Lamar leads with 8 Grammy nominations
classical composition was Jake Heggie’s opera “Great Scott.”
The upcoming Grammys ceremony is the first where the Academy extended its top four categories from five nominees to eight.
The “Panther” nomination would give Lamar a chance to win album of the year after losing three times. His most recent loss was in February when his critically acclaimed “DAMN” fell short to Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic.” Lamar’s project would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for music two months later, making him the first non-classical or jazz artist to win the prestigious honor.
Lamar’s Top 10 hit, the SZAassisted “All the Stars,” is nominated for both record and song of the year (a songwriter’s award). Five other songs scored nominations in both categories, including Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”; Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”; Drake’s “God’s Plan”; Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey’s “The Middle”; and Carlile’s “The Joke.”
Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” and Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood” earned song of the year nods, while Post Malone’s “Rockstar” and Cardi B’s “I Like It,” featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, round out the nominees for record of the year.
Following Lamar, Drake — the year’s most successful artist — earned seven nominations. Though nominated for album of the year, he was surprisingly shut out of best rap album, where his rival Pusha T earned a nomination.
Drake’s frequent collaborator, producer Boi-1da, earned six nods, as did Carlile, who also scored nominations in the American Roots category.
Cardi B, Gaga, H.E.R., Morris, Gambino, producer Sounwave and engineer Mike Bozzi scored five nominations each.
Of the eight best new artist nominees, six are women: H.E.R., Chloe x Halle, Dua Lipa, Margo Price, Bebe Rexha and Jorja Smith. Rock band Greta Van Fleet and country singer Luke Combs also earned nominations.
Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow was criticized this year at the Grammys when he said women need to “step up” when asked about the lack of women in the top categories, which he later acknowledged was a “poor choice of words.” It forced the academy to launch a task force focused on inclusion and diversity; Portnow also announced he would be leaving the academy in 2019.
Another milestone for women is in the non-classical producer of the year category, where songwriter Linda Perry earned a nomination. She’s just the seventh woman ever nominated for the prize and first since 2004.
“Linda represents what we hope becomes the norm, which is the elimination of gender bias in producing and engineering in our industry,” Portnow said.
Perry will compete with Pharrell Williams, Boi-1da, Larry Klein and Kanye West, the only nomination he earned.
Taylor Swift, a two-time album of the year winner, earned one nomination — her “Reputation” album is up for best pop vocal album. Justin Timberlake, whose “Man of the Woods” album flopped this year, picked up a nod for “Say Something,” his collaboration with Chris Stapleton.
Gaga, who earned acting and music Golden Globe nominations Thursday, picked up four Grammy nominations for “Shallow,” while “Joanne” is up for best pop solo performance. The soundtrack for “A Star Is Born” was released after Grammy eligibility, though “Shallow” was released in time and also earned Cooper two nominations.
Other famous faces outside of music to earn nominations include Tiffany Haddish and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, both up for best spoken word album. Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Fred Armisen, Jim Gaffigan and Patton Oswalt are up for best comedy album.
The 2019 Grammys will hand out awards in its 84 categories live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 10 .