Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X scored the most nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards, with all three notching nods for Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
Lizzo led the pack with eight nominations, including “Truth Hurts” for Record and Song of the Year, and Cuz I Love You for Album of the Year. Eilish, who garnered six nominations, was also nominated in those three categories: “Bad Guy” for Record and Song of the Year and When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? for Album of the Year. And Lil Nas X, also up for six awards, scored a Record of the Year look for his smash “Old Town Road” remix with Billy Ray Cyrus, while his debut EP 7 was nominated for Album of the Year.
Lizzo, Eilish and Lil Nas X will face off against a variety of more experienced acts in the Album of the Year category, which also features Bon Iver’s i, i, Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell, Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next, H.E.R.’s I Used to Know Her and Vampire Weekend’s Father of the Bride.
The Record of the Year category boasts Bon Iver for “Hey, Ma,” Grande for “7 Rings,” H.E.R. for “Hard Place,” Khalid for “Talk” and Post Malone and Swae Lee for “Sunflower.” And Song of the Year features Lady Gaga’s other A Star Is Born hit, “Always Remember Us This Way,” Tanya Tucker’s “Bring My Flowers Now,” H.E.R.’s “Hard Place,” Taylor Swift’s “Lover,” Lana Del Rey’s “Norman Fucking Rockwell” and Lewis Capaldi’s “Truth Hurts.”
Along with Lizzo, Eilish and Lil Nas X, the Best New Artist category features several other breakout performers including Maggie Rogers, Rosalía, Tank and the Bangas, Yola and Black Pumas.
In recent years, the Recording Academy has been slammed for failing to properly recognize and reward groundbreaking work from black performers — including Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé — and women. At the 2018 ceremony, just one woman was presented an award during the televised broadcast. Following that ceremony, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow made his now infamous comment that women need “to step up.”
Following that disaster, the Grammys have taken a series of steps in an attempt to increase voter diversity, inviting 900 new members to the organization, changing parts of the voting membership process and appointing the first female CEO of the Recording Academy, Deborah Dugan. Perhaps as a result of these changes, or due to increased scrutiny, this year’s coveted general categories are carefully balanced by gender. (Although this is less true in some of the genre categories, like hip-hop.) And while the Grammys have frequently rewarded long-established performers at the expense of vital young acts, voters this year seemed particularly attuned to 2019’s fast-rising stars.
Like other major award shows, the Grammys have also faced a decline in live viewership this decade, especially in the key 18- to 49-year-old demographic. It may not be a coincidence that the Recording Academy was meticulous about throwing 2020 nominations in the general categories to stars who have proved their widespread appeal in the last eight months.
Take Record of the Year: The singles by Grande, Post Malone, Eilish, Khalid and Lizzo all reached Number One at Top 40 radio. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is one of the most successful singles in history, and H.E.R. actually performed her Grammy-nominated single “Hard Place” live at the 2019 ceremony — it has already been road-tested. The only song in the category that seems like an outlier is Bon Iver’s “Hey, Ma,” but even Bon Iver is a pretty safe choice for the Recording Academy — he has been nominated for five Grammys and won two.
Other top Grammy nominees for 2020 include Beyoncé, who notched four nods for her work on her Lion King soundtrack, The Gift, and Tucker, who nabbed three more nods to accompany her Song of the Year look, including Best Country Album for her comeback LP, While I’m Livin’ (Tucker has been nominated for 10 Grammys since 1973, but has yet to win one).
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke also picked up four nominations, including Best Alternative Album for Anima, as did British newcomer, Yola, who bolstered her Best New Artist look with several nominations in the Americana categories, including Best Americana Album for Walk Through the Fire.
Album of the Year
I, I — Bon Iver
Norman Fucking Rockwell! — Lana Del Rey
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — Billie Eilish
Thank U, Next — Ariana Grande
I Used To Know Her — H.E.R.
7 — Lil Nas X
Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) — Lizzo
Father Of The Bride — Vampire Weekend
Record of the Year
“Hey, Ma” — Bon Iver
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish
“7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
“Hard Place” — H.E.R.
“Talk” — Khalid
“Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X Featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
“Truth Hurts” — Lizzo
“Sunflower” — Post Malone & Swae Lee
Song of the Year
“Always Remember Us This Way” — Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Lori McKenna, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“Bring My Flowers Now” — Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker, songwriters (Tanya Tucker)
“Hard Place” — Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth, D. Arcelious Harris. H.E.R. & Rodney Jerkins, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“Lover” — Taylor Swift, songwriter (Taylor Swift)
“Norman F***ing Rockwell” — Jack Antonoff & Lana Del Rey, songwriters (Lana Del Rey)
“Someone You Loved” — Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pere Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn & Sam Roman, songwriters (Lewis Capaldi)
“Truth Hurts” — Steven Cheung, Eric Frederic, Melissa Jefferson & Jesse Saint John, songwriters (Lizzo)
Best New Artist
Black Pumas
Billie Eilish
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Maggie Rogers
Rosalía
Tank And The Bangas
Yola
Best Pop Solo Performance
“Spirit” — Beyoncé
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish
“7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
“Truth Hurts” — Lizzo
“You Need To Calm Down” — Taylor Swift
Best Pop Vocal Album
The Lion King: The Gift — Beyoncé
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — Billie Eilish
Thank U, Next — Ariana Grande
No. 6 Collaborations Project — Ed Sheeran
Lover — Taylor Swift
Best Dance Album
LP5 – Apparat
No Geography – The Chemical Brothers
Hi This Is Flume – Flume
Refs Du Sol – Solace
Weather – Tyco
Best Rock Album
Amo — Bring Me The Horizon
Social Cues — Cage The Elephant
In The End — The Cranberries
Trauma — I Prevail
Feral Roots — Rival Sons
Best Rap Album
Revenge Of The Dreamers III — Dreamville
Championships — Meek Mill
I Am > I Was — 21 Savage
Igor — Tyler, The Creator
The Lost Boy — YBN Cordae
Best Alternative Album
U.F.O.F. – Big Thief
Assume Form – James Blake
I, I – Bon Iver
Father of the Bride – Vampire Weekend
Anima – Thom Yorke
Best Country Album
Desperate Man – Eric Church
Stronger Than the Truth – Reba McEntire
Interstate Gospel – Pistol Annies
Center Point Road – Thomas Rhett
While I’m Livin’ – Tanya Tucker
Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album
X 100PRE — Bad Bunny
Oasis — J Balvin & Bad Bunny
Indestructible — Flor De Toloache
Almadura — iLe
El Mal Querer — Rosalía
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Apollo XXI – Steve Lacy
Cuz I Love You – Lizzo
Overload – Georgia Anne Muldrow
Saturn – NAO
Being Human in Public – Jessie Reyez
Best R&B Album
1123 – BJ the Chicago Kid
Painted – Lucky Daye
Ella Mai – Ella Mai
Paul – PJ Morton
Ventura – Anderson .Paak
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Jack Antonoff
Dan Auerbach
John Hill
Finneas
Ricky Reed