Friday, November 26, 2021
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Credit where credit is due:
Grammy largely got it right this time.
The current crop of nominations, particularly in the Big Four (“General”) categories, is far more reflective of the musical moment than any in the last few years.
There’s a lot to celebrate here, notably
Geffen breakout
Olivia Rodrigo's being nominated in all of the top categories and nabbing seven nods in all; the acknowledgment of
Def Jam superstar
Justin Bieber's significance to the culture, indicated by eight noms, including Album, Record, Song and—vitally important to the artist himself—Best R&B Performance; top-tier and rap noms for
Columbia unicorn
Lil Nas X; big noms for
Kemosabe/RCA’s
Doja Cat; love for
Not So Fast/
Epic’s
GIVĒON; and BNA nods for Columbia’s
The Kid LAROI,
Warner’s
Saweetie, Broken Bow’s
Jimmie Allen,
Republic’s
Glass Animals and highly decorated Brit
Arlo Parks (
PIAS). Moreover,
Imperial/Republic’s (via
Ingrooves)
Bo Burnham and
MCA Nashville’s
Kacey Musgraves were both recognized, deservedly, despite having been shifted around.
The mix, as ever, includes some surprises, including a big haul for
Verve’s
Jon Batiste (hitherto best known as
Stephen Colbert’s bandleader), whose
We Are is a New Orleans-inflected R&B romp; top-tier love for
Secretly Group’s alternative project
Japanese Breakfast (aka gifted singer/songwriter
Michelle Zauner); and a BNA look for
New Amsterdam’s Pakistani singer/songwriter/composer/producer
Arooj Aftab, whose music is a lovely fusion of traditional and modern sounds.
We’ll dig into the genres and other stuff in a bit, but for now we have to salute
Harvey Mason Jr. and team for a very solid at-bat. This, by and large, is what the Grammys are supposed to do: honor the biggest movers in music culture and stir in some discovery. They should get a trophy or something.