Top 5 Grammy nominations takeaways: Jazz on the rise, lots of love for veterans …

The 2023 Grammy nominations were announced on Tuesday, November 15 and, as usual, they were a mixed bag of shocking snubs and worthy surprises. While analyzing the hundreds of bids, we noticed several tidbits of telling information that should help us when making our predictions next year. Below, see our Top 5 Grammy nominations takeaways.

1. Watch out for jazz and Americana

Last year, Jon Batiste surprised everyone with an Album of the Year nom. Among the artists many genres, two stood out: jazz and American Roots. Batiste ended up winning in those two genres, along with Album of the Year and two other categories.

This year, the nominations prove this two seemingly small genres are here to stay. In Best New Artist, two jazz artists got nominated (Samara Joy and DOMi & JD Beck), as well as Americana star Molly Tuttle. For Song of the Year, General Field winner and Americana star Bonnie Raitt got a surprise nom for “Just Like That.” And of course, perennial nominee Brandi Carlile got into Album of the Year and Record of the Year with “In These Silent Days” and “You and Me On The Rock,” respectively. Perhaps these nominations show that the genres are bigger players than we think, and should definitely not be underestimated. While Joy can be our next Esperanza Spalding, Carlile could surprise with an AOTY win.

2. Lots of love for the veterans

Several veteran artists had big moments with nominations this year. Mary J. Blige made her big comeback to the Grammys with “Good Morning Gorgeous,” earning her six notices. Another veteran in the mix is ABBA, who, after years of being snubbed, finally had their big breakthrough, scoring four noms including Album and Record of the Year, like Blige. Bonnie Raitt, as mentioned before, also got into Song of the Year.

While it’s great that they manage to award their favorites from before, one does have to wonder if it’s okay at the expense of newer artists who were goose-egged, like Joji and Summer Walker.

3. Alphabetical prevails

As I have been saying for the past couple of years, alphabetical order is truly a big factor in nominations. Artists like the “Encanto” cast, OneRepublic, Taylor Swift and even the aforementioned Carlile all missed in categories where they weren’t high on the ballot. Meanwhile, in the performance categories, artists on top of the ballot like ABBA, Bad Bunny, Camila Cabello and Snoh Aalegra managed to get not-so-expected bids. Perhaps the most obvious example is Gayle‘s “abcdefu,” which was the second song on the Song of the Year ballot.

Alphabetical placement isn’t everything, though. Harry Styles, Wet Leg and Sam Smith all got nominated. But it can be a good deciding factor, especially for those less expected artists.

4. Separating the art over the artist

A couple of comedians who have had big scandals managed to get in. The Best Comedy Album categories features Louis CK, accused of sexual misconduct recently, as well as Dave Chappelle, who was under fire not so long ago for some transphobic remarks. In the Alternative field, Arcade Fire managed to get a nom, despite the sexual harassment accusations against its lead singer. Perennial R&B nominee Chris Brown is also nominated for Best R&B Album despite fighting years of abuse allegations. It seems like the Grammy voters are either not aware of these, or perhaps are on the mindset that art should be separated from the artist.

5. Revenge

A couple snubbed artists from last year and previous ceremonies managed to earn nominations this year. Maneskin, predicted to get into Best New Artist, missed the nom last year despite being heavily predicted, but got in this morning. There’s also Machine Gun Kelly, who publicly dissed the award show after his miss last year, but who got nominated for Best Rock Album this year. Carly Pearce was in many people’s Country music predictions last year, but she finally managed to break through with a nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Never Be That Girl.” Finally, after their weird snubs in the past years in the pop field, it’s great to see Post Malone and Sam Smith back in contention for “I Like You” and “Unholy,” respectively.

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