Nominated films: “New Blue Sun” by Andre 3000, “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé, “Short and Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, “BRAT” by Charli XCX, “Jessie Vol.” by Jacob Collier. 4, Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” Chapel Lawn’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess,” Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Division.”
Analysis: All of these nominees were nominated in their respective “genre album” categories, with the exception of Collier’s album, which was passed over as a contender for Best Pop Vocal Album. This is not a good sign. Since the genre album category was introduced in the mid-1990s, no album has won Album of the Year without at least being nominated in the genre album category.
Nominated for Best Country Album, “Cowboy Carter” marks the first time a country album has won Album of the Year since Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour” six years ago. Nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album, BRAT becomes the first album in its genre to win Album of the Year since Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories in 2014. New Blue Sun, nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album, is his first jazz album. It is the first album to win the Album of the Year award since Herbie Hancock’s 2008’s River: The Joni Letters.
Swift has won this division four times. She won Midnight just last year. If she wins again, she will become the first five-time winner in this category, and the only other Grammy winners in history to win consecutively in this category are Frank Sinatra (1966-67) and Stevie Wonder (1974-75).
Irish and Andre 3000 have each won once in this category, with Andre 3000 winning as a member of OutKast. If he wins, he will join George Michael (Faith, 1989) and Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1999) as a former member of a group or duo to win solo She is the third person to win with a debut album.
Roan is the first artist to win for her first studio album since Billie Eilish won for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? five years ago. It will be.
Cowboy Carter features a wide variety of featured artists, including pop legends Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, and country greats Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. Other artists featured on the album include Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Chabouzy, Jon Batiste, Gary Clark Jr., The-Dream, Rhiannon Giddens, Pharrell, Nile Rodgers, Rafael Sadiq, and more. is included. If these artists and their allies vote for Cowboy Carter, they could make the difference in a close race.
On Christmas Day, halfway through the final voting period (December 12 to January 3), Bey headlined the halftime show at an NFL game between the Texans and Ravens in his hometown of Houston, Texas. This was the first time she performed a Cowboy Carter song in front of a live audience. Millions of people watched the performance live on Netflix, and millions more subsequently streamed it.
This is the second time Swift and Beyoncé have faced off in this category. In 2010, Swift’s Fearless defeated Bey’s I Am…Sasha Fierce. For the record, Bey’s subsequent losses in this category were Beck, Adele and Harry Styles.
Few consider Cowboy Carter to be Beyoncé’s best album, but she won this category too late. Many would groan if Swift won a record-tying fifth award in the category, before Beyoncé won her first. It’s probably in Swift’s best interest to lose this year and be seen respectfully applauding and rooting for Beyoncé. Eight years ago, Adele won Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Hello” (as she did), and should have lost Album of the Year to Beyoncé’s “Lemonade.” That would have been nice. It was an uncomfortable moment when she swept all three awards for the second time and Bey missed out on Album of the Year for the third time. Still, it was heartening to see Adele’s kindness and generosity in that moment.
If Swift had lost on February 2nd, he might have avoided a bullet. Is a record-extending fifth win worth the 1,000-piece regret that “Beyoncé got robbed again”?
Prediction: Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter
