The 66th annual Grammy Awards honor music’s best this Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Trevor Noah will host the ceremony for the fourth time airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ at 8 p.m.
R&B, hip-hop and pop star SZA leads the way with nine total nominations, followed by indie folk singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, Canadian audio engineer Serban Ghenea and R&B-pop star Victoria Monét with seven nods each. Tied for third place with six apiece are Jack Antonoff, Jon Batiste, Boygenius, Brandy Clark, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, who has won 12 Grammys from 52 nominations over the years.
Exactly a week before cheering on boyfriend Travis Kelce in the Super Bowl, Swift vies for Album of the Year with “Midnights,” which could make her the first to ever win the top prize four times. She faces 2022 champ Batiste’s “World Music Radio,” Boygenius’ “The Record,” Cyrus’ “Endless Summer Vacation,” Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Janelle Monáe’s “The Age of Pleasure,” Rodrigo’s “Guts” and SZA’s “SOS.”
Swift also vies for Record of the Year with “Anti-Hero,” hoping to ride a wave of momentum from her blockbuster “Eras Tour” film and Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” distinction. She faces tough competition in SZA’s “Kill Bill,” Batiste’s “Worship,” Boygenius’ “Not Strong Enough,” Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Monét’s “On My Mama,” Rodrigo’s “Vampire” and Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” The lattermost song recently won a Golden Globe and hopes to become the first to win both the top Grammy and top Oscar since Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” (1997).
Speaking of which, if we can table those Oscar snubs for Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for a moment, the “Barbie” soundtrack has multiple horses in the Grammy race with Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night Away” and Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” both up for Song of the Year (honoring songwriting). They’ll have to go through Del Rey’s “A&W,” Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Batiste’s “Butterfly,” Cyrus’ “Flowers,” SZA’s “Kill Bill” and Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” who hopes to win her first major category after three breakthrough wins, including Best New Artist in 2022.
This year, Best New Artist includes a talented crop of rising stars: Gracie Abrams, Fred Again, Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan and The War and Treaty. The front runner is probably Victoria Monét, whose 2-year-old daughter Hazel is now the youngest Grammy nominee of all time by sharing a nod for her mother’s “Hollywood,” which is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance and could make her the youngest winner ever.
The show is rumored to be kicking off with Best Pop Solo Performance, which is notable for its slate of all-female nominees, including Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red,” Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Cyrus’ “Flowers.” It’s hard to believe that Cyrus has never won a Grammy, so you’ve got to think this is finally the year as “Flowers” was such a clever feminist spin on Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.”
To be eligible, songs had to be released between Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 15, 2023.
As always, the Grammys aren’t just about handing out awards but about staging unforgettable performances during the telecast. Eilish, Burna Boy, Dua Lipa, Rodrigo, SZA and Travis Scott are all slated to perform. Luke Combs will perform a duet with Tracy Chapman as “Fast Car” vies for Best Country Solo Performance. Back in November, Chapman became the first Black songwriter to win Song of the Year at the CMA Awards.
Throwback viewers will also welcome nostalgic performances from legends like Billy Joel, who just released his first new single in nearly two decades with “Turn the Lights Back On,” and Joni Mitchell, who’s never performed on the Grammy stage before and is nominated this year for Best Folk Album with “Joni Mitchell at Newport [Live].”
Finally, past, present and future collide as the prolific rock band U2 delivers the first-ever broadcast performance from the 360-foot-tall immersive orb Sphere venue at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
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