Wrangler
Gracie Abrams, Ice Spice, Coco Jones, Jelly Roll, Noah Kahan, Peso Pluma, The War and Treatre and Lainie Wilson are among the 405 artists vying for a Best New Artist nomination at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
While the aforementioned artists appear to be the frontrunners to fill the eight available slots, or at least among the frontrunners, Grammy voters may surprise us. Last year, not many people thought Samara Joy would be nominated. She wasn’t just nominated – she won. This year’s shortlist includes 397 other artists, many of whom are highly regarded, who are also hoping to make the shortlist.
As expected, Zach Bryan, who received a Grammy nomination last year (for best country performance for “Something in the Orange”), was deemed ineligible. The same thing happened with Boygenius, which includes Phoebe Bridgers, who has received four previous nominations. A previous nomination will automatically disqualify this category (assuming the artist released enough tracks to be eligible in the previous year).
But for the most part, the Academy tries to err on the side of inclusivity in this category. In the past, Whitney Houston, Richard Marx, Lady Gaga and many other potential Best New Artist nominees and even winners have been ruled ineligible based on sometimes nitpicky technicalities. The Academy is now looking for ways to include artists rather than exclude them.
Indeed, some of the artists eligible this year have been around for a long time. Jelly Roll has been releasing albums without much notice until recently, since 2011.
Other best new artist contenders who aren’t exactly new include Ava Max, whose hits released nearly five years ago include “Sweet But Psycho” and “Kings and Queens”; Cody Johnson, nominated for CMA New Artist of the Year in 2019 and 2022; and Coy LeRae, who was nominated for a 2021 BET Award for Best New Artist.
Several more of this year’s Best New Artist Grammy nominees have been nominated for New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards, including Wilson, who won the category in 2022, and Jelly Roll, who is favorite to win there in November. 8. Others include HARDY, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney and Hayley Whitters.
Several other Grammy hopefuls were nominated for best new artist at the BET Awards. Jones won the award this year. FLO, Ice Spice and Lola Brooke were also nominated.
Peso Pluma is in the running to become the third Latin artist in the last five years to receive a nomination for best new artist. He will follow Rosalia and Anita. Pluma was not up for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammys and was passed over for nominations in categories for which he was eligible. A nomination here would be compensation for an artist many have seen as snubbed.
Aespa, Fifty Fifty, Seventeen and Stray Kids are among the K-pop acts hoping to make history as the first K-pop acts to receive a Best New Artist nomination.
Here are other notable artists, not yet named, vying for one of the eight nominations: Madison Beer, Sabrina Carpenter, Gus Dapperton, Ezra Collective, Fred Again…, Fridayy, JVKE, David Kushner, Laufey, The Linda Lindas, Lizzie McAlpine, Tate McRae, Mitski, NLE Choppa, Joy Oladokun, Keke Palmer, Pink Panther, Ray, Rema, Steven Sanchez, Lauren Spencer Smith, Thusi, Eve Tumor, Morgan Wade and Bailey Zimmerman.
As noted, there are 405 artists entered, so this is just a sampling. We may be in for a surprise.
The number of Grammy nominees for best new artist jumped from five to eight in 2018 and from eight to 10 in 2021. This year it will (thankfully) drop back to a more reasonable eight.
Winners over the past five years, as the field of nominees has expanded, include Dua Lipa (2018), Billie Eilish (2019), Megan Thee Stallion (2020), Olivia Rodrigo (2021) and Joy (2022). As you can see, Grammy voters tend to favor female artists in this category. The 2017 winner (last year there were only five nominees) was also a woman (Alessia Cara).
Last year’s nine other nominees besides Joy were: Anitta, Omar Apollo, DOMI and JD Beck, Mooney Long, Latto, Maneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Foot.
Best New Artist is the only category in the so-called “Big Four” (along with album, record and song of the year) to see an increase in entries compared to last year. This year there were 405 applications, compared to 368 last year. The number of applicants in this category peaked in 2013 at 670.
The first round of voting for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards began on Wednesday (October 11) and ends on October 20. Nominees will be announced on November 10 (five days earlier than last year). The final voting window will run from December 14 to January 4, 2023 (same as last year). Winners will be announced on Sunday, February 4, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center) in Los Angeles.