Grammy Awards 2023: 6 biggest talking points from the nominations
Nominations to be announced ahead of the ceremony in LA next year
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Your support makes all the difference.The nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards have been announced, with a number of artists helping to reveal the nominees.
The first round of voting began on 13 October and ended on 23 October this year. A final round of voting to determine the winners will take place on 14 December.
Among the heavyweights nominated were Taylor Swift and Beyonce, along with British artists including Adele and Harry Styles. It looks like Adele and Beyoncé will once again lock horns as favourites in the major categories.
Announcing the nominees today (15 November) were Olivia Rodrigo, Machine Gun Kelly, John Legend, Luis Fonsi, Smokey Robinson and CBS Mornings anchors Gayle King and Nate Burleson, who will be joined by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.
Five new categories have been introduced this year, including Songwriter of the Year (Non-Classical), Best Alternative Music Performance, and Best Americana Performance, plus a special award to the Best Song for Social Change.
Here were the five biggest talking points from the nominations broadcast:
Beyoncé vs Adele – the rematch
It looks like the 2023 Grammy Awards will be a repeat of 2017 where Beyoncé and Adele did battle in the major categories. This year, the pair are once again nominated in the Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year categories. Beyoncé has nine nominations to Adele’s seven. Adele won the last showdown in 2017, sweeping up five Grammys to Beyoncé’s two. Who will come out on top this time?
Wet Leg nominated for New Artist
British indie-rock band Wet Leg were among the nominees for Best New Artist, the nominees of which were announced by last year’s winner Olivia Rodrigo. The band, formed of duo Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers spoke to The Independent earlier this year about newfound fame and acclaim. “We’re just trying to stay on top of the wave,” says Chambers. “Because it is going to end, inevitably,” adds Teasdale.
Beyoncé tied Jay-Z as the most nominated artist in Grammy history
Beyoncé has earned nine nominations for the 65th Grammy Awards, bringing her career total to 88. She now ties with her husband, rapper Jay-Z, who previously held the record with 83 nods. He received five additional nominations for the 2023 Grammys, making his new grand total 88 as well.
Machine Gun Kelly’s joke about his ability to read
While announcing the nominees for the 2023 Grammys, Machine Gun Kelly made fun of himself. “My name’s Machine Gun Kelly and I’ll be attempting to read for the first time today,” he joked, before proceeding to successfully read the names.
Harry Styles still doesn’t deserve his nominations (opinion)
The Independent’s music editor Roisin O’Connor still isn’t convinced by Harry Styles after the singer was nominated for a Mercury Prize earlier this year. She wrote at the time: “The problem with Styles is, for the most part, his songs sound like weak imitations of someone better – as if he’s raided the dressing-up box for Laurel Canyon karaoke. He has no discernible ‘sound’ of his own.” She hasn’t changed her mind.
Nicki Minaj criticises Recording Academy for prioritising new artists
Ahead of the announcement of the 2023 Grammy nominees, Nicki Minaj made headlines after she criticised the Recording Academy for prioritising new artists. Her remarks came after her 2022 song “Super Freaky Girl” was moved from the rap category to the pop category.
Read below for the nominations as they happened.
Grammy nominations to be announced today!
Hello and welcome to The Independent’s liveblog for the Grammy Awards 2023 nominations.
We’re anticipating there’ll be some stiff competition from some of music’s biggest heavyweights, given that Adele, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Beyonce all released music during the elgibility period.
We also have five new categories being introduced for next year’s awards ceremony, including Songwriter Of The Year (Non-Classical), Best Alternative Music Performance, and Best Americana Performance, plus a Special merit award for Best Song For Social Change.
Who won at the 2022 Grammys?
Cast your mind back to the 2022 ceremony, which took place in April this year.
Jon Batiste, the most nominated artist of the night with nods in 11 categories, claimed Album of the Year for his record We Are. He beat fierce competition from pop giants including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X and Kanye West.
Here’s a list of the winner’s in full
When are the 2023 Grammys?
Next year’s Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday 5 February at the Crypto.com Arena in LA.
US viewers will be able to watch live on Paramount+.
Following the release of new music from Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and Harry, we expect that this year’s nominations will be a star-studded affair.
Who do you think will be among the big nominees?
Over at the Recording Academy, they’re already preparing for today’s announcements...
Rolling Stone have put out their predictions for Album of the Year and we’re pretty convinced.
You can check out The Independent’s five-star review of Rosalía’s Motomami here.
Adele, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé fans are putting in their predictions
While predicting who will win Album of the Year may be near impossible with such a stacked list of eligible artists, fans have settled on predicting who they think will receive the most nominations.
Of course, Beyoncé’s fanbase have a strong argument, considering the Renaissance singer is among the most Grammy-awarded singers. She’s won a total of 28 Grammy Awards out of a wapping 79 nominations in her entire career.
You can check out The Independent’s four-star review of Beyoncé’s Renaissance here.
Taylor Swift fans are calling her the Queen of Music
Beyoncé may be widely known as Queen Bey, but Taylor Swift fans are quickly putting in their bid for the “Anti-Hero” singer to claim the title of the Queen of Music.
With Swift’s newest album, Midnights, shattering streaming records and topping charts, is that indicative of how she’ll do at this year’s Grammys? Swifties seem to think so.
Adele transforms pain into beauty
Adele may have taken some time off before the release of her latest album 30, but the “patron saint of heartbreak”, as she’s called by The Independent’s Annabel Nugent, certainly proved she’s still relevant.
And fans are positive the 15-time Grammy-winning artist will win big during today’s nominations.
BTS fans are reminding us that the K-Pop boy group is still here
Although BTS made headlines in October when it was announced that the members were enlisting into the South Korean military, as required by law, the seven-piece boy group still reportedly submitted four songs, from their latest album Proof, for Grammy consideration.
In 2021, BTS made history as the first Korean pop act to earn a Grammy nomination. The following year, they were nominated once again.
Will 2023 be their year to finally win a Grammy? The BTS Army (their fanbase) certainly have their fingers crossed.
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