Lil Nas X leads the field of nominees for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards
Photo Credit: Derrek Kupish
Nominations were announced Wednesday for the 62nd Annual Grammy awards and out country hip-hop artist Lil Nas X dominated the honorees. Lil Nas X is up for a total of 6 nominations, including in 3 of the 4 major categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year for “7,” and Best New Artist. The star also received nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video for “Old Town Road,” as well as Best Rap/Sung Performance for “Panini.”
Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande – all LGBTQ-allies – also dominated in the major categories.
Bi singer Lady Gaga also made a strong showing with a Song of the Year nomination for “Always Remember Us This Way” from the soundtrack for A Star Is Born. Gaga was also nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media for the soundtrack to A Star Is Born, and for Best Song Written For Visual Media for “I’ll Never Love Again,” bringing her total nomination count to 3.
Out songwriter Jesse Saint John, a co-writer on Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts,” was nominated in the Song of the Year category. Brandi Carlile was also nominated for Song of the Year for the second year in a row, for her work writing on Tanya Tucker’s “Bring My Flowers Now.” Last year, Carlile was nominated in the same category for writing her own song, “The Joke.” “Bring My Flowers Now” was also nominated for Best Country Song. And Carlile was also nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Common,” her collaboration with Maren Morris, bringing her total nomination count for this year also to 3.
Ally Taylor Swift was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance for “You Need to Calm Down” and for Song of the Year for ”Lover.” She was also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, bringing her nomination count to 3, but with only one in a major category. This was considered a bit of a surprise for the superstar.
Brittany Howard, the frontwoman of Grammy darlings Alabama Shakes, scored two solo nominations this year, for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, for “History Repeats.” Rapper Tyler, the Creator, who just gave a candid new interview to GQ in which he discussed his sexuality more openly than ever, earned his third Grammy nomination, this time in the Best Rap Album category, for “Igor.” Many critics thought “Igor” might score an Album of the Year nod.
The Internet’s out bi guitarist Steve Lacy got a nomination for his debut solo project “Apollo XXI” in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category. Che Apalache got their first nomination for Best Folk Album with “Rearrange My Heart.” Their frontman, Joe Troop, is an openly gay bluegrass fiddler.
Writer/filmmaker and queer icon John Waters was Grammy-nominated this year in the Best Spoken Word Album category, for the reading of his 2019 book, “Mr. Know-It-All.”
Composer Marc Shaiman was nominated for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media for the soundtrack to Mary Poppins Returns. Linda Perry was nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media for co-writing “Girl In The Movies” along with Dolly Parton for the Netflix movie Dumplin’.
Ellen DeGeneres is nominated for Best Comedy Album, where she’ll be going up against competition that includes Dave Chappelle.
And finally, over in the electronic fields, out DJ/producer Tracy Young was nominated for Best Remixed Recording (a Remixer’s Award) for her remix of Madonna’s “I Rise.”
Head here for a complete list of 2020 Grammy nominees.
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, January 26th, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will air on CBS. Alicia Keys will host for the second year in a row.
www.glaad.org/blog/lil-nas-x-leads-field-nominees-62nd-annual-grammy-awards