Beyoncé nets 9 Grammy Award nominations
Singer’s ‘Black Parade’ up for top song, album
Beyoncé is bringing her “Black Parade” to the Grammys: The pop star’s anthem about Black pride scored multiple nominations Tuesday, making her the leading contender with nine bids.
Beyoncé picked up song and record of the year nods with “Black Parade,” which she released on Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. The tune, which reached the Top 40 on the pop charts, is also nominated for best R&B song and best R&B performance.
Beyoncé’s “Black Is King” film that highlights Black art, music, history and fashion is up for best music film, while “Brown Skin Girl,” a song dedicated to dark- and brownskinned women, is nominated for best music video. The singer also earned three nominations for her slick guest appearance on Megan Thee Stallion’s No. 1 hit “Savage.”
A winner of 24 Grammys,
Beyoncé becomes the second-mostnominated act in the history of the awards show with 79 nominations.
Beyoncé trails only husband
Jay-z and Quincy Jones, who have earned 80 nominations each.
Jay-z picked up three nominations this year for his contributions to Beyoncé’s songs: He co-wrote “Black
Parade” and “Savage,” thus earning nominations for song of the year, best R&B song and best rap song. Jay-z has won 22 Grammys.
Beyoncé’s domination this year came as a surprise since the singer did not release a new album.
Other surprises included pop star the Weeknd being earning zero nominations despite having a
No. 1 album, multiple hit singles and winning the coveted Super Bowl halftime performance slot. Luke Combs, who dominated the
country charts and set records on streaming services this year, was also surprisingly shut out.
Instead, multiple nominations went to Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Roddy Ricch, who each earned six and followed Beyoncé as the second-most-nominated acts.
Lipa, who won two Grammys last year, earned bids for album of the year with “Future Nostalgia” as well as song and record of the year for her hit “Don’t Start Now.” Swift, whose last two albums didn’t garner nominations for album of the year, is competing for the top prize with her surprise album “Folklore.” If she wins, she would become the first artist to win album of the year three times.
Other album of the year nominees include Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding”; Coldplay’s “Everyday Life”; Haim’s sophomore release “Women In Music Pt. III”; Jhené Aiko’s atmospheric R&B project “Chilombo”; English musician Jacob Collier’s multi-genre release “Djesse Vol. 3”; and the deluxe edition of Black Pumas’ self-titled debut.
Tracks competing with Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” and “Savage” for record of the year include Dababy and Ricch’s “Rockstar,” Malone’s “Circles,” Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted,” Black Pumas’ “Colors” and Doja Cat’s “Say So.”
“Black Parade,” “Don’t Start Now,” “Everything I Wanted” and “Circles” are also nominated for song of the year — a songwriter award — along with Swift’s “Cardigan,” Ricch’s “The Box,” JP Saxe and Julia Michaels’ “If the World Was Ending” and H.E.R.’S “I Can’t Breathe.”
Winners will be announced at the live show Jan. 31.