BOYGENIUS, JON BATISTE, BILLIE EILISH, OLIVIA RODRIGO, TAYLOR SWIFT AND LANA DEL REY RECEIVE NOMINATIONS THAT INCLUDE RECORD OF THE YEAR, ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SONG OF THE YEAR AND MANY MORE.
Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, today received Grammy nominations for its family of recording artists, songwriters, publishing company, record labels and distributed partners spanning every genre, including all of the major award categories, led by boygenius (Interscope), Jon Batiste (Verve /Interscope), Billie Eilish (Interscope), Olivia Rodrigo (Geffen/Interscope), Taylor Swift (Republic) who each received six nominations.
In the prestigious Best New Artist category, UMG labels received five nominations for Gracie Abrams (Interscope), Ice Spice (10K Projects/Capitol Records), Coco Jones (Def Jam Recordings), Noah Kahan (Mercury Records/Republic) & The War and Treaty (Mercury Nashville), which reflects UMG’s broad commitment to developing emerging talent across all genres.
boygenius received nominations in the Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories for “Not Strong Enough”, their feature length debut album the record is nominated for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album, with “Cool About It” also nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Jon Batiste received nominations for Album of the Year World Music Radio, Record of the Year “Worship”, Song of the Year and Best American Roots Performance for “Butterfly”. The genre-defying album also received nominations for Best Jazz Performance “Movement 18’ (Heroes)”, as well as for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for his appearance on “Candy Necklace” (Lana Del Rey featuring Jon Batiste.)
Olivia Rodrigo’s “vampire” picked up nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Her acclaimed sophomore album GUTS was nominated for Album of the Year & Best Pop Vocal Album, while “ballad of a homeschooled girl” was nominated for Best Rock Song.
Taylor Swift became the most nominated artist in the prestigious Song of the Year category, receiving her record seventh nomination for “Anti-Hero”, which was also nominated for Record of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Swift also received nominations for Album of the Year and Pop Vocal Album for Midnights, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “KARMA” ft. Ice Spice.
Billie Eilish received six nominations, five of which were for “What Was I Made For?” (From the Motion Picture ‘Barbie’) which was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Music Video, alongside Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her feature on Labrinth’s (“Never Felt So Alone”.)
Lana Del Rey (Interscope) received five nominations, including Song of the Year and Best Alternative Music Performance for “A&W”, Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album for Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Candy Necklace featuring Jon Batiste.
Also nominated for five awards was Coco Jones (Def Jam Recordings), including Best New Artist, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for “ICU”, Best R&B Album for ‘What I Didn’t Tell You (DELUXE)’ and Best Traditional R&B Performance for her feature performance on “Simple” (Babyface ft. Coco Jones.)
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) songwriters contributed to five of the eight nominations in the Song of the Year category: “A&W” for Lana Del Rey, “Anti-Hero” for Taylor Swift, “Dance The Night” (From Barbie The Album) for Dua Lipa, “Kill Bill” for SZA, “What Was I Made For?” [From Barbie] for Billie Eilish O’Connell. UMPG writers contributed to six of the eight nominees for Record of the Year: (“Worship” — Jon Batiste (Pete Nappi & Tenroc), “Not Strong Enough” — boygenius (Lucy Dacus), “Flowers” — Miley Cyrus (Kid Harpoon), “What Was I Made For?” [From The Motion Picture Barbie] — Billie Eilish (Billie Eilish), “Anti-Hero” — Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift), “Kill Bill” — SZA (SZA.)
SZA is the top UMPG nominee for the year with nine nominations and is the year’s most nominated artist. In the Album of the Year category, UMPG represents four of the main artists nominated (Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, SZA, Lucy Dacus of boygenius), and also represents a nominated artist/songwriter/producer on six of the eight albums selected.
Recent UMPG signing Jack Antonoff received seven nominations, including Producer of the Year, and for his contributions for Record of The Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Tied with six nominations are Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Lucy Dacus (boygenius). Lana Del Rey and acclaimed composer Ludwig Göranssonreceived five nominations. Fred again… and Ice Spice both have four nominations, which Best New Artist for both of them. In other categories, Drake and Burna Boy also received four nominations, and Hit-Boy and Metro Boomin (Republic/Boominati) were both nominated for Producer of the Year, alongside Antonoff.
The Grammys recognized UMG’s family of artists in Best Album categories spanning several genres. Best Rap Album nominations went to Drake & 21 Savage(OVO/Republic) for Her Loss, Metro Boomin (Republic/Boominati) for Heroes & Villains and Killer Mike (Concord) for Michael, Best R&B Album nominations for Babyface (Capitol Records) for Girls Night Out, Summer Walker (Interscope) for CLEAR 2: SOFT LIFE EP, Coco Jones’ What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) and Emily King(ATO Records/Virgin Music Group) for Special Occasion.
A Best Rock Album nomination went to Greta Van Fleet (Lava Records/Republic) for Starcatcher, Best Country Album to Brothers Osborne (EMI Records Nashville) for their Brothers Osborne album, Best Dance/Electronic Album nominations went to James Blake (Republic) ‘Playing Robots Into Heaven’ and The Chemical Brothers (Republic) ‘For That Beautiful Feeling’, Best Progressive R&B Album to 6LACK (Interscope) for Since I have A Lover. A Best Reggae Album nomination went to Buju Banton (Roc Nation/Def Jam Recordings) for Born For Greatness.
In the Best Alternative Jazz Album, Arooj Aftab (Verve) was nominated for Love In Exile, Meshell Ndegeocello (Blue Note) for The Omnichord Real Book and Cory Henry’s (Henry House Entertainment) Live At The Piano. Other notable nominations in the Jazz, Traditional Pop, Contemporary Instrumental and Musical Theater categories were Ivan Lins with the Tblisi Symphony Orchestra (Resonance Records/Virgin Music Group) for My Heart Speaks in Best Latin Jazz Album, Julian Lage (Blue Note) – Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for The Layers, Parade (2023 Broadway Cast) (Interscope) and Some Like It Hot (Original Broadway Cast) (Concord) In the Best Musical Theater Album category.
Billy Strings (Concord) received a Best Bluegrass Album nomination for Me/And/Dad. Allison Russell (Concord) was nominated for Best Americana Album for The Returner. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton’s (Concord) Death Wish Blues was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and Old Crow Medicine Show (ATO Records/Virgin Music Group) received a Best Folk Album nomination for Jubilee.
Coi Leray (Uptown Records/Republic) was nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Players”, Drake & 21 Savage also received a Best Rap Performance nomination for “Rich Flex”, and a Best Melodic Rap Performance nomination for “Spin Bout U.” while rapper Killer Mike (Concord) also received Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance nominations for “Scientists & Engineers” featuring André 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane, and produced by James Blake.
Black Pumas (ATO Records/Virgin Music Group) were nominated for Best Rock Performance for “More Than A Love Song” and The Rolling Stones (Interscope) received their thirteenth Grammy nomination, with “Angry” nominated in the Best Rock Song category. Troye Sivan (Capitol Records) received a nomination for “Rush” in the Best Pop Dance Recording category, and James Blake additionally received a nomination in Best Dance /Electronic Recording for “Loading.”
Samara Joy (Verve), winner of Best New Artist at the 2023 GRAMMYs, received a nomination for Best Jazz Performance for “Tight”, while “Lush Life,” arranged by Kendric McCallister was also nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. Also nominated for Best Jazz Performance were Jon Batiste’s “Movement 18’ (Heroes)”, Adam Blackstone Featuring the Baylor Project & Russell Ferrante(Capitol Christian Music Group) for “Vulnerable (LIVE).”
A Best Metal Performance nomination was given to Ghost (Concord) for “Phantom Of The Opera.” A Best R&B Performance nomination went to Robert Glasper (Concord) featuring SiR & Alex Isley, which was also nominated on the for Best R&B Song, and a Best Traditional R&B Performance nomination also went to Babyface (Capitol Records) for “Simple” (featuring Coco Jones).
In the Country categories, Chris Stapleton (Mercury Nashville) received three nominations for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song nomination for “White Horse”, and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for his feature performance on Carly Pearce’s (Big Machine Label Group) “We Don’t Fight Anymore.”
Best Country Duo/Group Performance nominations went to Dierks Bentley (Capitol Records Nashville) featuring Billy Strings for “High Note”, Brothers Osborne for “Nobody’s Nobody” and Vince Gill & Paul Franklin (MCA Nashville) for “Kissing Your Picture (Is So Cold).” Morgan Wallen’s (Republic) “Last Night” was also nominated for Best Country Song.
Madison Cunningham (Verve) for “Inventing The Wheel,” and Allison Russell(Concord) for “Eve Was Black” were both nominated for Best American Roots Performance. Russell was also nominated for Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song for “The Returner”. The War And Treaty’s “The Blank Page” was also nominated for Best American Roots Song in the category.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Music From And Inspired By (Def Jam Recordings) and Guardians of The Galaxy, Vol.3: Awesome Mix Vol.3 (DISNEY) were nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Ludwig Göransson’s score for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (DISNEY) and John William’s score for Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny (DISNEY) were both nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television), with “Lift Me Up,” performed by Rihanna, from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – and “Barbie World” from Barbie-The Movie, performed by Nicki Minaj (Republic Records) and Ice Spice featuring Aqua (UMe) both nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
A Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media nomination was given to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (Disney) and in the Best Music Video category, The Beatles – “I’m Only Sleeping” (UMe), Billie Eilish’s “What I Was Made For”, Kendrick Lamar’s “Count Me Out” (Interscope) and Troye Sivan’s “Rush” all received nominations.
In the Best Music Film category, Dear Mama – A documentary about Tupac Shakurproduced in association with Polygram Entertainment, UMPG and Interscope Films received a nomination, alongside documentaries about UMG signed artists Lewis Capaldi (Capitol Records) – How I’m Feeling Now (Netflix) and Kendrick Lamar (Interscope) for his Live From Paris, the Big Steppers Tour film.
In the Latin music categories, Juanes (UMLE) was nominated for Best Latin Rock or Alternative for Vida Cotidiana. In the Best Música Urbana Album, Karol G (Interscope) for Mañana Será Bonito, and Tainy (Neon16/Virgin Music Group) for Data both received nominations. Best Global Music Performance nomination went to “Shadow Forces” by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily (Verve).”
In the Gospel categories, Best Gospel Album nominations went to Tasha Cobbs Leonard (Capitol Christian Music Group) for Hymns (Live), Tye Tribbett (CCMG) All Things New: Live in Orlando, and Erica Campbell (SoNo Recording Group/Virgin Music Group) for I Love You. A Best Roots Gospel Album nomination went to Gaither Vocal Band (CCMG) for Shine: The Darker The Night, The Brighter The Light. A Best Contemporary Christian Music Album nomination went to Blessing Offor (CCMG) for My Tribe.
In the Best Gospel Performance/Song category, a nomination went to “God Is Good” by Stanley Brown (CCMG) (featuring Hezekiah Walker, Kierra Sheard & Karen Clark Sheard; Stanley Brown, Kaylah Jiavanni Harvey, Rodney Jenkins, Elyse Victoria Johnson, J. Drew Sheard II, Karen V Clark Sheard, Kierra Valencia Sheard, Hezekiah Walker) and Erica Campbell for “Feel Alright (Blessed)”. In Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song, nominations went to “Firm Foundation (He Won’t) (Live)” By Cody Carnes (CCMG), “Believe” by Blessing Offor and “Your Power” by Lecrae & Tasha Cobbs Leonard (CCMG).
In the classical music categories, Best Orchestral Performance nomination went to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor (The Philadelphia Orchestra) for Price: Symphony No. 4; Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony (Deutsche Grammophon), and Best Classical Instrumental Solo nomination went to Yuja Wang; Teddy Abrams, conductor (Louisville Orchestra) (Deutsche Grammophon) for The American Project. While Chick Corea (Concord) picked up a nomination for Best Classical Compendium for Sardinia.
Ólafur Arnalds (Mercury KX/Decca) was nominated for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album for Some Kind of Peace (Piano Reworks) and John Williams’ “Helena’s Theme” (Disney) was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition. Multitudes by Feist (Interscope/Universal Music France) and boygenius’ the record are both nominated for Best Engineered Album, non-classical. While George Strait’s Blue Clear Sky (MCA Nashville) is nominated for Best Immersive Audio Album. In the Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella category, “Folsom Prison Blues” by The String Revolution Featuring Tommy Emmanuel (CIA Records) is nominated.
UMG record labels and distributed partners also picked up nominations for Best Album Notes for Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (Concord), Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy Live (Verve), Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for Bo Burnham’s Inside: Deluxe Box Set (Bo Burnham/Imperial Distribution), Best Recording Package for Electrophonic Chronic by The Arcs (Concord) and Best Historical Album for Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (Concord).
In addition, UMG signed and distributed recording artists including Kacey Musgraves, Tank And The Bangas, Ellie Goulding, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Coi Leray, Jacob Collier & more received additional category nominations for feature recordings and performances.
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 4, 2024, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on CBS and streamed live and on-demand on Paramount+.
About Universal Music Group
At Universal Music Group, we exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans.
