Sure, he won Album of the Year over Beyoncé, but that wasn’t all that earned Harry Styles pushback. The megastar won big at the 2023 Grammys over the weekend, and it was a victory that came with controversy. Beyoncé, too, was nominated for the category, but unfortunately for the BeyHive, Renaissance didn’t take home the title. Still, Bey made history after accepting her 32nd Grammy win, making her the most awarded artist in the ceremony’s history.
Win or lose, dozens of stars celebrated the awards. They were photographed on the red carpet and even visited one another during the ceremony. Styles looked utterly shocked at winning Album of the Year, and he expressed how he didn’t expect to take home the gold. “I think on nights like tonight, it’s important for us to remember there is no such thing as ‘best’ in music,” he said.
Harry Styles’ ‘Album of the Year’ win at the #GRAMMYs has received plenty of backlash over the past 24 hours, particularly for his acceptance speech where he said, “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often.”pic.twitter.com/5N97bwCTv4
“I don’t think any of us sit in the studio making decisions on what is going to get us one of these,” Styles further shared. “This doesn’t happen to people like me very often and this is so, so nice. Thank you very much.” The gracious acceptance speech seemed harmless enough, but people took to social media quickly to voice their frustrations.
It became a war between Styles’s fans and his critics. Attackers pointed out that the singer is a rich, white male, while his supporters called them out for not recognizing class structure in the U.K. It’s a battle that has even spawned op-eds from music journalists, but Styles has not commented on the controversy. It was also reported that he didn’t expect to win over Beyoncé and thought the Renaissance hitmaker was a shoo-in to win. However, anonymous Grammy voters told Variety that they purposefully didn’t vote for Bey because she wins so often.
Despite the chaotic conversation, the Grammys stunned the world with its Hip Hop 50th Anniversary tribute. Questlovehelped co-curate the performance that hosted dozens of our favorite Rap artists, including our pioneers that delivered classics. Check out a few reactions to Harry Styles below.
Harry styles said “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often” and I gotta be honest I can’t think of a type of people this happens for more
“This doesn’t happen to people like me often,” possibly an even more severe case of foot in mouth than anything Harry Styles said on the DON’T WORRY DARLING press tour
I want someone to interview Harry Styles and ask him what he meant by “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often” because something isn’t clicking.
harry styles saying “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often” as a white, british man who has a history of dating only the most categorically stunning women in hollywood and whose biggest act of rebellion is wearing sequins and nail polish is extremely rich
Let’s not waste time, here: the Grammys let us all down by failing to acknowledge Beyoncé’s Renaissance as the Album Of The Year, in favor of the audio equivalent of plain oatmeal. I’m sure Harry Styles is a very nice British boy – distinctive lack of personality aside – but I, and indeed, many, many others fail to see what his album accomplished that Beyoncé’s did not.
Where Styles’ album was a fine example of a middle-of-the-road pop album, taking inspiration from the past 40 years or so of Top 40 radio (I’m putting it nicely – others have argued that it was pale imitation), Renaissance excavated 40 years of Black music history. Beyoncé sought to shine a spotlight on an oft-and-long-overlooked subculture of Black joy and rebellion.
And while the Grammys were certainly happy to make a fuss about her setting the record for most-awarded act ever, shutting her out from Album Of The Year – again – felt like a repudiation, a rejection, of not just Beyoncé’s efforts, but of the validity of the lived experience of the people her album highlighted. It’s a slap in the face.
To add insult to injury, these are the people and this is the scene that has most directly influenced pop music over the past 40 years. All of your faves? They got their swag from queer Black folks. If you ask just about any dance-pop star with a Billboard Hot 100 hit who they were inspired by, you’re going to get the same answers: Britney Spears, Madonna. Well, who inspired Madonna? I’ll wait.
Actually, no I won’t. It was that New York rave culture, where queer Black folks pioneered house and techno, ball culture, and the sampling techniques that permeate modern music today. Look at Sam Smith and Kim Petras winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance last night. That doesn’t happen without the queer Black community opening the door, at the roots of things, laying the foundation for the branches to flourish.
And Beyoncé, who brought that underground movement to the daylight, went out of her way to acknowledge those contributors to the culture. She put Grace Jones on the album. She nodded to the dozens of collaborators and inspirations for that album in both the liner notes and on her website. As my colleague, Alex Gonzalez, pointed out on Twitter, “Both Harry and Beyoncé noticeably took inspiration from LGBTQ+ aesthetics and culture for their respective album eras… but only one of them actually thanked the queer community.”
And musically, she embraced the breadth and range of those contributions, from disco to neo-soul and everything in between. She displayed versatility and depth and grace and vulnerability and gratitude. She, to quote the kids (who are, again, only quoting Black drag queens), ate and left no crumbs.
Harry’s acceptance speech, oddly enough, inadvertently highlighted just how insultingly tone-deaf this pick really was. “This never happens to people like me,” he said. People like who, Harry? British people? Paul McCartney, Sting, and Adele all have several. Guys who were hand-picked and groomed by some of the biggest producers on the planet to be pop stars from their teens? Hey, have you ever heard of Justin Timberlake?
There is literally no category or tag that you could place on Harry Styles that would put him at a disadvantage in today’s society, let alone at an institution like the Recording Academy, which has had a 100-year history of dropping the ball on honoring Black artists, women, queer artists, or people of color in general at best, and outright racism at worst. Harry is, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, a straight, white, rich dude… the people modern society is set up to serve.
You can’t even blame this on the voting process; in a Variety feature about Academy voters, two anonymous members of this “prestigious” group openly admitted they didn’t vote for Beyoncé “because she always wins.” There was true spite behind this robbery, like the heist in Ocean’s Eleven. It wasn’t just about seeing Harry win – it was about seeing Beyoncé, a Black woman whose commitment to excellence in her craft oozes out of every fiber of her being, who has sacrificed so much to be the best at her craft, who shouldered the burden of representing an entire community in her work… lose.
That is truly heinous.
But, it’s also business as usual in America, where we Black folks are told we have to work twice as hard for half as much. If nothing else, last night’s Grammy result adds one more exhibit to the mountainous pile of evidence for this. It’s all just proof that the Grammys, like most everything else, ain’t really for us – and that’s a shame, because America, and its music, owe us so much.
The Grammys: They sure are long! Shout out to my fellow East Coasters who watched the 2023 Grammys until midnight yesterday and got 45 quality minutes of sleep before getting ready for work this morning.
Within all the length of last night’s show, a lot of things happened. Some awards went to their expected recipients, others went to nominees viewers probably forgot were even up for consideration. Some artists put on spectacular performances, others were certainly at least on stage performing music. Some people got their flowers, others would have settled for just a glimpse of a dried-out petal.
With the dust settling now, all of these events can be generally placed into three categories: winners, losers, and surprises. In fact, the highlights of these goings-on have been categorized thusly… by me… below.
Beyoncé took a slight L when she got stuck in traffic and consequently showed up late to the Grammys. That was profoundly overshadowed, though, by one of the biggest moments of Bey’s career: Renaissance won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album. In a vacuum, that’s kind of neat, but zoom out: That Grammy was the 32nd of Beyoncé’s career, which is the new all-time Grammy record. The ever-composed Beyoncé was clearly emotional while accepting the award, which goes to show how major the win was not just in music history, but to her personally.
Surprise: Bonnie Raitt/Samara Joy
Bonnie Raitt’s reaction to winning Song of the Year is everyone’s reaction to her winning Song of the Year #Grammyspic.twitter.com/HYcMZK00hc
Beyoncé’s big win wasn’t a shock. You know what was, though? Half of the Grammys in the “big four” categories.
The Best New Artist field was strong and the winner ended up being Samara Joy, a jazz singer who’s a relative unknown when compared to competitors like Anitta, Latto, and Wet Leg.
Then came Song Of The Year.
Up for consideration were songs by Adele, Beyoncé, Bonnie Raitt, DJ Khaled, Gayle, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, Steve Lacy, and Taylor Swift. Looking at that list, clearly, there’s one artist that stands out, and not favorably in terms of contemporary acclaim and pop culture relevance: Raitt. Just like that, though, “Just Like That” won.
Raitt is a legend and a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, but even she was left scratching her head: When her name was called, she gave an open-mouthed look around the room like she just won $100K on a gas station scratcher. That was a fair reaction: “Just Like That” currently has under half a million streams on Spotify. Last year, around 9.5 million people watched the Grammys. So, if those numbers remain similar for this year’s broadcast, that means about 20 times as many people watched “Just Like That” win the award than had actually heard the song before (and that’s being generous by assuming every Spotify listener has only played the song one time).
The Grammys aren’t supposed to be a popularity contest, but cultural relevance should have been a bigger consideration here.
Loser: In Memoriam segment
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Every year, the Recording Academy honors esteemed deceased musicians with its In Memoriam portion of the show. Also every year, they find a way to piss people off. Fans were quick to notice that artists like Gangsta Boo and Aaron Carter weren’t mentioned during the broadcast, which rubbed some viewers the wrong way.
To the Recording Academy’s credit, in a post shared ahead of the show, they shared an In Memoriam list featuring more names than made it onto the broadcast, noting that “some” of them would be included in the video tribute. Carter was on that list, but not the broadcast. They also note that the people on the list all died between January 1, 2022 and December 6, 2022; Boo died on January 1, 2023.
So, the Recording Academy technically has some plausible deniability here, but maybe policies that exclude people who should obviously be named could use some reconsidering.
Winner: Wet Leg
Wet Leg – Alternative Music Album, Alternative Music Performance
Previously, leg was dry. At the Grammys, though, leg was wet: Emerging rock favorites Wet Leg was up for five awards and they took home two of them: Best Alternative Music Performance for “Chaise Longue” and Best Alternative Music Album for Wet Leg.
Harry was one of the evening’s most-nominated artist with seven total nods. He ended the night with a strong winning percentage, too, taking home three awards, most notably picking up Album Of The Year for Harry’s House. That said…
…boy was his performance during the show dull and weird.
He started his rendition of “As It Was” with some backing dancers, all spinning slowly on a rotating platform, like the song’s music video. It was an extremely low-energy environment for a minute or so, all while the relentlessly upbeat song charged on in defiant tonal contrast. It looked as though Styles and company had the stage set up to perform an Adele ballad before switching to “As It Was” seconds before going on. Things didn’t really improve after the intro, either. Styles’ current tour has obviously gone well, as the banner he has hanging in Madison Square Garden indicates, but the watermelon sugar high appears to have worn off since his last arena show.
Winner: Viola Davis
Viola Davis has achieved EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) status. “It has been such a journey, I just EGOT!” pic.twitter.com/YYj4MMJvRg
Congratulations are in order for Viola Davis: She e-got her EGOT! She’s now one of only 18 people to ever do it and it’s thanks in part to last night’s win in the Best Audio Book, Narration, And Storytelling Recording category, for her Finding Me memoir.
Beyoncé was the evening’s leading nominee with nine total nods, but Lamar was right behind her with eight of his own. Despite getting shut out of the main categories, Lamar did well in the hip-hop categories, winning in Best Rap Performance (“The Heart Part 5”), Best Rap Song (“The Heart Part 5”), and Best Rap Album (Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers). Furthermore, he did it all while dressed like Goodwill Kid, M.A.A.D. City.
In the Best R&B Song category, Beyoncé came out on top with “Cuff It.” Another Renaissance track, “Virgo’s Groove,” was up for Best R&B Performance, and while that may have felt like an obvious pick there, Muni Long actually pulled off the upset with “Hrs & Hrs.”
That’s not to say, of course, that Long’s win (her first Grammy victory) is inexcusable. “Hrs & Hrs” is an accomplished track, as it was only the second song by an independent artist to top the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, it’s certified platinum, and it achieved a No. 16 peak on the Hot 100. Beating Beyoncé for a Grammy is a tall mountain to scale, so congrats to Long!
Winner: 50th Anniversary Of Hip-Hop Tribute Performance
The Recording Academy put a major focus on honoring hip-hop in 2023, since this year marks the half-century anniversary of the genre’s inception. They went all out with a gargantuan 10-minute performance that spanned eras, featuring stage time from Grandmaster Flash, Rakim, RUN-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Future, GloRilla, Lil Baby, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Missy Elliott, Method Man, Nelly, and Too Short, among others. If you’re looking for a hip-hop history lesson, the setlist is a terrific starting point.
To her name, Brandi Carlile has racked up 24 Grammy nominations in her lifetime. She’s usually firmly in the Americana and country categories, but this year, she earned her first rock nominations. She actually dominated on that front, with “Broken Horses” winning Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. While on the surface, Carlile getting rock Grammys might read as off, she performed the track during the broadcast and it was very clearly a rock song, and a pretty good one, too.
Last night, a lot of songs did, but “God Did” was not among them. The DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend, and Fridayy song was nominated for Song Of The Year, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song. It won none of those awards.
Then, Khaled and company had to close the show with a performance of the song, which featured Khaled spouting his classic substance-free motivational nuggets. His loud claims of “we the best” or whatever while actual musicians were performing around him fell especially flat, since the Recording Academy just finished declaring on national television that he is in fact not the best.
Loser: Benny Blanco
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Benny Blanco wore that to the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Find the full list of this year’s Grammy nominees and winners here.
Let’s face it. It happened again. The GRAMMYs often get a big award wrong, and this year it was no different. In a show where the Recording Academy didn’t have many blemishes, the most glaring ones were for display in two of the big four categories: Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Both categories were primed for Beyoncé wins.
No disrespect to Bonnie Raitt, a legend in her own right, but even she was surprised.
Raitt’s single beat out Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film),” DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” and Gayle’s “ABCDEFU.”
To give an idea of how wild the win was, Raitt’s “Just Like That” was +4000 in the betting odds to win the award. After the win, Raitt addressed the press.
“I’m so surprised because they were massively talented, great tunes that represented tremendous excitement of the public, both in sales and in No. 1s and big smashing hits,” said Raitt. “And my little record? I’m so glad to be nominated. I was very surprised.”
The proper vote was “Break My Soul.” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” which won Record of the Year, and Styles’ “As It Was,” a massive hit as well, were also suitable options.
Speaking of Styles, he spoke about his Grammy win for Album of the Year, a hotly contested win online, that many thought should go to Beyonce.
“You never know with this stuff. I don’t think you can look at any of the nominees and not feel like they’re deserving. I feel like when you look, when I look at this category, it’s all people who have inspired me at different times. It’s not like you’d understand anyone winning and, yeah, I’m really grateful that they chose us. Thank you.”
To be frank, the category was a four-horse race between Styles’ Harry House, Bey’s Renaissance, Adele’s 30, and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti. A suitable win would have been for Renaissance, a flawless foray into a different genre for an artist, or Bad Bunny’s Un Vernao Sin Ti, which broke barriers of language to become the highest-performing album in the world.
As an interesting tidbit about the voting system, Variety published an article highlighting the voting mannerisms of the Recording Academy members.
On Bunny, a voter of over 15-plus years wrote: “Bad Bunny was by far the most commercially successful album of the year, but I think a lot of people have no idea who Bad Bunny is, just like when ‘Despacito’ was the biggest song of the year and didn’t win.”
On Beyonce, a music business veteran in his 70s wrote: “With Beyoncé, the fact that every time she does something new, it’s a big event and everyone’s supposed to quake in their shoes — it’s a little too portentous.”
There are a few wild takes in that expose, which you can read here. Ultimately, there are some corrections that need to be done to ensure voting doesn’t carry a bias based on outdated ideologies.
The most coveted of the “big four” Grammy Awards — Album Of The Year, New Artist Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year — is pretty unanimously the award for Album Of The Year. This year, the field faced some pretty staunch competition, with selections from a wide variety of genres and both contemporary and legacy artists vying for the prestige that comes with a win.
The nominees included ABBA, nominated for their new album Voyage; Adele, nominated for 30, won with her last release, 25, in 2015; Bad Bunny, who has the first Spanish-language album ever to be nominated for the award in Un Verano Sin Ti; Beyoncé for Renaissance, whose album Lemonade was nominated alongside 25; Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres; Harry Styles, whose third album Harry’s House marks his first-ever Album Of The Year nomination; Kendrick Lamar, nominated for his comeback album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers; Lizzo’s Special; and Mary J. Blige, whose album Good Morning Gorgeous garnered the R&B mainstay’s first nomination since 2014 (and second overall).
And while all are worthwhile entries, only one can win. So, the 2023 Album Of The Year is Harry’s House by Harry Styles.
You can see the full list of winners for the evening here.
We are now just days away from the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 5. (Here’s how to watch the show, in case you didn’t know, and here’s the full list of this year’s nominees.) The Recording Academy’s picks for who is going to win what awards are in, and all that’s left to do is wait and see who will be cement themselves in music history and take a golden gramophone trophy home.
Actually, there’s another thing left to do, not a requirement but a fun thought exercise: make picks for who the Academy has likely chosen for the four major awards (Best New Artist, Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year) and who we think should win them.
Make your own selections if you’d like, but if you wouldn’t mind hearing another perspective before you do, I’ve come up with some predictions and opinions. It wasn’t easy, because New Artist, Song, Record, and Album categories are stacked this year; A lot of new artists made an immediate impact on the music landscape, a number of songs are already being hailed as classics, and some albums on this year’s list are all-timers (at least one is if you ask Questlove, anyway).
So, before the 2023 Grammys officially kick off, let’s take a look at who probably will win the big four awards and who probably should get them.
Best New Artist
Anitta
Domi & JD Beck
Latto
Måneskin
Molly Tuttle
Muni Long
Omar Apollo
Samara Joy
Tobe Nwigwe
Wet Leg
Who will win: Anitta
Who should win: Anitta
Really, it’s hard to call Anitta new. It’s been nearly a decade since the Brazilian superstar released her 2013 self-titled debut album, which went No. 1 in her home country. In recent times, though, she has profoundly broken out on a broader international level. Her 2022 album Versions Of Me was her first on Warner (previous releases came out via Warner Music Brasil) and its biggest single, “Envolver,” was a global hit: It’s her first solo track to place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (after the Cardi B and Myke Towers collab “Me Gusta” in 2020), it became a TikTok sensation, and it was the first song by a Brazilian artist to rank No. 1 on the daily Spotify Global Chart. Between all that and other viral moments, Anitta is currently the best version of herself and is only getting better. While the crop of Best New Artist nominees is strong, none of the others have yet reached Anitta-level success.
Song Of The Year
Adele — “Easy On Me”
Beyoncé — “Break My Soul”
Bonnie Raitt — “Just Like That”
DJ Khaled — “God Did” Feat. Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend, and Fridayy
Gayle — “ABCDEFU”
Harry Styles — “As It Was”
Kendrick Lamar — “The Heart Part 5”
Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”
Taylor Swift — “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”
Who will win: Adele — “Easy On Me”
Who should win: Taylor Swift — “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”
The new expanded version of “All Too Well” quickly became one of the most storied songs in Swift’s discography, an oeuvre that has not been wanting of praise. Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield proclaimed the tune “sums up Swift at her absolute best,” and in the age of allegedly waning attention spans, fans have streamed the lengthy song over 450 million times on Spotify and made it the longest No. 1 song in Billboard Hot 100 history. There’s a problem, though: The Grammys honor new music (relatively new, anyway; “ABCDEFU” came out in August 2021). “All Too Well,” which originates from 2012’s Red, isn’t exactly a brand new track. That may dissuade Grammy voters from giving it the trophy, but it also wouldn’t be a crime if Adele’s “Easy On Me,” another powerfully evocative former No. 1 single, ended up winning. Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is also worth noting here, as it’s far from a pop tune but has nonetheless had pop tune success and acclaim.
Record Of The Year
ABBA — “Don’t Shut Me Down”
Adele — “Easy On Me”
Beyoncé — “Break My Soul”
Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius — “You And Me On The Rock”
Doja Cat — “Woman”
Harry Styles — “As It Was”
Kendrick Lamar — “The Heart Part 5”
Lizzo — “About Damn Time”
Mary J. Blige — “Good Morning Gorgeous”
Steve Lacy — “Bad Habit”
Who will win: Adele — “Easy On Me”
Who should win: Harry Styles — “As It Was”
First, an important note: The Recording Academy previously explained, “Record Of The Year deals with a specific recording of a song and recognizes the artists, producers and engineers who contribute to that recording, while Song Of The Year deals with the composition of a song and recognizes the songwriters who wrote the song.”
So, broadly, Song is about songwriting and Record is about the finished recording. That said, Harry Styles’ “As It Was” is a gorgeously executed recording deserving of the Record Of The Year title. At its core, it’s a summery pop-rock song that sounds a lot like some beach-faring indie music from years back. But, that aesthetic has been revived and refreshed just enough for modern day, yielding a tune that sounds warmly and breezily nostalgic while also slotting nicely into the current pop landscape. Headphone listeners are rewarded with the one, too, as there are a lot of production treats and intricacies that are hard to appreciate on an iPhone speaker but that give the song new dimension when you pay attention to them. The results really speak for themselves: “As It Was” is the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo artist in Hot 100 history and it appears not too long from now, it’ll become the first song from 2022 to eclipse 2 billion Spotify streams.
Album Of The Year
ABBA — Voyage
Adele — 30
Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti
Beyoncé — Renaissance
Brandi Carlile — In These Silent Days
Coldplay — Music Of The Spheres
Harry Styles — Harry’s House
Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Lizzo — Special
Mary J. Blige — Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)
Who will win: Adele — 30
Who should win: Beyoncé — Renaissance
Like many Grammy categories, pitting the nominees against each other is like comparing apples and oranges… and hammers and beach balls and secret family recipes. By what metrics do you measure products as wildly different as Album Of The Year nominees from Brandi Carlile, Adele, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar when they’re all up for the same award? It’s a task so impossible, it’s a wonder the Recording Academy is able to come to a decision at all year after year.
Annually, though, they do come up with a pick, one that makes fans mad regardless of who won. However, Beyoncé’s Renaissance would be a hard (but not impossible, as haters will prove should the album win) pick to hate, no matter your disposition. The LP has elements of dance, house, disco, pop, R&B, and probably dozens of other musical styles too numerous to mention here, all delivered by the incomparably confident, capable, and charismatic Beyoncé. Even putting her star power aside, Renaissance is a spectrum-spanning album that is full of mind-blowing musical moments. Here’s something that’s hard to make an argument against: Renaissance defined music in 2022 (and more importantly, during this year’s eligibility window from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). That sounds like the Album Of The Year to me.
Today, January 11, the Billboard Charts Twitter account shared the most-streamed songs across all platforms. Coming in at No. 1 is “Industry Baby” by Lil Nas X featuring Jack Harlow with 877.2 million streams. Following is Styles’ “As It Was” with 763.4 million. Then, there’s the Glass Animals hit “Heat Waves,” which was revived after being released in 2020, followed by “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from the film Encanto.
At No. 5 is “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons and JID, followed by Justin Bieber and The Kid Laroi’s “Stay.” Kodak Black’s “Super Gremlin” is at No. 7. Future, Drake, and Tems take No. 8 with “Wait For U.” “Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny and Chencho Corleone follow, and finally Bad Bunny takes the next spot as well with “Titi Me Pregunto.”
The iHeartRadio Music Awards are set to return to Los Angeles in March. The awards ceremony will celebrate their 10th anniversary on Monday, March 27. Today (January 11), iHeart has announced the nominations, with Lizzo, Harry Styles, and Taylor Swift in the lead for the most nods. Each of the artists have eight nominations, in categories like Artist Of The Year, TikTok Bop Of The Year, and more.
“It’s been a great year for music with so many inspiring hits, we can’t wait to celebrate these artists and songs at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards,” Tom Poleman, President and Chief Programming Officer for iHeartMedia, said in a statement. “Our annual awards show is one of the best in the industry at celebrating the power of music. This year’s show will once again entertain fans with incredible performances and special collaborations, it will be the year’s must-see event.”
Check out the full list of nominees below.
Artist Of The Year
Beyoncé
Doja Cat
Drake
Dua Lipa
Harry Styles
Jack Harlow
Justin Bieber
Lizzo
Taylor Swift
The Weeknd
Best Duo/Group Of The Year
AJR
Black Eyed Peas
Blackpink
Silk Sonic
Glass Animals
Imagine Dragons
Måneskin
OneRepublic
Parmalee
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Best Collaboration
“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” – Elle King & Miranda Lambert
“Cold Heart” – Elton John & Dua Lipa
“Half Of My Hometown” – Kelsea Ballerini feat. Kenny Chesney
“I Like You (A Happier Song)” – Post Malone feat. Doja Cat
“Industry Baby” – Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow
“One Right Now” – Post Malone & The Weeknd
“Sweetest Pie” – Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa
“Unholy” – Sam Smith & Kim Petras
“Wait For You” – Future feat. Drake & Tems
“You Right” – Doja Cat feat. The Weeknd
Best New Pop Artist
Dove Cameron
GAYLE
Jax
Nicky Youre
Steve Lacy
Country Song Of The Year
“Buy Dirt” – Jordan Davis feat. Luke Bryan
“Half Of My Hometown” – Kelsea Ballerini feat. Kenny Chesney
“She Had Me At Heads Carolina” – Cole Swindell
“The Kind Of Love We Make” – Luke Combs
“Wasted On You” – Morgan Wallen
Country Artist Of The Year
Carrie Underwood
Jason Aldean
Kane Brown
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen
Best New Country Artist
Bailey Zimmerman
Cody Johnson
Elle King
Elvie Shane
Priscilla Block
Afrobeats Artist Of The Year
Burna Boy
CKay
Fireboy DML
Tems
Wizkid
Hip-Hop Song Of The Year
“F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” – Hitkidd & GloRilla
“First Class” – Jack Harlow
“Girls Want Girls” – Drake ft. Lil Baby
“Super Gremlin” – Kodak Black
“WAIT FOR U” – Future ft. Drake & Tems
Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year
Drake
Future
Kodak Black
Lil Baby
Moneybagg Yo
Best New Hip-Hop Artist
B-Lovee
GloRilla
Latto
Nardo Wick
SleazyWorld Go
R&B Song Of The Year
“Break My Soul” – Beyoncé
“Free Mind” – Tems
“Hrs And Hrs” – Muni Long
“I Hate U” – SZA
“Smokin Out The Window” – Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
R&B Artist Of The Year
Blxst
Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
Muni Long
SZA
Yung Bleu
Best New R&B Artist
Blxst
Brent Faiyaz
Muni Long
Steve Lacy
Tems
Alternative Song Of The Year
“Black Summer” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Edging” – Blink-182
“Enemy (from the series Arcane League Of Legends)” – Imagine Dragons
“Heat Waves” – Glass Animals
“Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” – Kate Bush
Alternative Artist Of The Year
Imagine Dragons
Måneskin
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Twenty One pilots
Weezer
Best New Artist (Alternative & Rock)
Beach Weather
BoyWithUke
Giovannie and the Hired Guns
Turnstile
Wet Leg
Rock Song Of The Year
“Black Summer” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Patient Number 9” – Ozzy Osbourne ft. Jeff Beck
“Planet Zero” – Shinedown
“So Called Life” – Three Days Grace
“Taking Me Back” – Jack White
Rock Artist Of The Year
Ghost
Papa Roach
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Shinedown
Three Days Grace
Dance Song Of The Year
“Cold Heart” – Elton John & Dua Lipa
“Escape” – KX5, Kaskade, Deadmau5 ft. Hayla
“Heaven Takes You Home” – Swedish House Mafia & Connie Constance
“Hot In It” – Tiësto & Charli XCX
“I’m Good (Blue)” – David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
Dance Artist Of The Year
Anabel Englund
Joel Corry
SOFI TUKKER
Swedish House Mafia
Tiësto
Latin Pop/Reggaeton Song of The Year
“El Incomprendido” – Farruko/ Víctor Cárdenas/ DJ Adoni
“MAMIII” – Becky G & Karol G
“Me Porto Bonito” – Bad Bunny ft. Chencho Corleone
“Moscow Mule” – Bad Bunny
“Provenza” – Karol G
Latin Pop/Reggaeton Artist of the Year
Bad Bunny
Daddy Yankee
Farruko
Karol G
Rauw Alejandro
Regional Mexican Song of the Year
“Cada Quien” – Grupo Firme feat. Maluma
“Cómo Te Olvido” – La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho
“Si Te Pudiera Mentir” – Calibre 50
“Ya Solo Eres Mi Ex” – La Adictiva
“Ya Supérame” – Grupo Firme
Regional Mexican Artist of the Year
Calibre 50
Christian Nodal
El Fantasma
Grupo Firme
La Adictiva
Best New Latin Artist
Blessd
Kali Uchis
Quevedo
Ryan Castro
Venesti
Best Lyrics: *Socially Voted Category
“About Damn Time” – Lizzo
“abcdefu” – GAYLE
“Anti-Hero” – Taylor Swift
“Buy Dirt” – Jordan Davis feat. Luke Bryan
“Glimpse Of Us” – Joji
“Lift Me Up” – Rihanna
“N95” – Kendrick Lamar
“Pushin’ P” – Gunna feat. Future, Young Thug
“Super Freaky Girl” – Nicki Minaj
“Wasted On You” – Morgan Wallen
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” – Lin-Manuel Miranda performed by the Cast of Encanto
Best Music Video: *Socially Voted Category
“Anti-Hero” – Taylor Swift
“As It Was” – Harry Styles
“Calm Down” – Rema & Selena Gomez
“Don’t Be Shy” – Tiësto & Karol G
“Don’t You Worry” – Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, David Guetta
“Envovler” – Anitta
“Left and Right” – Charlie Puth feat. Jung Kook of BTS
“Pink Venom” – BLACKPINK
“Tití Me Preguntó” – Bad Bunny
“Yet To Come” – BTS
Best Fan Army: *Socially Voted Category
“Barbz” – Nicki Minaj
“Beliebers” – Justin Bieber
“BeyHive” – Beyoncé
“Blinks” – BLACKPINK
“BTSArmy” – BTS
“Harries” – Harry Styles
“Hotties” – Megan Thee Stallion
“Louies” – Louis Tomlinson
“RihannaNavy” – Rihanna
“Rushers” – Big Time Rush
“Selenators” – Selena Gomez
“Swifties” – Taylor Swift
Social Star Award: *Socially Voted Category
Bailey Zimmerman
Charli D’Amelio
Em Beihold
GAYLE
GloRilla
JVKE
Lauren Spencer-Smith
Yung Gravy
Favorite Tour Photographer: *Socially Voted Category
Bad Bunny – SIEMPRERIC
Demi Lovato – Angelo Kritikos
Dua Lipa – Elizabeth Miranda
Halsey – Yasi
Harry Styles – Lloyd Wakefield
Louis Tomlinson – Joshua Halling
Luke Combs – David Bergman
Machine Gun Kelly – Sam Cahill
Olivia Rodrigo – DONSLENS
Post Malone – Adam DeGross
Twenty One Pilots – Ashley Osborn
YUNGBLUD – Tom Pallant
TikTok Bop of the Year: *Socially Voted Category
“About Damn Time” – Lizzo
“As It Was” – Harry Styles
“Bad Habit” – Steve Lacy
“Bejeweled” – Taylor Swift
“Big Energy” – Latto
“Cuff It” – Beyoncé
“Envolver” – Anitta
“Just Wanna Rock” – Lil Uzi Vert
“Made You Look” – Meghan Trainor
“Super Freaky Girl” – Nicki Minaj
“Unholy” – Sam Smith & Kim Petras
“World’s Smallest Violin” – AJR
Favorite Documentary: *Socially Voted Category
“Halftime” – Jennifer Lopez
“Life in Pink” – Machine Gun Kelly
“Love, Lizzo” – Lizzo
“Niall Horan’s Homecoming: The Road To Mullingar With Lewis Capaldi” – Niall Horan + Lewis Capaldi
“Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” – Selena Gomez
“Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl” – Shania Twain
“Sheryl” – Sheryl Crow
“Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby” – Lil Baby
Favorite Tour Style: *Socially Voted Category
Bad Bunny
Carrie Underwood
Dua Lipa
Elton John
Harry Styles
Lady Gaga
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Machine Gun Kelly
Olivia Rodrigo
Rosalía
The Weeknd
Favorite Residency: *Socially Voted Category
“An Evening With Silk Sonic” – Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
“Enigma + Jazz & Piano” – Lady Gaga
“Let’s Go!” – Shania Twain
“Love In Las Vegas” – John Legend
“Love On Tour” – Harry Styles
“Play” – Katy Perry
“REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency” – Carrie Underwood
“Usher: My Way – The Las Vegas Residency” – Usher
“Weekends With Adele” – Adele
Favorite Use of a Sample: *Socially Voted Category
Beyoncé’s “Summer Renaissance” – sampled Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love”
BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” – sampled 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P,” Rihanna’s “Pon de Replay,” and Biggie’s “Kick In The Door”
Chlöe’s “Treat Me” – sampled Bubba Sparxxx & Ying Yang Twins’ “Ms. New Booty”
David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” – sampled Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)”
DJ Khaled & Drake’s “Staying Alive” – sampled The Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive”
Doja Cat’s “Vegas” – sampled Shonka Dukureh’s “Hound Dog”
Jack Harlow’s “First Class” – sampled Fergie’s “Glamorous”
Latto’s “Big Energy” – sampled Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy”
Lizzo’s “Break Up Twice” – sampled Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)”
Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” – sampled Rick James’ “Super Freak”
Taylor Swift’s “Question…?” – sampled Taylor Swift’s “Out Of The Woods”
Yung Gravy’s “Betty (Get Money)” – sampled Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”
The iHeartRadio Music Awards will air live on Fox on Monday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Every #1 song on the Hot 100 in 2022: Easy On Me We Don’t Talk About Bruno Heat Waves As It Was First Class WAIT FOR U Jimmy Cooks About Damn Time BREAK MY SOUL Super Freaky Girl Bad Habit Unholy Anti-Hero All I Want for Christmas Is You
That brings us back to Carey. The 2022 “All I Want For Christmas” run began with the Hot 100 chart dated December 17 and is holding strong through this week. Which song will dethrone it in January and restart the cycle for 2023?
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
(@NinaVzqz23) February 6, 2023
– TikTok – theaccidentalcougar 
GRAMMYs 
