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Lorde's second album earns Grammy nomination

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Wed, 29 Nov 2017, 5:48AM
Lorde's Melodrama will compete alongside works from Jay-Z and Childish Gambino. (Photo/Getty)
Lorde's Melodrama will compete alongside works from Jay-Z and Childish Gambino. (Photo/Getty)

Lorde's second album earns Grammy nomination

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Wed, 29 Nov 2017, 5:48AM

Lorde has been nominated for Album of the Year at the 2018 Grammy Awards for her critically-acclaimed sophomore album Melodrama.

She is the only female artist nominated in the major category.

In 2014, the Kiwi singer won two Grammys for best pop solo performance and song of the year for her smash hit Royals.

Jay-Z is the leader of the 2018 in a year where the top four categories are heavily dominated by rap and R&B artists, giving the often overlooked genres a strong chance of winning big.

The Recording Academy announced that Jay-Z is nominated for eight honours, including album, song, and record of the year. Bruno Mars is also nominated for the big three, while Kendrick Lamar — who earned seven nominations — and Childish Gambino are also up for major awards.

Jay-Z's personal and revealing album, 4:44, is nominated for album of the year alongside Mars' 90s-inspired R&B adventure 24K Magic, Lamar's hard-hitting rap masterpiece DAMN., Gambino's funk-soul project Awaken My Love!, alongside Lorde.

Record of the year nominees include Jay-Z's The Story of O.J., a song about blackness and managing money that also references O.J. Simpson; Mars' Top 5 hit, 24K Magic; Lamar's No. 1 smash, Humble; Gambino's Redbone, which peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100; and the year's biggest hit, Despacito, by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.

Despacito is also nominated for song of the year — a songwriter's award — along with Mars' No. 1 hit, That's What I Like; the title track from Jay-Z's 4:44; rapper Logic's suicide prevention anthem, 1-800-273-8255; and Issues by Julia Michaels, the singer who has written hits for Bieber, Selena Gomez and other pop stars.

Michaels is also nominated for best new artist, where R&B and rap rule again: Her competition includes singers SZA, Khalid and Alessia Cara, as well as rapper Lil Uzi Vert.

No rock or country acts were nominated in the top four categories. The rap- and R&B-heavy nominations, which include numerous black and Latino artists, come after the Grammys were criticized earlier this year when some felt Beyonce's multi-genre Lemonade album should have won album of the year over Adele's 25. Adele also expressed that Beyonce should have received the prize.

The win for Adele, though, marked another year when the Grammys awarded its biggest prizes to an artist outside of the rap or R&B genre. Kanye West, Eminem, Mariah Carey and others have also lost in the top categories over the years to pop, rock and country acts despite owning the year in music, critically and commercially.

"We have a current membership that is savvy and certainly timely, is current, and reflective of what music is about today and in the future. And clearly the diversification work that we've done for our membership is evident in all of the nominations this year," Neil Portnow, the academy's president and CEO, said in an interview. "I think it's a testimony to our hard work and intention of having a very vibrant, current, relevant, diverse voting membership."

Jay-Z or Lamar could make history next year when the Grammys take place in New York City on Jan. 28, 2018: Either album could become only the third rap-based album to win album of the year; and either song could become the first in the rap genre to win record or song of the year.

- AP

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