Welcome to Trend Talk, The Stampede’s new column on pop culture. Every week we’ll look at fashion, music, movies, and more. Look for a different take on a different topic by a different writer—every week. This week, Evan Hayes gives a preview on this year’s upcoming Grammy’s award show.
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 4 at 8:00 PM EST live in Los Angeles, at the Crypto.Com arena. Trevor Noah will be the host. The most famous night in music will air on CBS and the Paramount streaming service. The event will be star-studded as always with music’s biggest stars coming together to celebrate the past year in music. A total of 94 Grammys will be handed out with three new categories being introduced for this year’s show. This has the potential to be a record-setting show with some stars making their Grammy debuts while others can etch their name into the history books. For those who will be tuning in next Sunday, here are four storylines heading into the award show.
- The new categories are Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz, and Best Pop Dance Recording.
The Grammys announced these new categories last June. These genres of music have been nominated and have won Grammys in the past, but the Recording Academy wanted to honor the history and impact of the genres in the only way they know how, by giving each their category. Changes and inclusions like this open up nominations to more artists who may not have gotten it before. Historically, the Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance GRAMMY categories have nominated and awarded African music and artists. Now, the creation of the Best African Music Performance category will amplify and expand the reach of African music and its creators.
As recently announced, the Best African Music Performance category “includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.
The Best Alternative Jazz category is meant to expand the limits of Jazz. This “alternative” jazz can include artists who dive into the realms of hip-hop, soul, experimental music, and other genres.
Dance and Pop music have inspired and influenced each other for decades. Now, there’s a new, and essential, category that reflects the convergence between these two genres.
As the official Recording Academy statement describes, the new Best Pop Dance Recording category “recognizes tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement.”
- Ne-Yo to headline 2024 Grammy Celebration.
Three-time Grammy award winner Ne-Yo will be the main event of the exclusive 2024 Grammy Celebration. That is the after-party directly after the conclusion of the show that will honor the winners and nominees of the night.
Ne-Yo has been nominated for 16 Grammys and has won three times. Two of his wins came in the Best R&B Song and Best R&B Male Performance for the song “Miss Independent” during the 51st Grammys. His third win comes in the category of Best Contemporary R&B Album with his album Because of You.
- Joni Mitchell will make her performance debut at the 2024 Grammys.
Joni Mitchell, a nine-time Grammy award winner will grace the Grammy stage for the first time in her legendary career. Mitchell is currently nominated at the 2024 GRAMMYs in the Best Folk Album Category for her 2023 live album, Joni Mitchell At Newport [Live]. The other performers include Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Travis Scott, Billie Eilish, Burna Boy, Olivia Rodrigo, Luke Combs and U2. U2’s performance in particular will be special. It will be the first time in Grammy history that a performance will be a live broadcast from a different location. U2 will perform from the Sphere in LA.
- Taylor Swift could make Grammy history.
Currently Swift is a 52-time Grammy nominated and a 12-time winner. Next Sunday she can add to that number as she is nominated for six awards. She has been nominated for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album. All of these nominations come from her most recent album Midnights.
Her Song of the Year nomination for her song “Anti-Hero” is her seventh nomination for that award, the most ever for an artist in that category. If she wins Album of the Year, that would be her fourth time winning it, which would be another record with the most of all time.
For the full list of nominations follow the link below:
2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List | GRAMMY.com
About the author:
Evan Hayes is a sophomore from Memphis who wishes to help The Stampede in any way possible. He is a member of the Milligan track and Ffield team as a sprinter and plans to join more clubs as he continues at Milligan. He is a multimedia journalism major. He enjoys listening to music and staying active. After graduation, he hopes to go into the field of sports media.