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      Did Beyoncé’s Grammy Nominations Really Break Michael Jackson’s Record?

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      Not exactly. But in Grammyland, nothing is simple.On Friday, as the news emerged of Beyoncé’s 11 Grammy nominations for her country-Beyoncé-style album “Cowboy Carter,” some fan accounts on social media trumpeted that it had become “the most Grammy-nominated album of all time,” and claimed that Beyoncé had even topped a record set in 1984 by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” the mega-blockbuster against which all other hits have since been judged.Was that true? Not quite. But in some ways her accomplishment was equivalent to Jackson’s.In the sometimes confusing world of Grammy stats, nominations for an artist can be spread across multiple projects, and the performing artist on a song or an album is not necessarily an award’s nominee — prizes can (and often do) go to collaborators like songwriters, producers or engineers.And Beyoncé is not the only recent artist to receive 11 nominations in one year. Kendrick Lamar did so for the 2016 awards, as did Jon Batiste for 2022 — but in both cases, they were not all for work on a single album. (Lamar’s nods that year, for example, included his guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s song “Bad Blood.”)Officially, “Thriller” received a total of 13 nods when the 26th annual Grammy nominations were announced in early 1984. Jackson himself was cited in 11 of them. Of the two others, one was for Bruce Swedien, the album’s renowned engineer. The other cited Quincy Jones and James Ingram, the writers of the song “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” which was up for best rhythm & blues song. In a sign of Jackson’s thorough dominance that year, two other “Thriller” songs were nominated in that same category: “Billie Jean” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” (“Billie Jean,” credited to Jackson as the sole songwriter, won.)Ultimately, Jackson collected seven awards for “Thriller,” including album of the year and record of the year (for “Beat It”). Swedien won best engineered recording, non-classical. That night was one of Jackson’s most iconic moments. He attended the show with Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis as guests, and wore a sparkling blue-and-gold military-style jacket, with a crystal glove over his right hand.But that was not all. Jackson narrated a soundtrack album for the film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” with music by John Williams — which became a legal nightmare because MCA Records, which released the “E.T.” album, had not gotten the necessary clearance from Jackson’s label, Epic, for him to appear on it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Grammys Snubs and Surprises: Charli XCX, André 3000, the Beatles and More

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      A look at the nominations’ unexpected and intriguing story lines, including the role of an absent Drake, the validation of André 3000’s flute music and overlooked gems.The names headlining this year’s Grammy Award nominations make a lot of sense: Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift are perennial favorites with imperial reach. Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan have stormed the mainstream. Shaboozey and Charli XCX made themselves inescapable.While there was once a time when it was easy to argue that the Grammys were out of touch, barely attempting to be an accurate representation of popular music in a given year, the major acts of 2024 are all accounted for. Shedding some of its fusty baggage under the Recording Academy chief executive Harvey Mason Jr. and a slate of new industry voters, the awards show has brought itself more or less in line with the Billboard charts, radio and streaming services, centering the celebrities of the moment.Still, it’s the Grammy Awards — not everyone can be happy. So after poring over the 94 categories that make up the 67th annual class of nominees, The New York Times’s pop music team — the reporter Joe Coscarelli, the chief pop music critic Jon Pareles, the pop music critics Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz and the Culture editor Elena Bergeron — were left with a few lingering questions: Is Beyoncé’s cross-genre domination really warranted? What are the Beatles doing here? And have the Grammys gotten too safe?We broke down the richest — and most baffling — story lines, snubs and surprises.Sabrina Carpenter’s success on the charts was mirrored in her Grammy nods: six of them.Emma Mcintyre/Getty Images for CoachellaA Mirror to the MainstreamJOE COSCARELLI I must admit, I’m almost sad at how predictable the Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist — are these days, and this year in particular. Back in my day — not that long ago! — Beck was beating Beyoncé to close the night. And sure, you still have your occasional upsets by Jon Batiste (album of the year, 2022) or Bonnie Raitt (song of the year, 2023). But the odds of a truly destabilizing major win in February feel quite long now, likely by design.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Beyoncé and Young Women Pop Sensations Lead 2025 Grammy Nominations

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      Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter will compete in the biggest categories, along with Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar.Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will face off in all top categories at the 67th annual Grammy Awards, leading a pack of nominees that also features buzzy young female stars who have dominated the pop charts over the past year.With 11 nods, Beyoncé has more citations than any other artist this year, for “Cowboy Carter,” her gumbo of country, R&B and acoustic pop that spurred conversations about the Black roots of many American genres, including country.The other top nominees, with seven apiece, are Billie Eilish, a onetime teenage disrupter who is now a Grammy and Oscar darling; Kendrick Lamar, the rapper laureate, whose nominations stem from a no-holds-barred battle of words with Drake; Post Malone, a pop shape-shifter gone country (and who appeared on both Beyoncé and Swift’s latest albums); and Charli XCX, the British singer-songwriter and meme master whose digital-nostalgic iconography was borrowed by the Kamala Harris campaign.Swift has six nominations, as do Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan — two of this year’s fresh pop sensations, each receiving their first Grammy nods.The awards ceremony is set for Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.The biggest contest this year, at least in terms of celebrity wattage, is Beyoncé vs. Swift. Both are juggernauts in the culture and at the Grammys. With 32 career trophies, Beyoncé, 43, has already won more awards than any other artist, and is now also the most-nominated person, with 99. Yet she has never taken album of the year, despite four previous nods.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Grammy Nominations 2025: See the Full List of Nominees

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      Artists, albums and songs competing for trophies at the 67th annual ceremony were announced on Friday. The show will take place on Feb. 2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.Beyoncé is the top nominee for the 67th annual Grammy Awards with 11 nods for her genre-crossing “Cowboy Carter.” The LP and its songs will vie for record, song and album of the year, as well as competitions in pop, rap, country and Americana categories.The superstar — who has already won more Grammys than any other artist — leads a pack of contenders that includes Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone (all with seven nods apiece), followed by Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift, who have six each.The ceremony, which is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2025 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, will recognize recordings released from Sept. 16, 2023 to Aug. 30, 2024.Here is a complete list of the nominations, which were announced on Friday by the Recording Academy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Shaboozey Toasts to His 6 Grammy Nominations

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      The country singer’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has been omnipresent; now it’s up for song of the year in February.It was one of the songs of the summer that persisted into the fall: ubiquitous in restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops and, appropriately, bars.Now, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” the foot-stomping smash that held No. 1 for 16 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, will compete for one of the Grammys’ biggest awards: song of the year.But well before Friday’s nominations, the record helped change Shaboozey’s career. The genre-bending country singer and rapper born Collins Obinna Chibueze caught the attention of a member of Beyoncé’s team when he performed the song at a label showcase before it had been released.Not long after, he was tapped for features on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter.” Then came the well-timed release of his third album, “Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going.”When his six Grammy nods rolled in — the first of his career — Shaboozey, 29, was on a tour bus in Kentucky as part of his arena tour with Jelly Roll, where each night he says he gets a rush when audiences sing, clap and stomp along to “A Bar Song.”“It’s the same feeling I get every single night I perform that song, from the first time I played it til now,” he said in an interview on Friday following his nominations, which include nods for best new artist and for his feature on “Spaghettii,” from Beyoncé’s LP.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      7 Deep Cuts From the 2025 Grammy Nominations

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      Big names dominate the biggest categories, but lovely discoveries await on the ballot too. Hear tracks from Arooj Aftab, Sierra Ferrell, Tems, Idles and more.Grammy nominee Arooj Aftab.Luisa Opalesky for The New York TimesDear listeners,This morning, the nominees for the 67th annual Grammy Awards were revealed, and the names that appeared most often should be quite familiar: Beyoncé (leading the pack with 11 nominations), Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone and Charli XCX (all with seven nods apiece). The Grammys have rarely been so reflective of the top of the charts and the celebrity zeitgeist, and that can make the announcement feel anticlimactic. But if you dig a little deeper into the list — as I do on today’s playlist — plenty of surprises and discoveries await.All seven of the artists included below are nominated for Grammys next year, even if they’re not the marquee acts vying for the biggest, all-genre awards (record, album and song of the year). But the genre-specific categories are often the best places to find interesting music you might not have heard before: Today, I’m highlighting recent tunes from the Pakistani composer Arooj Aftab, the boisterous British band Idles and the Nigerian songwriter-turned-solo star Tems, to name a few. Plus, this collection of songs also features a certain Australian goth rock legend who has somehow never won a Grammy. Will 2025 be his year? We’ll find out on Feb. 2. Until then, here’s the full list of nominees, Ben Sisario’s roundup of all the story lines to watch and the pop team’s discussion of the year’s surprises and snubs.All the king’s horses and — oh, nevermind, nevermind,LindsayListen along while you read.1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: “Song of the Lake”Let’s begin with this regal, oddly stirring opening track from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ latest album, “Wild God.” Even though Cave may not leap to mind when you think of the Grammys, it’s still rather astonishing he’s never won one, given his deep, boundary-pushing discography and especially his late-career renaissance, which has included excellent recent albums like “Skeleton Tree” and “Ghosteen.” He and the Bad Seeds have two opportunities to finally take home a trophy next year: “Song of the Lake” is nominated for best alternative music performance and “Wild God” is nominated for best alternative album.▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube2. Arooj Aftab: “Raat Ki Rani”In 2022, the composer and vocalist Arooj Aftab became the first Pakistani woman ever to win a Grammy, when her incantatory “Mohabbat” was awarded best global music performance. She’s nominated again in that category, for this hypnotizing, appropriately nocturnal track named for a night-blooming flower. The LP on which it appears, the enchanting “Night Reign,” also received a nod for best alternative jazz album.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Linda LaFlamme Dies at 85; Her ‘White Bird’ Reflected a Hippie Fantasy

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      With her husband, David LaFlamme, she founded the rock band It’s a Beautiful Day and wrote a soaring paean to a generation’s dreams of escape.Linda LaFlamme, a songwriter and keyboardist who helped found the San Francisco folk-rock band It’s a Beautiful Day in 1967 and co-wrote the band’s soaring “White Bird,” an enduring anthem of the psychedelic era, died on Oct. 23 in Harrisonburg, Va. She was 85.She died in a nursing home of vascular dementia, her daughter, Kira LaFlamme Newman, said, adding that Ms. LaFlamme had a stroke in April.Linda Sue Rudman was born on April 13, 1939, in St. Louis, the middle of three children of Edward Leonid Rudman and Annette (Miller) Rudman. She was classically trained on piano and harpsichord, but her tastes veered toward jazz and rock ’n’ roll. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1961, she moved to San Francisco.Two years later, she met David LaFlamme, an Army veteran who had played violin with the Utah Symphony. Musically and romantically, “we just clicked,” she said in a 2020 interview with the music website Please Kill Me.They married the following year and went on to form the six-piece unit It’s a Beautiful Day, with the help of Matthew Katz, who managed Jefferson Airplane. Mr. Katz sent his new act to Seattle, where he had a rock venue, for seasoning. The LaFlammes were living in a cold, drafty house there in early 1968 when they wrote “White Bird.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Susanna Mälkki and Santtu-Matias Rouvali Take Over the Philharmonic

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      Susanna Mälkki and Santtu-Matias Rouvali made back-to-back appearances with the orchestra, leading similar programs with distinct style.Finland’s top exports may be machinery and fuel, but in classical music it is also one of the world’s leading producer of conductors.Over the past century, Finland has nurtured a culture of musical education that has brought about generations of brilliance at the podium. It has given us some of the finest conductors working today, like Esa-Pekka Salonen, as well as some of our buzziest, like Klaus Mäkelä, who picked up storied jobs in Amsterdam and Chicago before the age of 30.As if in a testament to the saturation of Finnish conductors, the New York Philharmonic booked two back-to-back: Santtu-Matias Rouvali, for a program that continues through Tuesday at David Geffen Hall, and Susanna Mälkki last week.The similarities between the two conductors’ programs don’t end with their nationality. Both opened with a contemporary work making its Philharmonic premiere; both featured late pieces by Richard Strauss; and both ended with music written during, and in the shadow of, World War I.Yet these two weeks at the Philharmonic felt satisfyingly distinct. There may be many Finnish conductors, but there is not a Finnish style of conducting. Mälkki and Rouvali both have an intelligent, even wise sense of shape, but are excellent in their own ways; she is a master of color, he of surprise. And the music they programmed, while superficially similar, differed in sound and scale.The biggest difference was between the two contemporary works. Rouvali’s concert, on Thursday, opened with Julia Wolfe’s “Fountain of Youth” (2019), a nine-minute exclamation that starts percussively, with scratch tones in the strings and scraped washboards. Then the score gradually expands to include the whole orchestra: fluttering, sustained notes in the winds and wailing, animalistic cries in the trombones, as well as stylistic interjections like blues, folk fiddle and rock.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More