SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Nominations for next year's Grammy Awards were announced Friday, and Beyonce leads the field with 11.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TEXAS HOLD 'EM")
BEYONCE: (Singing) This ain't Texas, ain't no hold 'em. So lay your cards down, down, down, down.
DETROW: Here to talk Grammys is Stephen Thompson from NPR Music and Pop Culture Happy Hour. Hey, Stephen.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Hello, Scott.
DETROW: So we mentioned Beyonce. In all things, you must start with Beyonce.
THOMPSON: That's right.
DETROW: Give me the top-line takeaways beyond Beyonce from this field.
THOMPSON: Well, if you look at the year in pop, it's been a huge, huge year for women. Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie XCX.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "360")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) Yeah, 360. When you're in the mirror, do you like what you see? When you're in the mirror, you're just looking at me. I'm everywhere. I'm so Julia, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
THOMPSON: Those six women really dominated the major fields, sort of more or less as expected. I think a lot of these awards came down in a way that reflects the way the year in music played out. These are the records that had kind of the biggest cultural footprint of the year, that were kind of the closest we had to a monoculture. So it's not surprising that those records dominated the field. There were, however, along the way, a handful of surprises.
DETROW: Talk me through that because again, everything you just said, like, yeah, makes sense. What were the...
THOMPSON: Right.
DETROW: What were the curveballs?
THOMPSON: I think the curveballs came in record of the year. There was a - you know, there was an expectation kind of that a lot of the biggest - you know, a lot of the biggest songs of the year - like a - Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" might have been nominated. It was nominated for song of the year but not record of the year. What was nominated for record of the Year - the Beatles' "Now And Then."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOW AND THEN")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) Will love you, now and then.
DETROW: Can you explain that to me?
THOMPSON: So "Now And Then" was a demo that John Lennon recorded around 1977.
DETROW: Yeah.
THOMPSON: It was completed and then released late in 2023 and billed as the final Beatles song. It's a nice song. It's pretty. It's a little bit of a trifle, not necessarily something that I would think of as one of the records of the year.
DETROW: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOW AND THEN")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) To me, I know...
THOMPSON: To me, a bigger surprise is in the album of the year field. The six artists that I named up top - they are all in the album of the year field, as well as Jacob Collier, who's kind of a Grammy favorite. The eighth nominee was "New Blue Sun" by Andre 3000.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDRE 3000'S "I SWEAR I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A "RAP" ALBUM BUT THIS IS LITERALLY THE WAY THE WIND BLEW ME THIS TIME")
DETROW: As a proud millennial, Andre 3000 means a lot to me, but this was the flute album.
THOMPSON: This is the album of instrumental flute odysseys. It's an interesting record, but it's a curiosity.
DETROW: Yeah.
THOMPSON: Is it one of the eight albums that people listened to and celebrated the most in - within this eligibility period? I wouldn't say so or think so. Andre 3000 name recognition goes a long way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDRE 3000'S "I SWEAR I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A "RAP" ALBUM BUT THIS IS LITERALLY THE WAY THE WIND BLEW ME THIS TIME")
DETROW: Any major snubs?
THOMPSON: I think with so many kind of juggernaut women in pop, that crowded a couple of major artists out of the field. Dua Lipa was shut out completely.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOUDINI")
DUA LIPA: (Singing) You need me. I'm not here for long. Catch me, or I go Houdini. I come, and I go.
THOMPSON: She received no nominations, and she's certainly been embraced by the Grammys in the past. Ariana Grande was shut out of the major categories, though she received three nominations in the pop fields. Vampire Weekend being completely shut out really surprised me. I anticipated a field, particularly in album of the year...
DETROW: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Where their album "Only God Was Above Us" might have slipped into that field, but they were - they weren't even nominated for best alternative album. That did surprise me. And for those who were expecting a big performance from Zach Bryan, who's a major, major star in country music...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I REMEMBER EVERYTHING")
ZACH BRYAN: (Singing) A cold shoulder at closing time, you were begging me to stay till the sun rose. Strained words...
THOMPSON: He didn't submit any of his music for consideration, and he was left out entirely.
DETROW: Stephen, last question - by and large, I feel like we've talked over the years of, like, times that the Grammys are aligned with pop culture and the actual zeitgeist of music and times that it's, like, cartoonishly off.
THOMPSON: Way off, yeah.
DETROW: Which one does this field fall into?
THOMPSON: This really feels like it falls into the zeitgeist of pop culture. I mean, when you think about the summer of 2024, one of the songs you are thinking about is Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso." It was completely inescapable.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ESPRESSO")
SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) Now he's thinking about me every night. Oh, is it that sweet? I guess so. Say you can't sleep, baby, I know, that's that me espresso. Move it up, down...
THOMPSON: Those six artists I mentioned at the top felt like the six biggest records of this eligibility period. It makes sense that they are lavishly nominated. This is one where they feel basically in tune with what's going on.
DETROW: OK. That's NPR Music's Stephen Thompson. Stephen, always good to talk to you.
THOMPSON: Always good to talk to you, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ESPRESSO")
CARPENTER: (Singing) Are on vacation, and I got...
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