NEW YORK (AP) – It could be a night for Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s history books at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, for both good and bad reasons.
Swift could become the first woman to win the show’s top prize, the album of the year, three times. Her first surprise album of 2020, the folklore of alternative and popular adventures, competes for the highest honor, an award she won in 2010 for “Fearless”, her breakthrough that helped her establish herself as a star of the pop in good faith, even though he sang country music. He won again in 2016 for “1989,” his first full-length pop album that topped the charts with a plethora of hits.
Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon are some of the male performers who have won the album of the year on three occasions. Producers or engineers have also won the award three times, including Phil Ramone, Ryan Tedder, David Foster, Bob Ludwig, Serban Ghenea and others.
The only person to win the award four times is master engineer Tom Coyne, who died in 2017.
Beyoncé has never won the album of the year in her career (this year she has not won the honor because she did not release any projects during the eligibility period), but it is the most nominated act. With 24 wins and nine nominations this year, she could surpass Alison Krauss ’27 wins and become the most decorated woman in Grammys history.
Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” received nominations for Record and Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance, while her guest appearance on Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” won deals for album of the year, best rap performance and best rap song.
Beyoncé holds the record for most Grammy nominations for a female event, with 79. She and Paul McCartney tie for second place among all Grammy nominees, behind only Quincy Jones and Jay-Z, who have achieved 80 head to head each.
The royal family of music could come out with several victories at home. Jay-Z co-wrote “Black Parade” and “Savage”, earning him nominations for Song of the Year, Best R&B Song and Best Rap Song. He has won 22 Grammys throughout his career.
Her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, is nominated alongside her mother for best music video for “Brown Skin Girl”. Ivy Carter does a vocal rendition of the song and appears in the video; she is also co-written the song with Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
Ivy Carter, 9, could become the second youngest person to win a Grammy. Leah Peasall was eight years old when The Peasall Sisters won the album of the year on the 2002 show for her appearance on “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, Produced by T Bone Burnett. soundtrack. “Brown Skin Girl,” a song celebrating brown, dark-skinned women, has won several Ivy Carter Awards, including two Soul Train Music Awards, a BET Award, and a NAACP Image Award.
While Beyoncé could spend a historic night, history could repeat itself and be excluded from winning an award, a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of his 24 wins, only one has been for one of the four big Grammys, the song of the year. He has lost the record of the year three times and the record of the year five times.
Jay-Z has never won any awards, and he and his wife join a list of mostly black performers who have been restricted from winning in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.
This year The Weeknd was the one that was dismantled. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a best-selling multi-hit album, it didn’t garner nominations. So far he has won three Grammys, only in the R&B categories, but has pledged to boycott the Grammys because he disagrees with the way the Recording Academy selects its winners..
The album of the year award has only been given to two rap-based acts: Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” and Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx / The Love Below.” Although rap is the most popular genre today, no rap album earned a top award nomination this year. A rap song never got the song of the year or an album of the year until Childish Gambino made history in 2019 with “This Is America”.
Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win album of the year.
Megan Thee Stallion could also become the first female rapper to win the best rap song. The Houston rapper, along with D Smoke, Chika and Doja Cat, could also become the fifth rap-based act to win the best new artist. Her competition includes Phoebe Bridgers, Noah Cyrus, Kaytranada and Ingrid Andress, which could become the fourth country music act to win.
Other women who could make history on Sunday are Grace Potter, who has a chance to be the first female performer to win the best rock album in more than two decades, and the sister trio HAIM, the first all-female rock band nominated for record of the year..
While 84 awards will be handed out, about 10 during the live broadcast and the rest during the pre-ceremony, viewers are likely to be watching the performances.
About two dozen acts will hit the stages of downtown Los Angeles, including Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.
Trevor Noah will host the show, which airs at 8 p.m. east of CBS and Paramount +. The Grammys were originally scheduled for January 31, but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Artists competing with Swift for this year’s album include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Jacob Collier and Black Pumas..
___
Follow full AP Grammy coverage at www.apnews.com/GrammyAwards