With 11 nominations, Jon Batiste, 35-year-old African-American jazz pianist, R&B musician, also known thanks to television, is well ahead of Justin Bieber, 27-year-old Canadian megastar who won eight nominations. 26-year-old American rapper Doja Cat and 27-year-old R&B singer HER (real name Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson) also have eight. Billie Eilish, the new muse of American song aged 19 takes seven nominations, tied with Olivia Rodrigo, singer and American actress of 18 years.
“These nominations reflect the beauty of today’s diverse and diverse musical landscape”, said Harvey Mason Jr., president of the academy of the American music industry which awards these awards, in a statement. In response to recurring criticism of the lack of diversity in nominations, professionals have added two nominees (eight to ten) for the top four most prestigious categories of the Grammy Awards.
Jon Batiste, who has been nominated three times at the Grammy Awards in previous years, is not just an artist. He is also an activist. Music director since 2015 of the very popular television show “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”, originally from Louisiana and living in New York, he fights for more social and racial justice, in particular in support of the movement “Black Lives Matter” (“black lives matter”). He will measure up to his peers at the Grammys with his album We Are and his single Freedom.
Also author of the soundtrack of the animated film Drunk of Pixar Walt Disney, he will face him the very big budget machines that are Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo, in particular in the categories queens of the album and the recording of the year. But it won’t just be young people at the Grammy Awards. 95-year-old crooner Tony Bennett to accompany American singer and actress Lady Gaga, 35, to Los Angeles in late January with six nominations for their album Love For Sale.
Record also for the American rapper Jay-Z, 51, who does not like the academy of the Grammy Awards but who now has no less than 83 nominations, surpassing the legendary producer Quincy Jones (80). And the 44-year-old rapper Kanye West – who has just taken the name “Ye” – has collected several nominations, especially in the category of best album. He will face well-established song star Taylor Swift, 31, with just one nomination. The American did not present to the Grammys the re-recording in 2021 of her album Fearless of 2008 which had already earned him four awards, including that of best album.
Among the “sure values” of the past, the Grammy Awards have selected the indestructible AC / DC, the stainless Sir Paul McCartney (79 years) and the sensational return of the Swedes from ABBA. Finally in the unlikely category of “talking albums” (poetry, audio books …), former United States President Barack Obama (2009-2017) has a chance to win a third Grammy Award for his book A Promised Land after his wife Michelle Obama won an award in 2019.
The winners will be announced on January 31, 2022 in Los Angeles during the 64th Grammy Awards broadcast on CBS, one of the five major national television networks in the United States, and on the internet.