NEW YORK (AP) – It could be a night for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s history books at Sunday’s Grammy Awards – for both good and bad reasons.
Swift could become the first woman to win the show’s top prize three times, album of the year. Her first surprise album of 2020 – the folky, alternative adventure ‘folklore’ – competes for top honor, an award she first won in 2010 for ‘Fearless’, her breakthrough that helped establish her as a bona fide pop star, even though she sang country music. She won again in 2016 for “1989”, her first full-length pop album to hit the charts with a plethora of hits.
Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon are some of the male artists to have won album of the year three times. Producers or engineers have also won the award three times, including Phil Ramone, Ryan Tedder, David Foster, Bob Ludwig, Serban Ghenea and others.
The only person to win the award four times is mastering engineer Tom Coyne, who died in 2017.
Beyoncé has never won album of the year in her career – she’s not for the honor this year because she didn’t release a project during the qualifying period – but she’s the most nominated act.With 24 wins and nine nominations this year, she could top Alison Krauss’s 27 wins and become the most decorated woman in Grammy history.
Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” scored record and song of the year nominations, as well as best R&B song and best R&B performance, while her guest appearance on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” garnered bids for record of the year, best rap performance and best rap song.
Beyoncé holds the record for the most Grammy nominations for a female act, with 79. She and Paul McCartney finish in second place among all Grammy nominees, behind only Quincy Jones and Jay-Z, who have each earned 80 points.
The royal music family was able to walk away with some wins for their home. Jay-Z co-wrote ‘Black Parade’ and ‘Savage’, earning nominations for song of the year, best R&B song and best rap song. He has won 22 Grammys throughout his career.
Their daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, has been nominated for best music video along with her mother for “Brown Skin Girl.” Ivy Carter gives a vocal performance of the song and appears in the video; she is also listed as a co-author of the song with Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
Ivy Carter, 9, could become the second youngest person to ever win a Grammy. Leah Peasall was eight years old when The Peasall Sisters won Album of the Year at the 2002 show for their performance on the T Bone Burnett-produced “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack. “Brown Skin Girl”, a song in honor of brown and black women, Ivy Carter has won several awards, including two Soul Train Music Awards, a BET Award and an NAACP Image Award.
While Beyoncé could have a historic night, history could repeat itself and be barred from winning any top prize – a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists in Grammy history. Of her 24 wins, only one has been for one of the four major Grammys, number of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.
Jay-Z has never won a top prize, and he and his wife are on a list of mostly black performers limited to wins in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey , Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.
This year, The Weeknd was the one who got rejectedDespite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a best-selling multi-hit album, he didn’t earn any nominations. He has won three Grammys so far – only in the R&B categories – but he has vowed to boycott the Grammys for disagreeing with how the Recording Academy selects its winners
The album of the year award has only been awarded to two rap-based acts – Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx / The Love Below”. Although rap is the most popular genre today, no rap albums scored a top prize nomination this year. A rap song was never named song of the year or record of the year until Childish Gambino made history in 2019 with ‘This Is America’.
Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win record of the year.
Megan Thee Stallion could also become the first female rapper to win the best rap song. The Houston rapper, along with D Smoke, Chika and Doja Cat, could also become the fifth rap-based act to win Best New Artist. Their competition includes Phoebe Bridgers, Noah Cyrus, Kaytranada and Ingrid Andress, which could become only country music’s fourth act to win.
Other women who could make history on Sunday are Grace Potter, who has the chance to be the first female artist to win the best rock album in more than two decades, and sister trio HAIM, the first all-female rock band to be nominated for the album’s album. year.
While 84 awards will be presented – about 10 during the live broadcast and the rest during the pre-ceremony – viewers are likely to watch the performances.
About two dozen acts will hit stages in downtown Los Angeles, including Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.
Trevor Noah will host the show, which airs at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS and Paramount +. The Grammys were originally scheduled for January 31, but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Artists competing with Swift for album of the year include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Jacob Collier and Black Pumas.
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