‘Barbie’ soundtrack takes on music’s top stars in key Grammy categories
It’s a Barbie world and we’re just living in it. The 2024 Grammy Awards unveiled its list of nominees Friday, including 11 nominations across seven categories for music from “Barbie: The Album.” While a variety of artists are featured on different songs from the hit film, together, the soundtrack is nominated for more awards than SZA, who earned nine nominations, the most overall for a specific artist this year.
The “Barbie” soundtrack is even outpacing Taylor Swift, as the “Bad Blood” singer earned six nominations, tying her with fellow 2024 Grammy nominees Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo. While they never directly faced off at the box office this year, the “Barbie” film has earned more than $1.5 billion in 2023, while Swift’s “Eras Tour” concert movie has grossed more than $200 million worldwide since debuting in October.
The 2024 Grammy song of the year category features two hits from the “Barbie” movie: Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night.” The tunes will face off against Swift’s “AntiHero,” SZA’s “Kill Bill,” Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” Cyrus’s “Flowers,” as well as “A&W” by Lana Del Rey and “Butterfly” by Jon Batiste, for the award.
Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” movie is also up for record of the year, as is Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and SZA’s “Kill Bill,” among other tunes like “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius and “On My Mama” by Victoria Monét.
The category most likely to go to “Barbie” is best song written for visual media, as four of the five nominees are songs from the film. In addition to “What Was I Made For?” and “Dance the Night,” the category will feature Ryan Gosling’s fan-favorite tune “I’m Just Ken” and “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice featuring Aqua, leaving Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” as the sole non-”Barbie” contender for the award.
“Barbie World” will square off against hip-hop’s biggest names in the best rap song category, where it faces competition from Doja Cat’s “Attention,” Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock,” Drake and 21 Savage’s “Rich Flex,” plus “Scientists & Engineers” by Killer Mike and featuring André 3000, Future, and Eryn Allen.
Meanwhile, Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” is up for best music video, facing heavy hitters like The Beatles and Kendrick Lamar. “Barbie: The Album” is also nominated for best compilation soundtrack for visual media, while its producers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt earned nominations for best score soundtrack for visual media.
Next year’s Grammy Awards are scheduled for Feb. 4 in Los Angeles and will air live on CBS and Paramount+.