The 2023 Grammy nominations are here

Plus, a Tiny Desk from Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

View this email online Nov. 19, 2022 by Marissa Lorusso This week, we’re sharing our thoughts about the 2023 Grammy nominations; plus, great new music out this week. Mason Poole/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images This week, the nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards were announced. The annual awards show can have a polarizing effect on music fans; to some, it can feel like a joyful celebration of musical excellence (my colleague Ann Powers said last year’s ceremony “made an argument for its renewed health … by connecting with its own history and emphasizing pleasure”) and to others, the whole thing can feel rather disappointing (a few years ago, my colleague Rodney Carmichael argued that the institution is “racing toward total irrelevance”). This year’s ceremony will take place on Feb. 5 at the Crypto.com center in Los Angeles. I asked my colleague Stephen Thompson what he thought about this year’s nominations, and he says this Grammys season “centers on a simple question: Is this Beyoncé’s year?” Beyoncé leads the field with nine nominations across multiple categories. (One of those categories is best electronic/dance record, for her album RENAISSANCE — making Beyoncé the first Black woman to ever be nominated in that category. It’s a pretty surprising fact, especially given the way Black women musicians have been essential to the creation and hallmark sounds of electronic and dance music — something Bey explicitly pays tribute to on RENAISSANCE.) Her nine nominations mean she’s now tied with her husband, Jay-Z, for the most Grammy nominations by any musician. And, if she wins three more awards, she’ll match classical conductor Georg Solti for the most Grammy wins overall.  Though Beyoncé has won 28 Grammys, Stephen points out, she’s never won album or record of the year. “The fact that Silk Sonic (featuring Grammy uber-favorite Bruno Mars) withdrew from the competition would seem to help her chances,” he says. “Nominations in the major categories were mostly pretty predictable — Adele, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, et al — so this week just felt like part of the preamble to what will either be a coronation or a reckoning.” And there are other pressures weighing on the Grammys, too. Stephen notes that artists like Nicki Minaj and Tyler, the Creator have expressed frustration about what they see as the Grammys unfairly slotting them into certain genres. And he points out that several major artists, like Drake and The Weeknd, have announced boycotts of the Grammys in recent years, including not submitting their music for consideration at all. Overall, as he sees it, “the Grammys feel like they’re reaching a major tipping point.” Newsletter continues after sponsor message More to read, watch and hear Fingerstyle guitarist Daniel Bachman's new record, Almanac Behind, captures both the literal and the metaphorical devastation of climate change in compositions that foreground extreme weather across field recordings and radio broadcasts.  In the late 1960s, Elvin Jones was at a pivotal moment in his career — after playing with artists like John Coltrane and Miles Davis, he was ready to start leading his own band. A new, previously unreleased recording captures the iconic jazz drummer at this moment, playing a residency at a small New York club and experimenting outside the spotlight. The "biopic" parody Weird stars Daniel Radcliffe in an over-the-top version of “Weird” Al Yankovic's life. Yankovic recently spoke to Fresh Air’s Terry Gross about nerdiness, parody music and how he hopes to “bring sexy back” to the accordion.  The musician Santi White, aka Santigold, has long shown a “consistent disinterest in squeezing her output into trends,” as writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd puts it. On White’s startlingly direct new record Spirituals, and in her headline-grabbing rebukes of music's trickle-down economy, Shepherd argues, White is proving her legacy as a forward-thinking alternative to pop's here and now. No group has embraced the median zone between hip-hop and jazz as prolifically as Toronto four-piece BADBADNOTGOOD. This week, Jazz Night in America shared a wildly psychedelic set the band recently played in Brooklyn. Tiny Desk NPR Ever since his 2018 breakthrough performance at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been in demand. So we were grateful when the rising star stopped by the Tiny Desk to perform a Bob Marley classic, brand new preludes and a weepy Welsh ballad. Also this week: Peek into the decked-out living room of producer Adrian Sherwood's home and watch masters of reggae perform a playfully chill set in Horace Andy’s Tiny Desk (home) concert. One More Thing Rats have rhythm. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify and Apple Music What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? 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