Beyonce leads Grammy nods after trailblazing country album

NEW YORK: Beyonce and her groundbreaking Cowboy Carter album earned a leading 11 nominations for the Grammy Awards, the music industry’s showcase gala, where she will face off against Taylor Swift and a new class of pop hitmakers.

The nominations announced Friday by the Recording Academy make Beyonce the Grammys’ most nominated artist – and reignite the conversation about genre and race sparked by her innovative album vaunting black cowboy culture.

Yet the megastar – who despite her accolade-rich career still has never won the Grammy’s most prestigious top album and record trophies – faces stiff competition from perennial contenders Swift and Billie Eilish, who scored six and seven chances at Grammy gold, respectively.

And a buzzy, of-the-moment group of young artists including club hitmaker Charli XCX (seven nods) along with pop sensations Sabrina Carpenter (six) and Chappell Roan (six) are all also in contention for major prizes.

Kendrick Lamar – whose dig-heavy rap battle with Drake earned him Grammy favour this year – and the shapeshifter Post Malone each scooped seven nominations, including in the top categories.

Music released between Sept 16, 2023, and Aug 30, 2024, was eligible for nomination.

The Recording Academy will hand out trophies in all 94 categories on Feb 2 in Los Angeles.

The nominee list sets up a showdown between Beyonce and Swift, global superstars and Grammy regulars.

The 43-year-old Beyonce was already the show’s most decorated artist ever.

Before Friday, she was also tied for most nominations with her music mogul husband Jay-Z – now, she’s in a class of her own.

Yet for all the records she sets, Beyonce is among the most snubbed Grammy artist. She conspicuously has lost out the top album award to the likes of Adele and Harry Styles.

The 34-year-old juggernaut Swift, on the other hand, last year swept past Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon to win more best album prizes than anyone with four, and she could extend that lead this time around.

Her album Fearless beat Beyonce for the prestigious prize in 2010.

The Tay v Bey narrative once again highlights the Grammy organisation’s complicated history with race.

The Academy is routinely criticised for sidelining the work of black artists, including at last year’s gala when Jay-Z, accepting a non-competitive honour for his hip-hop contributions, castigated the institution onstage.

It’s all the more prescient considering Beyonce’s nominations this season stem from Cowboy Carter, a rowdy, wide-ranging homage to her southern heritage that took to task the country industry, which has long promoted a rigid view of the genre that’s overwhelmingly white and male.

At the last Grammys, Swift seized the limelight by taking the podium to accept a prize and announcing a surprise album, The Tortured Poets Department, which was a sprawling double-album purging her insecurities and scorching former lovers.

It left critics lukewarm but it’s put Swift back in the running.

Also vying for Album of the Year are works by Carpenter, Charli XCX, Eilish, Roan and… Andre 3000’s New Blue Sun, a flute album the former Outkast hip-hop star released late last year.

That niche entry is joined by another from multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier to round out the category.

Top nominee Post Malone was buoyed to the top thanks to his collaborations with both Beyonce and Swift. The one-time warbling rapper features in major categories as well as pop and country fields.

The closely watched Best New Artist field features Carpenter and Roan, who both soared into the mainstream this year and are favourites for that coveted prize.

Also in contention for Best New Artist is Shaboozey, whose song A Bar Song (Tipsy) has topped the US hot songs chart for weeks and is up for the top award honouring songwriting.

Shaboozey, 29, is also nominated for a melodic rap award thanks to his collaboration with Beyonce – whom he will also compete against in the country categories, in a sign that the Academy might finally be reading the room when it comes to songs and artists that defy categorisation.

An entry by The Beatles into the top record category will likely prompt a little head-scratching: Now and Then was the “last” song released by the iconic group, reconstituted based on John Lennon’s rough demo.

But then again, the Grammys wouldn’t be the Grammys without some idiosyncrasies – or anger over snubs.

Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Tinashe and South African phenom Tyla were all left out of the 2025 running.

Once again, top Latin artists including Shakira, Peso Pluma, Bad Bunny and Young Miko were notably relegated to genre-specific categories and overlooked for the top fields.