THE 64TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS NOMINEES HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED

The Grammy Awards have launched a different procedure for selecting their nominees this year — going with a popular vote and eliminating the controversial “secret committees” that had curated the final lists in recent decades — and although many of the top nominees were expected, the top one definitely was not.

The 2022 Grammys are a big look for Filipino-Americans: Olivia Rodrigo made Grammy history when she became the first Filipina and second-youngest artist to be nominated in all four top categories; H.E.R., also Filipina, landed eight nods; and Saweetie, who is Chinese, Filipina and Black, landed two, including Best New Artist.

Speaking of the Big Four, the number of nominees in each category has been expanded from eight to 10. Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammys, tells Variety, “We made the decision to expand to 10 fairly recently. We looked at the voting, which was up 17% this year, and the amount of submissions — almost 22,000, that’s a crazy high number — and we said, ‘This is an incredible opportunity for us to honor more artists and shine a light on more great music.’ Traditionally, the Academy might have studied this for a few years and done a committee, but I think the way music is moving and the industry is evolving, I’m proud to say the Academy is able to move quickly.”

The Grammy Awards are voted on by the Recording Academy’s voting membership body of around 12,000 music makers, who represent all genres and creative disciplines, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, mixers, and engineers. Previously, nomination-review committees had adjusted the final votes, a process that began in the mid-1990s after the nominations had become increasingly out of touch. However, after years of allegations of insider influence — culminating last year, when the Weeknd was shockingly excluded from all nominations despite one of the most successful albums and singles of the previous 12 months — the Academy decided in May to do away with the committees in all except a handful of specialized categories.

Another rule change this year has led to some complicated math when it comes to tallying up nominations for some of the biggest stars. Now, anyone who participates on an album as a featured guest, producer or co-writer is eligible. So West is competing against himself for album of the year because of his credits on Doja Cat’s album. Swift actually has two nominations, not just one — because she got added as a co-writer on two Rodrigo tracks, meaning she is also competing against herself for album of the year. Finneas is up against himself in that category as well, because he has a credit on Bieber’s album as well as having collaborated on Eilish’s entire project.

Having every producer, writer and featured guest suddenly included in the album and record of the year categories also makes for some interesting disparities. At one extreme, nearly 200 people are nominated for helping make Bieber’s “Justice” album; at the other end of the scale, Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” album sports just five nominees for album of the year.

In the strangest irony of all, the Weeknd has three nominations this year, after getting zip last year — even though he publicly vowed not to submit his work anymore. He got in thrice anyway, whether he wanted to or not, for his featured appearances on West’s and Doja Cat’s albums.

Nominations were announced Tuesday morning via a global livestream featuring Mason alongside Batiste, Eilish and her brother/ collaborator Finneas, H.E.R., BTS, rock band Måneskin, singer-songwriters Tayla Parx and Carly Pearce, comedian Nate Bargatze, Recording Academy chair Tammy Hurt and “CBS Mornings” anchor Gayle King.

Source: Variety.com

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