at the 2024 Grammys: best pop dance recording, best African music performance and best alternative jazz album. Four of the five acts in the best African music performance category were nominated for the first time: ASAKE & Olamide for “Amapiano,” Davido featuring Musa Keys for “UNAVAILABLE,” Ayra Starr for “Rush,” and Tyla for “Water.” Fifth is Burna Boy, who won a Grammy for “City Boys”.

The 2024 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on February 4. Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles.