A Guide to the 2022 Grammy Awards Nominations

Posted on December 11, 2021

Image Credit: the Recording Academy

From Jon Batiste to Doja Cat, to even BTS, big names in the music industry have been recognized by the Grammys for their 2022 awards show. But not everyone is satisfied with these nominations. Let’s dive into the 64th Grammy nominations together. 

Starting with the artists with the most nominations, we have Jon Batiste, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo. According to an article by Variety, Jon Batiste is the only person with 11 nominations, most of them for his album and his work on the film score for Soul. This well-known jazz keyboardist and music director for Stephen Colbert’s show garnered the most nominations as his album appeals to a variety of genres and his musicianship is widely admired in the industry. 

Justin Bieber, Doja Cat, and H.E.R. each have 8 nominations. Following with 7 nominations each, we have Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo. These artists also have been nominated for the “Big Four” in their respective categories, which consists of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist.

Image Credit: the Recording Academy

Notable moments include Olivia Rodrigo’s nominations after her musical debut earlier this year, Lil Nas X’s five nominations, and Silk Sonic’s recognition for “Leave the Door Open”. Rodrigo broke into the music industry with “Drivers License” which was a worldwide hit, and now she is nominated for the “Big Four” within the same year she debuted. Lil Nas X is the first artist from Atlanta to be nominated for the “Big Four” as well, since OutKast from 2003. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s band Silk Sonic also earned four nominations all for “Leave the Door Open”, an impressive achievement after announcing their band this year. 

We can’t forget about Taylor Swift, BTS, and Kanye West. Swift received one nomination for “Evermore” as it’s up for album of the year. “Butter” by BTS is also up for best pop duo/group, and “Donda” by West is nominated four times, including album of the year. 

Despite all of this, this year’s Grammy nominations earned mixed reviews by the public. From another Variety article, people question Batiste’s nominations since he has connections to the Grammy committee. Others were also disappointed to find that BTS was once again nominated for best pop duo/group performance. And to the surprise of many, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have five nominations this year which could be because of the new nomination system. Other artists that were snubbed include Maneskin, Glass Animals, Kid Laroi, Kacey Musgraves, ABBA, and Ed Sheeran. People continue to discuss how these artists’ great work wasn’t recognized by the Recording Academy, even after the process changed.

Image Credit: Grammy.com

The Grammys changed their nomination and voting system after receiving years of criticism. Nominations are now voted by a committee of 12,000 music makers from all different genres and disciplines. This helps create a (mildly) fair voting system as they are coming from a technical and musical standpoint, instead of bias towards artists who are good friends with the committee. After many years of allegations, the change finally came into action after last year’s complete snub for the Weeknd and how he didn’t earn any nominations despite having one of the most successful albums. Despite this change in the nomination process, many people are still unhappy with the results, and we will see how the public reacts to the winners. 

 

The 64th Grammy Awards will take place on January 31, 2022, in Los Angeles. Tune in to see if your favourites won and let’s continue this discussion!

Posted in Blog.

Sophia (she/her) is a first-year Media Production student who is very excited to join SpiritLive this year. She loves to capture life’s little moments through videos and film photography, all the while attending concerts and grabbing bubble tea. With a passion for connecting with others, she hopes to learn more about the community here and listen to their stories.