Year-round, there is really no shortage of discussion surrounding the four EGOT awards: the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars, and the Tonys. The Grammy Awards, the most coveted award handed out to musicians across the nation, are typically first in line in a given calendar year, crowning the past year’s greatest musical achievements in one magical, star-studded night.
Buzz around the 2026 Grammy Awards has ramped up quite a bit in the last few hours, as the list of nominations has been released for this year’s award ceremony. Amid criticism surrounding the separation of Best Country Album into two separate categories this year, the public uproar surrounding Bad Bunny’s forthcoming Super Bowl Halftime performance just one week later, and my personal gripe with alt-pop industry plant, Sombr, we’re already pretty eager for this year’s Grammy Awards, to say the least.
The Recording Academy has announced this year’s nominees, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga lead among them, with nine and seven nominations, respectively. There are some phenomenal new artists dominating the field this year as well, and a fantastic slate of performers set to introduce two major new categories, and a diverse and talented set of nominees across genres.
Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, And Leon Thomas Dominate This Year’s List Of Nominees
With his newest album, GNXKendrick Lamar has been making waves across all aspects of pop culture since its release in November of last year. That album was responsible for Lamar’s nominations in the three major categories: Record of the Year (“luther” ft. SZ), Song of the Year (“luther,” again), and Album of the Year. He was also nominated in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Rap Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album categories, resulting in nine total nominations for the rapper.
Not far behind is Lady Gaga, who beat her own record of six with seven total nominations this year, after the release of her album, MAYHEMthis past March. Gaga was also nominated in the three major categories, “Abracadabra” for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and MAYHEM for Album of the Year. In addition to those three nominations, she was also nominated in the Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Dance Pop Recording, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album categories.
While Lamar and Gaga dominated the spread, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, and new artist Leon Thomas each received six nominations for their work this year. Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend earned her an Album of the Year nomination, as well as a Record of the Year and Song of the Year nomination for “Manchild,” and Bad Bunny is poised to have a hell of a February with nominations on February 1 for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year for his summer album DeBÍ TiRAR MORE PHOTOSfollowed by a highly anticipated Super Bowl Halftime performance the following Sunday on February 8.
Leon Thomas, whose album MUTT was nominated for Album of the Year, was also nominated for Best New Artist, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album. Although this was clearly a breakout year for Thomas musically, fans may recognize him from his acting career, particularly from his role as Andre Harris on Nickelodeon’s Victorious. A Best New Artist nomination is no easy feat, even for an individual who may already be known for their work in a different medium—perhaps especially for an individual who may already be known for their work in a different medium—but Thomas’ dominance of the R&B categories is borderline unprecedented.
The Three Major Categories Saw Nominations From A Handful Of Other Contendors
There’s no doubt that Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, and Lady Gaga are absolutely dominant given their nominations in all three of the three major categories. However, that’s not to say they don’t have some sturdy competition. Among those four in the Record of the Year category are Billie Eilish (“WILDFLOWER”), Doechii (“Anxiety”), Chappell Roan (“The Subway”), and ROSÉ and Bruno Mars (“APT.”), all of whom have been Grammy powerhouses in previous years.
Album of the Year is no different, with artists like Justin Bieber for his album SWAGClipse, Pusha T & Malice for their album Let God Sort Em OutTyler, The Creator for his album CHROMACOPYand freshman nominee Leon Thomas for his album MUTT. What is perhaps most notable about the Album of the Year nominees this year is that half of them are hip-hop and R&B albums, with fewer than half being pop albums in a typically pop-dominated category.
When it comes to Song of the Year, the list of nominees is fairly similar to that of Record of the Year, with one major addition: “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters.” Fans were not sure the song would see any nominations this year, let alone three, including a nomination in the very honorable Song of the Year category. The song was also nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Song Written For Visual Media.
This Year’s Grammy Awards Will See The Debut Of Two New Categories, And Some Surprising First-Time Nominees
For the first time this year, the Grammys have announced awards in two brand-new categories: Best Album Cover, and Best Traditional Country Album. The Best Album Cover category is relatively self-explanatory, with five distinct nominees for its first year in Tyler, The Creator’s CHROMACOPYDjo’s The CruxBad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más FotosPerfume Genius’s Gloryand Wet Leg’s moisturizer.
The Best Traditional Country Album is slightly less self-explanatory, branching off from the original Best Country Album category and splitting that honor in two alongside the Best Contemporary Country Album. This decision, according to Grammy.comcomes as a way to “further the Recording Academy’s commitment to recognizing a broader spectrum of artistic craft and honoring the evolving ways music is created and experienced.” Many fans, however, have speculated that the addition of a Best Contemporary Country Album category as a thinly-veiled shot at Black country artists in a way to separate them from white country artists, giving the category a fairly contentious start in its first year.
This year’s list of nominees also saw quite a lineup of first-time nominees, some expected, such as Addison Rae, and Olivia Dean, for example, while others were fairly unexpected. Timothée Chalamet comes to mind, as a young actor working diligently to earn his first Oscar award but who may earn a Grammy for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown before winning that Oscar he has so patiently been waiting for. Joining Chalamet as first-time nominees are the Dalai Lama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, both in the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording category.
Suffice it to say, this year’s list of nominees showcases some incredible talent across the board, in each and every genre represented by the Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards. The ceremony will take place on February 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live nationwide on CBS.
اترك تعليقاً