This year brings us the 65th annual Grammy awards, and even though it’s a landmark year for the Recording Academy, the nominations, announced November 15th 2022, have left people feeling both excited and angry—as they always do. While some artists have finally received the recognition they deserve, there have also been some major snubs. But one take-away from this year’s nominations is that loads of women—from Diana Ross to Björk— are getting their well-deserved flowers.
The Top Four
Women topped the four most highly coveted categories at the Grammys: Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist. Beyoncé (“BREAK MY SOUL”), Lizzo (“About Damn Time”), Doja Cat (“Woman”), Adele (“Easy On Me”), ABBA (“Don’t Shut Me Down”), Mary J. Blige (“Good Morning Gorgeous”), and Brandi Carlile (“You And Me On The Rock”) are all up for Record Of The Year, with Beyoncé, Lizzo, and Adele also up for song of the year.
Album Of The Year also features some incredible female artists, such as Voyage by ABBA, 30 by Adele, RENAISSANCE by Beyoncé, Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe) by Mary J. Blige, In These Silent Days by Brandi Carlile, and Special by Lizzo. Though, many have pointed out a few noteworthy snubs from this category, including Rosalía for her album MOTOMAMI, and Megan Thee Stallion for her album Traumazine. Best New Artist also featured a majority women-led category, with Anitta, Muni Long, Samara Joy, Latto, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg all up for the prize.
Pop Nominees
Outside of the “big four,” even more categories featured some of our favorite female artists. In the pop categories, Kim Petras has been nominated for Best Pop Duo Performance for her hit song “Unholy” with Sam Smith. The legendary Diana Ross has also been nominated for Best Traditional Pop Album for Thank You. If Ross wins, it will shockingly only become her second Grammy, proving what many of us already know: the recording academy is far from perfect. Norah Jones is also competing in this category with her holiday album I Dream Of Christmas (Extended). One notable snub from the pop categories is the South Korean girl group BLACKPINK, who have seen incredible success in the pop genre, and will even be headlining 2023’s Coachella music festival.
Rock Snub
Unfortunately, the rock categories are lacking in female representation, given how many women are making incredible rock music right now. The only women present across the genres’ four categories being Brandi Carlille. Carlille is nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for her song “Broken Horses.” Soccer Mommy could have easily been a contender for the rock categories, as her 2022 album Sometimes, Forever, gifted listeners with some of the best indie-rock of the year. However, the Grammy’s might slightly make up for this massive oversight given how many cool women are present throughout the alternative categories.
Alternative Music
Nominees for best alternative music performance include Big Thief for “Certainty”, Wet Leg for “Chaise Lounge”, Florence + the Machine for “King”, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs featuring Perfume Genius for “Spitting Off The Edge Of The World.” The best Alternative Music Album nominees are equally iconic, also featuring Big Thief for Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, Wet Leg for their debut album Wet Leg, Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and *drum roll please* Fossora by Björk. Below you can watch the music video to her song “atopos” from the nominated album.
R&B
The R&B categories delivered too, with “CUFF IT” (Beyoncé), “Good Morning Gorgeous” (Mary J. Blige), “Hrs & Hrs” (Muni Long), and “Hurt Me So Good” (Jazmine Sullivan) being featured in the majority-female category for Best R&B Song. Beyoncé, Blige, Long, and Sullivan also appear again in the R&B slate with nominations for Best R&B Performance. Beyoncé is nominated for her performance of “VIRGO’S GROOVE”, Blige is nominated for her performance of “Here With Me” (Ft. Anderson .Paak), Long for “Hrs & Hrs”, and Sullivan for “Hurt Me So Good”.
Rap Snubs
The rap categories are very much lacking in female representation, especially with all the amazing rap that has come out by female artists over the past year. Notable snubs include Nicki Minaj for her hit single “Super Freaky Girl”, and Megan Thee Stallion for her critically acclaimed album Traumazine. That being said, the rap categories did feature *one* woman, Doja Cat, who is nominated for Best Rap performance for her song “Vegas.”
Country Music
Next up is country. Women are kind of killing it in country music right now, and the Grammy’s have noticed. The women nominees for best country solo performance include “Heartfirst” by Kelsea Ballerini, “In His Arms” by Miranda Lambert, and “Circles Around This Town” by Maren Morris. Lambert and Morris also make an appearance in the best country album category, with Lambert being nominated for her album Palomino and Morris for Humble Quest.
Ashley McBryde has also been nominated for her album Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville. Taylor Swift is nominated for Best Country Song for “I Bet You Think About Me (Feat. Christ Stapleton) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” which appeared on her most recent re-recorded album, Red (Taylor’s Version).
Latin Music
Moving on to the Latin categories, Christina Aguilera is nominated for Best Latin Pop Album for Aguilera. Once again, women are kicking ass and taking names in the alternative categories with Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album featuring three extraordinary women artists, Mon Laferte for her album 1940 Carmen, Gaby Moreno for her album Alegoría, and Rosalía for her album MOTOMAMI. Though, as previously stated, many fans and critics believe Rosalía should have been nominated in several other categories.
And More…
Some final notable nominations include Shemekia Copeland’s nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Done Come Too Far, and Viola Davis’s nomination for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording for her memoir Finding Me. The new category, Songwriter Of The Year, included three female songwriters; Amy Allen, Nija Charles, and Laura Veltz. Allen has written for artists such as King Princess, Lizzo, and Harry Styles. Charles has worked with icons such as Beyoncé and Missy Elliot, and Veltz worked on Demi Lovato’s recent album Holy Fvck, including helping to write the powerful and personal song “29” which made headlines in 2022.
Last but not least, Doja Cat, Adele, and Taylor Swift all received a nomination for best music video for “Woman” (Doja Cat), “Easy on Me” (Adele) and “All Too Well: The Short Film” (Swift).
Click here to see a full list of this year’s Grammy Award nominees, and be sure to tune in to the 65th annual ceremony on February 5th at 7PM ET on CBS.
Top photos: (Diana Ross) John Mathew Smith & http://www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
(Bjork) Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0
