That’s a wrap for the 2023 GRAMMYs!

Full of groundbreaking performances and history-making GRAMMY wins, the 2023 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 65th GRAMMY Awards, was one of the biggest nights in music history — ever.

Below is the complete list of the winners and nominees for the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Head to live.GRAMMY.com all year long to watch all the GRAMMY performances, acceptance speeches, the GRAMMY Live From The Red Carpet livestream special, the full Premiere Ceremony livestream, and even more exclusive, never-before-seen content from the 2023 GRAMMYs.

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? Three New Categories Added For The 2024 GRAMMYs: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album & Best Pop Dance Recording

General Field

1. Record Of The Year

Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s), if other than the artist.

Don't Shut Me Down
ABBA
Benny Andersson, producer; Benny Andersson & Bernard Löhr, engineers/mixers; Björn Engelmann, mastering engineer

Easy On Me
Adele
Greg Kurstin, producer; Julian Burg, Tom Elmhirst & Greg Kurstin, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

BREAK MY SOUL
Beyoncé
Beyoncé, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, Jens Christian Isaksen & Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, producers; Brandon Harding, Chris McLaughlin & Stuart White, engineers/mixers; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

Good Morning Gorgeous
Mary J. Blige
D’Mile & H.E.R., producers; Bryce Bordone, Serban Ghenea & Pat Kelly, engineers/mixers

You And Me On The Rock
Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius
Dave Cobb & Shooter Jennings, producers; Brandon Bell, Tom Elmhirst & Michael Harris, engineers/mixers; Pete Lyman, mastering engineer

Woman
Doja Cat
Crate Classics, Linden Jay, Aynzli Jones & Yeti Beats, producers; Jesse Ray Ernster & Rian Lewis, Tyler Sheppard & Kalani Thompson, engineers/mixers; Mike Bozzi, mastering engineer

Bad Habit
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy, producer; Neal Pogue & Karl Wingate, engineers/mixers; Mike Bozzi, mastering engineer

The Heart Part 5
Kendrick Lamar
Beach Noise, producer; Beach Noise, Rob Bisel, Ray Charles Brown Jr., James Hunt, Johnny Kosich, Matt Schaeffer & Johnathan Turner, engineers/mixers; Emerson Mancini, mastering engineer

About Damn Time - WINNER
Lizzo
Ricky Reed & Blake Slatkin, producers; Patrick Kehrier, Bill Malina & Manny Marroquin, engineers/mixers; Emerson Mancini, mastering engineer

As It Was
Harry Styles
Tyler Johnson & Kid Harpoon, producers; Jeremy Hatcher & Spike Stent, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

2. Album Of The Year

Award to Artist(s) and to Featured Artist(s), Songwriter(s) of new material, Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s), Mixer(s) and Mastering Engineer(s).

Voyage
ABBA
Benny Andersson, producer; Benny Andersson & Bernard Löhr, engineers/mixers; Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, songwriters; Björn Engelmann, mastering engineer

30
Adele
Shawn Everett, Ludwig Göransson, Inflo, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Joey Pecoraro & Shellback, producers; Julian Burg, Steve Churchyard, Tom Elmhirst, Shawn Everett, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Sam Holland, Michael Ilbert, Inflo, Greg Kurstin, Riley Mackin & Lasse Mårtén, engineers/mixers; Adele Adkins, Ludwig Göransson, Dean Josiah Cover, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Greg Kurstin, Max Martin & Shellback, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

Un Verano Sin Ti
Bad Bunny
Rauw Alejandro, Bomba Estéreo, Buscabulla, Chencho Corleone, Jhay Cortez, Tony Dize & The Marías, featured artists; Bass Charity, BYRD, De La Cruz, Demy & Clipz, Elikai, Hassi, HAZE, Albert Hype, La Paciencia, Cheo Legendary, Richi Lopez, MAG, MagicEnElBeat, Masis, MICK, Jesus Alberto Molina, Mora, Jota Rosa, SCOTT, Subelo Neo, TAINY & ZULIA, producers; Josh Gudwin & Roberto Rosado, engineers/mixers; Raul Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz, Kamil Assad, Jorge Miguel Cardoso Augusto, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, Raquel Berrios, Julian Quiles Betancourt, Leutrim Beqiri, Harry Alexis Ramos Cabrera, Joshua Conway, Mick Coogan, Orlando Javier Valle Vega, Jesus Nieves Cortes, Jose Cruz, Misael De La Cruz, Luis Del Valle, Scott Dittrich, Tony Feliciano Rivera, Feliciano Ponce Ecar, Kaled Elikai Cordova, Etienne Gagnon, Jason Garcia, Juan Diego Linares Gonzalez, Egbert Rosa, Nicolas Jara, Roberto Rosado, Jose Raphael Arce Rodriguez, Ritchie Lopez, Marco Daniel Borrero, Joaquin Calderon Bravo, Steve Martinez-Funes, Marcos Masis, Michael Masis, Adrian McKinnon, Alberto Carlos Melendez, Jesus Alberto Molina, Freddy Montalvo, Gabriel Mora, Hector Pagan, Darwin Cordale Quinn, Joel Hernandez Rodriguez, Abner Jose Cordero Boria, Joselly Rosario, Elena Rose, Liliana Margarita Saumet, Luzian Gregor Tuetsch, Harissis Tsakmaklis & Maria Zardoya, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

RENAISSANCE
Beyoncé
Beam, Grace Jones & Tems, featured artists; Jameil Aossey, Bah, Beam, Syd, Beyoncé, Bloodpop, Boi-1da, Cadenza, Al Cres, Mike Dean, Kelman Duran, Harry Edwards, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, Ivor Guest, Guiltybeatz, Hit-Boy, Honey Dijon, Jens Christian Isaksen, Leven Kali, Lil Ju, MeLo-X, No I.D., NovaWav, Chris Penny, P2J, Rissi, Raphael Saadiq, Neenyo, Skrillex, Luke Solomon, S1A0, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Jahaan Sweet, Sevn Thomas, Sol Was & Stuart White, producers; Matheus Braz, Chi Coney, Russell Graham, Guiltybeatz, Brandon Harding, Hotae Alexander Jang, Chris McLaughlin, Delroy "Phatta" Pottinger, Andrea Roberts, Steve Rusch, Jabbar Stevens & Stuart White, engineers/mixers; Denisia "@Blu June" Andrews, Jameil Aossey, Tyshane Thompson, Sydney Bennett, Beyoncé, Michael Tucker, Atia Boggs p/k/a Ink, Matthew Samuels, Dustin Bowie, Oliver Rodigan, Nija Charles, Sabrina Claudio, Solomon Fagenson Cole, Brittany "@Chi_Coney" Coney, Alexander Guy Cook, Lavar Coppin, Almando Cresso, Mike Dean, Saliou Diagne, Darius Dixson, Jocelyn Donald, Jordan Douglas, Aubrey Drake Graham, Kelman Duran, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, Dave Giles II, Derrick Carrington Gray, Nick Green, Larry Griffin Jr, Ronald Banful, Dave Hamelin, Aviel Calev Hirschfield, Chauncey Hollis, Jr., Honey Redmond, Ariowa Irosogie, S. Carter, Leven Kali, Ricky Lawson, David Debrandon Brown, Tizita Makuria, Julian Martrel Mason, Daniel Memmi, Cherdericka Nichols, Ernest "No I.D." Wilson, Danielle Balbuena, Patrick Paige II, Christopher Lawrence Penny, Michael Pollack, Richard Isong, Derek Renfroe, Morten Ristorp, Nile Rodgers, Raphael Saadiq, Sean Seaton, Skrillex, Corece Smith, Luke Francis Matthew Solomon, Jabbar Stevens, Christopher A. Stewart, Jahaan Sweet, Temilade Openiyi, Rupert Thomas, Jr. & Jesse Wilson, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)
Mary J. Blige
Dave East, DJ Khaled, Fabolous, Fivio Foreign, Griselda, H.E.R., Jadakiss, Moneybagg Yo, Ne-Yo, Anderson .Paak, Remy Ma & Usher, featured artists; Alissia, Tarik Azzouz, Bengineer, Blacka Din Me, Rogét Chahayed, Cool & Dre, Ben Billions, DJ Cassidy, DJ Khaled, Wonda, Bongo Bytheway, D’Mile, H.E.R., Hostile Beatz, Eric Hudson, London On Da Track, Leon Michels, Nova Wav, Anderson.Paak, Sl!Mwav, Streetrunner, Swizz Beatz & J White Did It, producers; Derek Ali, Ben Chang, Luis Bordeaux, Bryce Bordone, Lauren D’Elia, Chris Galland, Serban Ghenea, Akeel Henry, Jaycen Joshua, Pat Kelly, Jhair Lazo, Shamele Mackie, Manny Marroquin, Dave Medrano, Ari Morris, Parks, Juan Peña, Ben Sedano, Kev Spencer, Julio Ulloa & Jodie Grayson Williams, engineers/mixers; Alissia Beneviste, Denisia "Blu June" Andrews, Archer, Bianca Atterberry, Tarik Azzouz, Shawn Hibbler, Mary J. Blige, David Brewster, Shawn Butler, Rogét Chahayed, Ant Clemons, Brittany "Chi" Coney, Demond "Conway The Machine" Price, Benjamin Diehl, DJ Cassidy, Khaled Khaled, Jocelyn Donald, Jerry Duplessis, Uforo Ebong, Dernst Emile II, John Jackson, Gabriella Wilson, Charles A. Hinshaw, Jamie Hurton, Eric Hudson, Jason Phillips, London Holmes, David Brown, Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon, Leon Michels, Shaffer Smith, Brandon Anderson, Jeremie "Benny The Butcher" Pennick, Reminisce Mackie, Jerome Monroe, Jr., Nicholas Warwar, Kasseem Dean, Deforrest Taylor, Tiara Thomas, Marcello "Cool" Valenzano, Alvin "Westside Gunn" Worthy, Anthony Jermaine White & Leon Youngblood, songwriters

In These Silent Days
Brandi Carlile
Lucius, featured artist; Dave Cobb & Shooter Jennings, producers; Brandon Bell, Dave Cobb, Tom Elmhirst, Michael Harris & Shooter Jennings, engineers/mixers; Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters; Pete Lyman, mastering engineer

Music Of The Spheres
Coldplay
BTS, Jacob Collier, Selena Gomez & We Are KING, featured artists; Jacob Collier, Daniel Green, Oscar Holter, Jon Hopkins, Max Martin, Metro Boomin, Kang Hyo-Won, Bill Rahko, Bart Schoudel, Rik Simpson, Paris Strother & We Are KING, producers; Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Jacob Collier, The Dream Team, Duncan Fuller, Serban Ghenea, Daniel Green, John Hanes, Jon Hopkins, Michael Ilbert, Max Martin, Bill Rahko, Bart Schoudel, Rik Simpson & Paris Strother, engineers/mixers; Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Denise Carite, Will Champion, Jacob Collier, Derek Dixie, Sam Falson, Stephen Fry, Daniel Green, Oscar Holter, Jon Hopkins, Jung Ho-Seok, Chris Martin, Max Martin, John Metcalfe, Leland Tyler Wayne, Bill Rahko, Kim Nam-Joon, Jesse Rogg, Davide Rossi, Rik Simpson, Amber Strother, Paris Strother, Min Yoon-Gi, Federico Vindver & Olivia Waithe, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Kendrick Lamar
Baby Keem, Blxst, Sam Dew, Ghostface Killah, Beth Gibbons, Kodak Black, Tanna Leone, Taylour Paige, Amanda Reifer, Sampha & Summer Walker, featured artists; The Alchemist, Baby Keem, Craig Balmoris, Beach Noise, Bekon, Boi-1da, Cardo, Dahi, DJ Khalil, The Donuts, FNZ, Frano, Sergiu Gherman, Emile Haynie, J.LBS, Johnny Juliano, Mario Luciano, Tyler Reese, OKLAMA, Rascal, Sounwave, Jahaan Sweet, Tae Beast, Duval Timothy & Pharrell Williams, producers; Derek Ali, Matt Anthony, Beach Noise, Rob Bisel, David Bishop, Troy Bourgeois, Andrew Boyd, Ray Charles Brown Jr., Derek Garcia, Chad Gordon, James Hunt, Johnny Kosich, Mike Larson, Manny Marroquin, Erwing Olivares, Raymond J Scavo III, Matt Schaeffer, Cyrus Taghipour, Johnathan Turner & Joe Visciano, engineers/mixers; Khalil Abdul-Rahman, Hykeem Carter, Craig Balmoris, Beach Noise, Daniel Tannenbaum, Daniel Tannenbaum, Stephen Lee Bruner, Matthew Burdette, Isaac John De Boni, Sam Dew, Anthony Dixon, Victor Ekpo, Sergiu Gherman, Dennis Coles, Beth Gibbons, Frano Huett, Stuart Johnson, Bill K. Kapri, Jake Kosich, Johnny Kosich, Daniel Krieger, Kendrick Lamar, Ronald LaTour, Mario Luciano, Daniel Alan Maman, Timothy Maxey, Tyler Mehlenbacher, Michael John Mulé, D. Natche, OKLAMA, Jason Pounds, Rascal, Amanda Reifer, Matthew Samuels, Avante Santana, Matt Schaeffer, Sampha Sisay, Mark Spears, Homer Steinweiss, Jahaan Akil Sweet, Donte Lamar Perkins, Duval Timothy, Summer Walker & Pharrell Williams, songwriters; Emerson Mancini, mastering engineer

Special
Lizzo
Benny Blanco, Daoud, Omer Fedi, Kid Harpoon, Ian Kirkpatrick, Max Martin, Nate Mercereau, The Monsters & Strangerz, Phoelix, Ricky Reed, Mark Ronson, ILYA, Blake Slatkin & Pop Wansel, producers; Benny Blanco, Jeff Chestek, Jacob Ferguson, Serban Ghenea, Jeremy Hatcher, Andrew Hey, Sam Holland, Stefan Johnson, Jens Jungkurth, Patrick Kehrier, Ian Kirkpatrick, Damien Lewis, Bill Malina, Manny Marroquin, Ricky Reed & ILYA, engineers/mixers; Amy Allen, Jonathan Bellion, Benjamin Levin, Thomas Brenneck, Daoud Anthony, Omer Fedi, Kid Harpoon, Jordan K Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Ian Kirkpatrick, Savan Kotecha, Melissa Jefferson, Max Martin, Nate Mercereau, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Michael Neil, Michael Pollack, Eric Frederic, Mark Ronson, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Blake Slatkin, Peter Svensson, Theron Makiel Thomas, Andrew Wansel & Emily Warren, songwriters; Emerson Mancini, mastering engineer

Harry's House - WINNER
Harry Styles
Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon & Sammy Witte, producers; Jeremy Hatcher, Oli Jacobs, Nick Lobel, Spike Stent & Sammy Witte, engineers/mixers; Amy Allen, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon, Mitch Rowland, Harry Styles & Sammy Witte, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

3. Song Of The Year

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

abcdefu
Sara Davis, GAYLE & Dave Pittenger, songwriters (GAYLE)

About Damn Time
Melissa “Lizzo” Jefferson, Eric Frederic, Blake Slatkin & Theron Makiel Thomas, songwriters (Lizzo)

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)
Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

As It Was
Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon & Harry Styles, songwriters (Harry Styles)

Bad Habit
Matthew Castellanos, Britanny Fousheé, Diana Gordon, John Carroll Kirby & Steve Lacy, songwriters (Steve Lacy)

BREAK MY SOUL
Beyoncé, S. Carter, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant & Christopher A. Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Easy On Me
Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin, songwriters (Adele)

GOD DID
Tarik Azzouz, E. Blackmon, Khaled Khaled, F. LeBlanc, Shawn Carter, John Stephens, Dwayne Carter, William Roberts & Nicholas Warwar, songwriters (DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy)

The Heart Part 5
Jake Kosich, Johnny Kosich, Kendrick Lamar & Matt Schaeffer, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)

Just Like That - WINNER
Bonnie Raitt, songwriter (Bonnie Raitt)

4. Best New Artist

This category recognizes an artist whose eligibility-year release(s) achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and notably impacted the musical landscape.

Anitta

Omar Apollo

DOMi & JD Beck

Muni Long

Samara Joy - WINNER

Latto

Måneskin

Tobe Nwigwe

Molly Tuttle

Wet Leg

Pop

5. Best Pop Solo Performance

For new vocal or instrumental pop recordings. Singles or Tracks only.

Easy On Me - WINNER
Adele

Moscow Mule
Bad Bunny

Woman
Doja Cat

Bad Habit
Steve Lacy

About Damn Time
Lizzo

As It Was
Harry Styles

6. Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

For new vocal or instrumental duo/group or collaborative pop recordings. Singles or Tracks only.

Don't Shut Me Down
ABBA

Bam Bam
Camila Cabello Featuring Ed Sheeran

My Universe
Coldplay & BTS

I Like You (A Happier Song)
Post Malone & Doja Cat

Unholy - WINNER
Sam Smith & Kim Petras

7. Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new traditional pop recordings.

Higher - WINNER
Michael Bublé

When Christmas Comes Around...
Kelly Clarkson

I Dream Of Christmas (Extended)
Norah Jones

Evergreen
Pentatonix

Thank You
Diana Ross

8. Best Pop Vocal Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new pop vocal recordings.

Voyage
ABBA

30
Adele

Music Of The Spheres
Coldplay

Special
Lizzo

Harry's House - WINNER
Harry Styles

Dance/Electronic Music

9. Best Dance/Electronic Recording

For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances. Vocal or Instrumental. Singles or tracks only.

BREAK MY SOUL - WINNER
Beyoncé
Beyoncé, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, Jens Christian Isaksen & Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, producers; Stuart White, mixer

Rosewood
Bonobo
Simon Green, producer; Simon Green, mixer

Don't Forget My Love
Diplo & Miguel
Diplo & Maximilian Jaeger, producers; Luca Pretolesi, mixer

I'm Good (Blue)
David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
David Guetta & Timofey Reznikov, producers; Serban Ghenea, mixer

Intimidated
KAYTRANADA Featuring H.E.R.
H.E.R. & KAYTRANADA, producers; KAYTRANADA, mixer

On My Knees
RÜFÜS DU SOL
Jason Evigan & RÜFÜS DU SOL, producers; Cassian Stewart-Kasimba, mixer

10. Best Dance/Electronic Music Album

For vocal or instrumental albums. Albums only.

Renaissance - WINNER
Beyoncé

Fragments
Bonobo

Diplo
Diplo

The Last Goodbye
ODESZA

Surrender
RÜFÜS DU SOL

Contemporary Instrumental Music

11. Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

For albums containing greater than 50% or more playing time of instrumental material. For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new recordings.

Between Dreaming And Joy
Jeff Coffin

Not Tight
DOMi & JD Beck

Blooz
Grant Geissman

Jacob's Ladder
Brad Mehldau

Empire Central - WINNER
Snarky Puppy

Rock

12. Best Rock Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative rock recordings.

So Happy It Hurts
Bryan Adams

Old Man
Beck

Wild Child
The Black Keys

Broken Horses - WINNER
Brandi Carlile

Crawl!
Idles

Patient Number 9
Ozzy Osbourne Featuring Jeff Beck

Holiday
Turnstile

13. Best Metal Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative metal recordings.

Call Me Little Sunshine
Ghost

We'll Be Back
Megadeth

Kill Or Be Killed
Muse

Degradation Rules - WINNER
Ozzy Osbourne Featuring Tony Iommi

Blackout
Turnstile

14. Best Rock Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Rock, Hard Rock and Metal songs. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Black Summer
Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis & Chad Smith, songwriters (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Blackout
Brady Ebert, Daniel Fang, Franz Lyons, Pat McCrory & Brendan Yates, songwriters (Turnstile)

Broken Horses - WINNER
Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)

Harmonia's Dream
Robbie Bennett & Adam Granduciel, songwriters (The War On Drugs)

Patient Number 9
John Osbourne, Chad Smith, Ali Tamposi, Robert Trujillo & Andrew Wotman, songwriters (Ozzy Osbourne Featuring Jeff Beck)

15. Best Rock Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings.

Dropout Boogie
The Black Keys

The Boy Named If
Elvis Costello & The Imposters

Crawler
Idles

Mainstream Sellout
Machine Gun Kelly

Patient Number 9 - WINNER
Ozzy Osbourne

Lucifer On The Sofa
Spoon

Alternative

16. Best Alternative Music Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative Alternative music recordings.

There'd Better Be A Mirrorball
Arctic Monkeys

Certainty
Big Thief

King
Florence + The Machine

Chaise Longue - WINNER
Wet Leg

Spitting Off The Edge Of The World
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Featuring Perfume Genius

17. Best Alternative Music Album

Vocal or Instrumental.

WE
Arcade Fire

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Big Thief

Fossora
Björk

Wet Leg - WINNER
Wet Leg

Cool It Down
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

R&B

18. Best R&B Performance

For new vocal or instrumental R&B recordings.

VIRGO’S GROOVE
Beyoncé

Here With Me
Mary J. Blige Featuring Anderson .Paak

Hrs & Hrs - WINNER
Muni Long

Over
Lucky Daye

Hurt Me So Good
Jazmine Sullivan

19. Best Traditional R&B Performance

For new vocal or instrumental traditional R&B recordings.

Do 4 Love
Snoh Aalegra

Keeps On Fallin'
Babyface Featuring Ella Mai

PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA - WINNER
Beyoncé

'Round Midnight
Adam Blackstone Featuring Jazmine Sullivan

Good Morning Gorgeous
Mary J. Blige

20. Best R&B Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

CUFF IT - WINNER
Denisia "Blu June" Andrews, Beyoncé, Brittany "Chi" Coney, Terius "The-Dream" Gesteelde-Diamant, Morten Ristorp, Nile Rodgers & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Good Morning Gorgeous
Mary J. Blige, David Brown, Dernst Emile II, Gabriella Wilson & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (Mary J. Blige)

Hrs & Hrs
Dylan Graham, Priscilla Renea, Thaddis "Kuk" Harrell, Brandon John-Baptiste, Isaac Wriston, Hamadi Zaabi, & Justin Nathaniel Zim, songwriters (Muni Long)

Hurt Me So Good
Akeel Henry, Michael Holmes, Luca Mauti, Jazmine Sullivan & Elliott Trent, songwriters (Jazmine Sullivan)

Please Don't Walk Away
PJ Morton, songwriter (PJ Morton)

21. Best Progressive R&B Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded progressive vocal tracks derivative of R&B.

Operation Funk
Cory Henry

Gemini Rights - WINNER
Steve Lacy

Drones
Terrace Martin

Starfruit
Moonchild

Red Balloon
Tank And The Bangas

22. Best R&B Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new R&B recordings.

Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)
Mary J. Blige

Breezy (Deluxe)
Chris Brown

Black Radio III - WINNER
Robert Glasper

Candydrip
Lucky Daye

Watch The Sun
PJ Morton

Rap

23. Best Rap Performance

For a Rap performance. Singles or Tracks only.

GOD DID
DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy

Vegas
Doja Cat

pushin P
Gunna & Future Featuring Young Thug

F.N.F. (Let's Go)
Hitkidd & GloRilla

The Heart Part 5 - WINNER
Kendrick Lamar

24. Best Melodic Rap Performance

For a solo or collaborative performance containing both elements of R&B melodies and Rap.

BEAUTIFUL
DJ Khaled Featuring Future & SZA

WAIT FOR U - WINNER
Future Featuring Drake & Tems

First Class
Jack Harlow

Die Hard
Kendrick Lamar Featuring Blxst & Amanda Reifer

Big Energy (Live)
Latto

25. Best Rap Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Churchill Downs
Tahrence Brown, Ryan Bakalarczyk, Matthew Samuels, Aubrey Graham, Alex Ernewein & Jack Harlow, songwriters (Jack Harlow Featuring Drake)

GOD DID
Tarik Azzouz, E. Blackmon, Khaled Khaled, F. LeBlanc, Shawn Carter, John Stephens, Dwayne Carter, William Roberts & Nicholas Warwar, songwriters (DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy)

The Heart Part 5 - WINNER
Jake Kosich, Johnny Kosich, Kendrick Lamar & Matt Schaeffer, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)

pushin P
Lucas Depante, Nayvadius Wilburn, Sergio Kitchens, Wesley Tyler Glass & Jeffery Lamar Williams, songwriters (Gunna & Future Featuring Young Thug)

WAIT FOR U
Tejiri Akpoghene, Floyd E. Bentley III, Jacob Canady, Isaac De Boni, Aubrey Graham, Israel Ayomide Fowobaje, Nayvadius Wilburn, Michael Mule, Oluwatoroti Oke & Temilade Openiyi, songwriters (Future Featuring Drake & Tems)

26. Best Rap Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new rap recordings.

GOD DID
DJ Khaled

I Never Liked You
Future

Come Home The Kids Miss You
Jack Harlow

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers - WINNER
Kendrick Lamar

It's Almost Dry
Pusha T

Country

27. Best Country Solo Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo country recordings.

Heartfirst
Kelsea Ballerini

Something In The Orange
Zach Bryan

In His Arms
Miranda Lambert

Circles Around This Town
Maren Morris

Live Forever - WINNER
Willie Nelson

28. Best Country Duo/Group Performance

For new vocal or instrumental duo/group or collaborative country recordings.

Wishful Drinking
Ingrid Andress & Sam Hunt

Midnight Rider's Prayer
Brothers Osborne

Outrunnin' Your Memory
Luke Combs & Miranda Lambert

Does He Love You - Revisited
Reba McEntire & Dolly Parton

Never Wanted To Be That Girl - WINNER
Carly Pearce & Ashley McBryde

Going Where The Lonely Go
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

29. Best Country Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Circles Around This Town
Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Maren Morris & Jimmy Robbins, songwriters (Maren Morris)

Doin' This
Luke Combs, Drew Parker & Robert Williford, songwriters (Luke Combs)

I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)
Lori McKenna & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift Featuring Chris Stapleton)

If I Was A Cowboy
Jesse Frasure & Miranda Lambert, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)

I'll Love You Till The Day I Die
Rodney Crowell & Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Willie Nelson)

'Til You Can't - WINNER
Matt Rogers & Ben Stennis, songwriters (Cody Johnson)

30. Best Country Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new country recordings.

Growin' Up
Luke Combs

Palomino
Miranda Lambert

Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville
Ashley McBryde

Humble Quest
Maren Morris

A Beautiful Time - WINNER
Willie Nelson

New Age, Ambient, or Chant

31. Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental New Age, ambient, or chant recordings

Positano Songs
Will Ackerman

Joy
Paul Avgerinos

Mantra Americana
Madi Das & Dave Stringer With Bhakti Without Borders

The Passenger
Cheryl B. Engelhardt

Mystic Mirror - WINNER
White Sun

Jazz

32. Best Improvised Jazz Solo

For an instrumental jazz solo performance. Two equal performers on one recording may be eligible as one entry. If the soloist listed appears on a recording billed to another artist, the latter's name is in parenthesis for identification. Singles or Tracks only.)

Rounds (Live)
Ambrose Akinmusire, soloist

Keep Holding On
Gerald Albright, soloist

Falling
Melissa Aldana, soloist

Call Of The Drum
Marcus Baylor, soloist

Cherokee/Koko
John Beasley, soloist

Endangered Species - WINNER
Wayne Shorter & Leo Genovese, soloist

33. Best Jazz Vocal Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal jazz recordings.

The Evening : Live At APPARATUS
The Baylor Project

Linger Awhile - WINNER
Samara Joy

Fade To Black
Carmen Lundy

Fifty
The Manhattan Transfer With The WDR Funkhausorchester

Ghost Song
Cécile McLorin Salvant

34. Best Jazz Instrumental Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new instrumental jazz recordings.

New Standards Vol. 1 - WINNER
Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Linda May Han Oh, Nicholas Payton & Matthew Stevens

Live In Italy
Peter Erskine Trio

LongGone
Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, And Brian Blade

Live At The Detroit Jazz Festival
Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Leo Genovese & esperanza spalding

Parallel Motion
Yellowjackets

35. Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new ensemble jazz recordings.

Bird Lives
John Beasley, Magnus Lindgren & SWR Big Band

Remembering Bob Freedman
Ron Carter & The Jazzaar Festival Big Band Directed By Christian Jacob

Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra - WINNER
Steven Feifke, Bijon Watson, Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra

Center Stage
Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Ronnie Cuber & WDR Big Band Conducted By Michael Abene

Architecture Of Storms
Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly Of Shadows

36. Best Latin Jazz Album

For vocal or instrumental albums containing greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded material. The intent of this category is to recognize recordings that represent the blending of jazz with Latin, Iberian-American, Brazilian, and Argentinian tango music.

Fandango At The Wall In New York - WINNER
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Featuring The Congra Patria Son Jarocho Collective

Crisálida
Danilo Pérez Featuring The Global Messengers

If You Will
Flora Purim

Rhythm & Soul
Arturo Sandoval

Música De Las Américas
Miguel Zenón

Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music

37. Best Gospel Performance/Song

This award is given to the artist(s) and songwriter(s) (for new compositions) for the best traditional Christian, roots gospel or contemporary gospel single or track.

Positive
Erica Campbell; Erica Campbell, Warryn Campbell & Juan Winans, songwriters

When I Pray
DOE; Dominique Jones & Dewitt Jones, songwriters

Kingdom - WINNER
Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin; Kirk Franklin, Jonathan Jay, Chandler Moore & Jacob Poole, songwriters

The Better Benediction
PJ Morton Featuring Zacardi Cortez, Gene Moore, Samoht, Tim Rogers & Darrel Walls; PJ Morton, songwriter

Get Up
Tye Tribbett; Brandon Jones, Christopher Michael Stevens, Thaddaeus Tribbett & Tye Tribbett, songwriters

38. Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song

This award is given to the artist(s) and songwriter(s) (for new compositions) for the best contemporary Christian music single or track, (including pop, rap/hip-hop, Latin, or rock.)

God Really Loves Us (Radio Version)
Crowder Featuring Dante Bowe and Maverick City Music; Dante Bowe, David Crowder, Ben Glover & Jeff Sojka, songwriters

So Good
DOE; Chuck Butler, Dominique Jones & Ethan Hulse, songwriters

For God Is With Us
for KING & COUNTRY & Hillary Scott; Josh Kerr, Jordan Reynolds, Joel Smallbone & Luke Smallbone, songwriters

Fear Is Not My Future - WINNER
Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin; Kirk Franklin, Nicole Hannel, Jonathan Jay, Brandon Lake & Hannah Shackelford, songwriters

Holy Forever
Chris Tomlin; Jason Ingram, Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, Chris Tomlin & Phil Wickham, songwriters

Hymn Of Heaven (Radio Version)
Phil Wickham; Chris Davenport, Bill Johnson, Brian Johnson & Phil Wickham, songwriters

39. Best Gospel Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, traditional or contemporary/R&B gospel music recordings.

Die To Live
Maranda Curtis

Breakthrough: The Exodus (Live)
Ricky Dillard

Clarity
DOE

Kingdom Book One Deluxe - WINNER
Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin

All Things New
Tye Tribbett

40. Best Contemporary Christian Music Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, contemporary Christian music, including pop, rap/hip hop, Latin, or rock recordings.

Lion
Elevation Worship

Breathe - WINNER
Maverick City Music

Life After Death
TobyMac

Always
Chris Tomlin

My Jesus
Anne Wilson

41. Best Roots Gospel Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded, vocal, traditional/roots gospel music, including country, Southern gospel, bluegrass, and Americana recordings.

Let's Just Praise The Lord
Gaither Vocal Band

Confessio - Irish American Roots
Keith & Kristyn Getty

The Willie Nelson Family
Willie Nelson

2:22
Karen Peck & New River

The Urban Hymnal - WINNER
Tennessee State University Marching Band

Latin

42. Best Latin Pop Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new Latin pop recordings.

AGUILERA
Christina Aguilera

Pasieros - WINNER
Rubén Blades & Boca Livre

De Adentro Pa Afuera
Camilo

VIAJANTE
Fonseca

Dharma +
Sebastián Yatra

43. Best Música Urbana Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new Música Urbana recordings.

TRAP CAKE, VOL. 2
Rauw Alejandro

Un Verano Sin Ti - WINNER
Bad Bunny

LEGENDADDY
Daddy Yankee

La 167
Farruko

The Love & Sex Tape
Maluma

44. Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new Latin rock or alternative recordings.

El Alimento
Cimafunk

Tinta y Tiempo
Jorge Drexler

1940 Carmen
Mon Laferte

Alegoría
Gaby Moreno

Los Años Salvajes
Fito Paez

MOTOMAMI - WINNER
Rosalía

45. Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano)

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new regional Mexican (banda, norteño, corridos, gruperos, mariachi, ranchera and Tejano) recordings.

Abeja Reina
Chiquis

Un Canto por México - El Musical - WINNER
Natalia Lafourcade

La Reunión (Deluxe)
Los Tigres Del Norte

EP #1 Forajido
Christian Nodal

Qué Ganas de Verte (Deluxe)
Marco Antonio Solís

46. Best Tropical Latin Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new tropical Latin recordings.

Pa'lla Voy - WINNER
Marc Anthony

Quiero Verte Feliz
La Santa Cecilia

Lado A Lado B
Víctor Manuelle

Legendario
Tito Nieves

Imágenes Latinas
Spanish Harlem Orchestra

Cumbiana II
Carlos Vives

American Roots Music

47. Best American Roots Performance

For new vocal or instrumental American Roots recordings. This is for performances in the style of any of the subgenres encompassed in the American Roots Music field including bluegrass, blues, folk or regional roots. Award to the artist(s).

Someday It'll All Make Sense (Bluegrass Version)
Bill Anderson Featuring Dolly Parton

Life According To Raechel
Madison Cunningham

Oh Betty
Fantastic Negrito

Stompin' Ground - WINNER
Aaron Neville With The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Prodigal Daughter
Aoife O'Donovan & Allison Russell

48. Best Americana Performance

For new vocal or instrumental Americana performance. Award to the artist(s).

Silver Moon [A Tribute To Michael Nesmith]
Eric Alexandrakis

There You Go Again
Asleep At The Wheel Featuring Lyle Lovett

The Message
Blind Boys Of Alabama Featuring Black Violin

You And Me On The Rock
Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius

Made Up Mind - WINNER
Bonnie Raitt

49. Best American Roots Song

A Songwriter(s) Award. Includes Americana, bluegrass, traditional blues, contemporary blues, folk or regional roots songs. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Bright Star
Anaïs Mitchell, songwriter (Anaïs Mitchell)

Forever
Sheryl Crow & Jeff Trott, songwriters (Sheryl Crow)

High And Lonesome
T Bone Burnett & Robert Plant, songwriters (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss)

Just Like That - WINNER
Bonnie Raitt, songwriter (Bonnie Raitt)

Prodigal Daughter
Tim O’Brien & Aoife O'Donovan, songwriters (Aoife O'Donovan & Allison Russell)

You And Me On The Rock
Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius)

50. Best Americana Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Americana recordings.

In These Silent Days - WINNER
Brandi Carlile

Things Happen That Way
Dr. John

Good To Be...
Keb' Mo'

Raise The Roof
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Just Like That...
Bonnie Raitt

51. Best Bluegrass Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental bluegrass recordings.

Toward The Fray
The Infamous Stringdusters

Almost Proud
The Del McCoury Band

Calling You From My Mountain
Peter Rowan

Crooked Tree - WINNER
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway

Get Yourself Outside
Yonder Mountain String Band

52. Best Traditional Blues Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental traditional blues recordings.

Heavy Load Blues
Gov't Mule

The Blues Don’t Lie
Buddy Guy

Get On Board - WINNER
Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder

The Sun Is Shining Down
John Mayall

Mississippi Son
Charlie Musselwhite

53. Best Contemporary Blues Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental contemporary blues recordings.

Done Come Too Far
Shemekia Copeland

Crown
Eric Gales

Bloodline Maintenance
Ben Harper

Set Sail
North Mississippi Allstars

Brother Johnny - WINNER
Edgar Winter

54. Best Folk Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental folk recordings.

Spellbound
Judy Collins

Revealer - WINNER
Madison Cunningham

The Light At The End Of The Line
Janis Ian

Age Of Apathy
Aoife O'Donovan

Hell On Church Street
Punch Brothers

55. Best Regional Roots Music Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental regional roots music recordings.

Full Circle
Sean Ardoin And Kreole Rock And Soul Featuring LSU Golden Band From Tigerland

Natalie Noelani
Natalie Ai Kamauu

Halau Hula Keali'i O Nalani - Live At The Getty Center
Halau Hula Keali'i O Nalani

Lucky Man
Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas

Live At The 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - WINNER
Ranky Tanky

Reggae

56. Best Reggae Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new reggae recordings.

The Kalling - WINNER
Kabaka Pyramid

Gifted
Koffee

Scorcha
Sean Paul

Third Time's The Charm
Protoje

Com Fly Wid Mi
Shaggy

Global Music

57. Best Global Music Performance

For new vocal or instrumental Global music recordings.

Udhero Na
Arooj Aftab Featuring Anoushka Shankar

Gimme Love
Matt B Featuring Eddy Kenzo

Last Last
Burna Boy

Neva Bow Down
Rocky Dawuni Featuring Blvk H3ro

Bayethe - WINNER
Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini & Nomcebo Zikode

58. Best Global Music Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new vocal or instrumental Global Music recordings.

Shuruaat
Berklee Indian Ensemble

Love, Damini
Burna Boy

Queen Of Sheba
Angélique Kidjo & Ibrahim Maalouf

Between Us... (Live)
Anoushka Shankar, Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley Featuring Manu Delago

Sakura - WINNER
Masa Takumi

Children’s

59. Best Children's Music Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new musical or spoken word recordings that are created and intended specifically for children.

Into The Little Blue House
Wendy And DB

Los Fabulosos
Lucky Diaz And The Family Jam Band

The Movement - WINNER
Alphabet Rockers

Ready Set Go!
Divinity Roxx

Space Cadet
Justin Roberts

Spoken Word

60. Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording

Act Like You Got Some Sense
Jamie Foxx

All About Me!: My Remarkable Life In Show Business By Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks

Aristotle And Dante Dive Into The Waters Of The World
Lin-Manuel Miranda

Finding Me - WINNER
Viola Davis

Music Is History
Questlove

61. Best Spoken Word Poetry Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new spoken word poetry recordings.

Black Men Are Precious
Ethelbert Miller

Call Us What We Carry: Poems
Amanda Gorman

Hiding In Plain View
Malcolm-Jamal Warner

The Poet Who Sat By The Door - WINNER
J. Ivy

You Will Be Someone's Ancestor. Act Accordingly.
Amir Sulaiman

Comedy

62. Best Comedy Album

For albums containing greater than 50% playing time of new recordings.

The Closer - WINNER
Dave Chappelle

Comedy Monster
Jim Gaffigan

A Little Brains, A Little Talent
Randy Rainbow

Sorry
Louis CK

We All Scream
Patton Oswalt

Musical Theater

63. Best Musical Theater Album

For albums containing greater 51% playing time of new recordings. Award to the principal vocalist(s), and the album producer(s) of 50% or more playing time of the album. The lyricist(s) and composer(s) of 50 % or more of a score of a new recording are eligible for an Award if any previous recording of said score has not been nominated in this category.

Caroline, Or Change
John Cariani, Sharon D Clarke, Caissie Levy & Samantha Williams, principal vocalists; Van Dean, Nigel Lilley, Lawrence Manchester, Elliot Scheiner & Jeanine Tesori, producers; Jeanine Tesori, composer; Tony Kushner, lyricist (New Broadway Cast)

Into The Woods (2022 Broadway Cast Recording) - WINNER
Sara Bareilles, Brian d'Arcy James, Patina Miller & Phillipa Soo, principal vocalists; Rob Berman & Sean Patrick Flahaven, producers (Stephen Sondheim, composer & lyricist) (2022 Broadway Cast)

MJ The Musical
Myles Frost & Tavon Olds-Sample, principal vocalists; David Holcenberg, Derik Lee & Jason Michael Webb, producers (Original Broadway Cast)

Mr. Saturday Night
Shoshana Bean, Billy Crystal, Randy Graff & David Paymer, principal vocalists; Jason Robert Brown, Sean Patrick Flahaven & Jeffrey Lesser, producers; Jason Robert Brown, composer; Amanda Green, lyricist (Original Broadway Cast)

Six: Live On Opening Night
Joe Beighton, Tom Curran, Sam Featherstone, Paul Gatehouse, Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, producers; Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast)

A Strange Loop
Jaquel Spivey, principal vocalist; Michael Croiter, Michael R. Jackson, Charlie Rosen & Rona Siddiqui, producers; Michael R. Jackson, composer & lyricist (Original Broadway Cast)

Music for Visual Media

64. Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media

Award to the principal artist(s) and/or ‘in studio’ producer(s) of a majority of the tracks on the album. In the absence of both, award to the one or two individuals proactively responsible for the concept and musical direction of the album and for the selection of artists, songs and producers, as applicable. Award also goes to appropriately credited music supervisor(s).

ELVIS
(Various Artists)
Dave Cobb, Baz Luhrmann, Jamieson Shaw & Elliott Wheeler, compilation producers; Anton Monsted, music supervisor

Encanto - WINNER
(Various Artists)
Mike Elizondo, Tom MacDougall & Lin-Manuel Miranda, compilation producers

Stranger Things: Soundtrack from the Netflix Series, Season 4 (Vol 2)
(Various Artists)
Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer, compilation producers; Nora Felder, music supervisor

Top Gun: Maverick
Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga & Hans Zimmer, compilation producers

West Side Story
(Various Artists)
David Newman, Matt Sullivan & Jeanine Tesori, compilation producers

65. Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television)

Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current legitimate motion picture, television show or series, or other visual media.

The Batman
Michael Giacchino, composer

Encanto - WINNER
Germaine Franco, composer

No Time To Die
Hans Zimmer, composer

The Power Of The Dog
Jonny Greenwood, composer

Succession: Season 3
Nicholas Britell, composer

66. Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media

Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for, or as a companion to, video games and other interactive media.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite
Austin Wintory, composer

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok - WINNER
Stephanie Economou, composer

Call Of Duty®: Vanguard
Bear McCreary, composer

Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy
Richard Jacques, composer

Old World
Christopher Tin, composer

67. Best Song Written For Visual Media

A Songwriter(s) award. For a song (melody & lyrics) written specifically for a motion picture, television, video games or other visual media, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Be Alive [From King Richard]
Beyoncé & Darius Scott Dixson, songwriters (Beyoncé)

Carolina [From Where The Crawdads Sing]
Taylor Swift, songwriter (Taylor Swift)

Hold My Hand [From Top Gun: Maverick]
Bloodpop® & Stefani Germanotta, songwriters (Lady Gaga)

Keep Rising (The Woman King) [From The Woman King]
Angelique Kidjo, Jeremy Lutito & Jessy Wilson, songwriters (Jessy Wilson Featuring Angelique Kidjo)

Nobody Like U [From Turning Red]
Billie Eilish & Finneas O'Connell, songwriters (4*Town, Jordan Fisher, Finneas O'Connell, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo, Grayson Villanueva)

We Don't Talk About Bruno [From Encanto] - WINNER
Lin-Manuel Miranda, songwriter (Carolina Gaitán - La Gaita, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto - Cast)

Composing/Arranging

68. Best Instrumental Composition

A Composer's Award for an original composition (not an adaptation) first released during the Eligibility Year. Singles or Tracks only.

African Tales
Paquito D'Rivera, composer (Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar)

El País Invisible
Miguel Zenón, composer (Miguel Zenón, José Antonio Zayas Cabán, Ryan Smith & Casey Rafn)

Fronteras (Borders) Suite: Al-Musafir Blues
Danilo Pérez, composer (Danilo Pérez Featuring The Global Messengers)

Refuge - WINNER
Geoffrey Keezer, composer (Geoffrey Keezer)

Snapshots
Pascal Le Boeuf, composer (Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar)

69. Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella

An Arranger's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

As Days Go By (An Arrangement Of The Family Matters Theme Song)
Armand Hutton, arranger (Armand Hutton Featuring Terrell Hunt & Just 6)

How Deep Is Your Love
Matt Cusson, arranger (Kings Return)

Main Titles (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness)
Danny Elfman, arranger (Danny Elfman)

Minnesota, WI
Remy Le Boeuf, arranger (Remy Le Boeuf)

Scrapple From The Apple - WINNER
John Beasley, arranger (Magnus Lindgren, John Beasley & The SWR Big Band Featuring Martin Auer)

70. Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals

An Arranger's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Let It Happen
Louis Cole, arranger (Louis Cole)

Never Gonna Be Alone
Jacob Collier, arranger (Jacob Collier Featuring Lizzy McAlpine & John Mayer)

Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying
Sullivan Fortner, arranger (Cécile McLorin Salvant)

Songbird (Orchestral Version) - WINNER
Vince Mendoza, arranger (Christine McVie)

2 + 2 = 5 (Arr. Nathan Schram)
Nathan Schram & Becca Stevens, arrangers (Becca Stevens & Attacca Quartet)

Package, Notes, and Historical

71. Best Recording Package

Beginningless Beginning - WINNER
Chun-Tien Hsiao & Qing-Yang Xiao, art directors (Tamsui-Kavalan Chinese Orchestra)

Divers
William Stichter, art director (Soporus)

Everything Was Beautiful
Mark Farrow & Jason Pierce, art directors (Spiritualized)

Telos
Ming Liu, art director (Fann)

Voyeurist
Joel Cook, Brandon Rike & Nate Utesch, art directors (Underoath)

72. Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package

Artists Inspired By Music: Interscope Reimagined
Josh Abraham, Steve Berman, Jimmy Iovine, John Janick & Jason Sangerman, art directors (Various Artists)

Big Mess
Berit Gwendolyn Gilma, art director (Danny Elfman)

Black Pumas (Collector's Edition Box Set)
Jenna Krackenberger & Anna McCaleb, art directors (Black Pumas)

Book
John Flansburgh, Brian Karlsson, John Linnell & Paul Sahre, art directors (They Might Be Giants)

In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81 ’82 ’83 - WINNER
Lisa Glines, Doran Tyson & Dave Van Patten, art directors (The Grateful Dead)

73. Best Album Notes

The American Clavé Recordings
Fernando González, album notes writer (Astor Piazzolla)

Andy Irvine & Paul Brady
Gareth Murphy, album notes writer (Andy Irvine & Paul Brady)

Harry Partch, 1942
John Schneider, album notes writer (Harry Partch)

Life's Work: A Retrospective
Ted Olson, album notes writer (Doc Watson)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) - WINNER
Bob Mehr, album notes writer (Wilco)

74. Best Historical Album

Against The Odds: 1974-1982
Tommy Manzi, Steve Rosenthal & Ken Shipley, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer; Tom Camuso, restoration engineer (Blondie)

The Goldberg Variations - The Complete Unreleased 1981 Studio Sessions
Robert Russ, compilation producer; Martin Kistner, mastering engineer (Glenn Gould)

Life’s Work: A Retrospective
Scott Billington, Ted Olson & Mason Williams, compilation producers; Paul Blakemore, mastering engineer (Doc Watson)

To Whom It May Concern...
Jonathan Sklute, compilation producer; Kevin Marques Moo, mastering engineer; Lucas MacFadden, Restoration Engineer (Freestyle Fellowship)

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) - WINNER
Cheryl Pawelski & Jeff Tweedy, compilation producers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer (Wilco)

Songwriting

75. Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical

A Songwriter's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.)

Amy Allen

For My Friends (King Princess) (S)

The Hardest Part (Alexander23) (S)

If We Were A Party (Alexander23) (S)

If You Love Me (Lizzo) (T)

Magic Wand (Alexander23) (T)

Matilda (Harry Styles) (T)

Move Me (Charli XCX) (T)

Too Bad (King Princess) (S)

Vicious (Sabrina Carpenter) (S)

Nija Charles

Cozy (Beyoncé) (T)

Ex For A Reason (Summer Walker With JT From City Girls) (T)

Good Love (City Girls Featuring Usher) (S)

Iykyk (Lil Durk Featuring Ella Mai & A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie) (T)

Lobby (Anitta & Missy Elliott) (S)

Ride For You (Meek Mill Featuring Kehlani) (T)

Sweetest Pie (Megan Thee Stallion & Dua Lipa) (S)

Tangerine (Kehlani) (T)

Throw It Away (Summer Walker) (T)

Tobias Jesso Jr. - WINNER

Boyfriends (Harry Styles) (T)

Can I Get It (Adele) (T)

Careless (FKA Twigs Featuring Daniel Caesar) (T)

C'mon Baby Cry (Orville Peck) (T)

Dotted Lines (King Princess) (T)

Let You Go (Diplo & TSHA) (S)

No Good Reason (Omar Apollo) (T)

Thank You Song (FKA Twigs) (T)

To Be Loved (Adele) (T)

The-Dream

Break My Soul (Beyoncé) (S)

Church Girl (Beyoncé) (T)

Energy (Beyoncé) (T)

I'm That Girl (Beyoncé) (T)

Mercedes (Brent Faiyaz) (S)

Rock N Roll (Pusha T Featuring Kanye West and Kid Cudi) (T)

Rolling Stone (Brent Faiyaz) (T)

Summer Renaissance (Beyoncé) (T)

Thique (Beyoncé) (T)

Laura Veltz

Background Music (Maren Morris) (T)

Feed (Demi Lovato) (T)

Humble Quest (Maren Morris) (T)

Pain (Ingrid Andress) (T)

29 (Demi Lovato) (T)

Production

76. Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

An Engineer's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.)

Adolescence
Yonatan (Yoni) Ayal, Maxwell Byrne, Patrick Liney, Tim Nelson, George Nicholas, Jock Nowell-Usticke, Aidan Peterson, Pierre Luc Rioux, Ike Schultz, Ryan Schwabe & Rutger Van Woudenberg, engineers; Ryan Schwabe, mastering engineer (Baynk)

Black Radio III
Daniel Farris, Tiffany Gouché, Qmillion, Musiq Soulchild, Reginald Nicholas, Q-Tip, Amir Sulaiman, Michael Law Thomas & Jon Zacks, engineers; Chris Athens, mastering engineer (Robert Glasper)

Chloë and the Next 20th Century
Dave Cerminara & Jonathan Wilson, engineers; Adam Ayan, mastering engineer (Father John Misty)

Harry's House - WINNER
Jeremy Hatcher, Oli Jacobs, Nick Lobel, Mark "Spike" Stent & Sammy Witte, engineers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer (Harry Styles)

Wet Leg
Jon McMullen, Joshua Mobaraki, Alan Moulder & Alexis Smith, engineers; Matt Colton, mastering engineer (Wet Leg)

77. Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical

A Producer's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.)

Jack Antonoff - WINNER

All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault) (Taylor Swift) (T)

Dance Fever (Florence + The Machine) (A)

I Still Believe (Diana Ross) (T)

Minions: The Rise Of Gru (Various Artists) (A)

Part Of The Band (The 1975) (S)

Dan Auerbach

Dropout Boogie (The Black Keys) (A)

El Bueno Y El Malo (Hermanos Gutiérrez) (T)

Nightmare Daydream (The Velveteers) (A)

Rich White Honky Blues (Hank Williams Jr.) (A)

Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute To John Anderson (Various Artists) (A)

Strange Time To Be Alive (Early James) (A)

Sweet Unknown (Ceramic Animal) (A)

Tres Hermanos (Hermanos Gutiérrez) (T)

Young Blood (Marcus King) (A)

Boi-1da

Chronicles (Cordae Featuring H.E.R. & Lil Durk) (T)

Churchill Downs (Jack Harlow Featuring Drake) (T)

Heated (Beyoncé) (T)

Mafia (Travis Scott) (S)

N95 (Kendrick Lamar) (T)

Nail Tech (Jack Harlow) (T)

Not Another Love Song (Ella Mai) (T)

Scarred (Giveon) (T)

Silent Hill (Kendrick Lamar Featuring Kodak Black) (T)

Dahi

Buttons (Steve Lacy) (T)

Count Me Out (Kendrick Lamar) (T)

Die Hard (Kendrick Lamar) (T)

DJ Quik (Vince Staples) (T)

Father Time (Kendrick Lamar Featuring Sampha) (T)

Give You The World (Steve Lacy) (T)

Mercury (Steve Lacy) (T)

Mirror (Kendrick Lamar) (T)

Rich Spirit (Kendrick Lamar) (T)

Dernst "D'mile" Emile II

Candydrip (Lucky Daye) (A)

An Evening With Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak And Silk Sonic) (A)

Good Morning Gorgeous (Mary J. Blige) (S)

Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (Jazmine Sullivan) (S)

78. Best Remixed Recording

A Remixer's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses for identification.) Singles or Tracks only.

About Damn Time (Purple Disco Machine Remix) - WINNER
Purple Disco Machine, remixer (Lizzo)

BREAK MY SOUL (Terry Hunter Remix)
Terry Hunter, remixer (Beyoncé)

Easy Lover (Four Tet Remix)
Four Tet, remixer (Ellie Goulding)

Slow Song (Paul Woolford Remix)
Paul Woolford, remixer (The Knocks & Dragonette)

Too Late Now (Soulwax Remix)
Soulwax, remixers (Wet Leg)

79. Best Immersive Audio Album

For vocal or instrumental albums in any genre. Must be commercially released on DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, SACD, Blu-Ray, or burned download-only/streaming-only copies and must provide a new immersive mix of four or more channels. Award to the immersive mix engineer, immersive producer (if any) and immersive mastering engineer (if any).

AGUILERA
Jaycen Joshua & Mike Seaberg, immersive mix engineers; Jaycen Joshua & Mike Seaberg, immersive mastering engineers (Christina Aguilera)

Divine Tides - WINNER
Eric Schilling, immersive mix engineer; Stewart Copeland, Ricky Kej & Herbert Waltl, immersive producers (Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej)

Memories...Do Not Open
Mike Piacentini, immersive mix engineer; Mike Piacentini, immersive mastering engineer; Adam Alpert, Alex Pall, Jordan Stilwell & Andrew Taggart, immersive producers (The Chainsmokers)

Picturing The Invisible - Focus 1
Jim Anderson, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg & Ulrike Schwarz, immersive mastering engineers; Jane Ira Bloom & Ulrike Schwarz, immersive producers (Jane Ira Bloom)

Tuvayhun — Beatitudes For A Wounded World
Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Nidarosdomens Jentekor & Trondheimsolistene)

80. Best Engineered Album, Classical

An Engineer's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)

Bates: Philharmonia Fantastique - The Making Of The Orchestra - WINNER
Shawn Murphy, Charlie Post & Gary Rydstrom, engineers; Michael Romanowski, mastering engineer (Edwin Outwater & Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6; Stucky: Silent Spring
Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Perspectives
Mark Alletag, Jonathan Lackey, Bill Maylone & Dan Nichols, engineers; Joe Lambert, mastering engineer (Third Coast Percussion)

Tuvayhun - Beatitudes For A Wounded World
Morten Lindberg, engineer; Morten Lindberg, mastering engineer (Anita Brevik, Nidarosdomens Jentekor & Trondheimsolistene)

Williams: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes
Bernhard Güttler, Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Christoph Stickel, mastering engineer (Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams & Boston Symphony Orchestra)

81. Producer Of The Year, Classical

A Producer's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.)

Jonathan Allen

Aspire (Seunghee Lee, JP Jofre, Enrico Fagone & London Symphony Orchestra) (A)

Cooper: Continuum (Jessica Cottis, Adjoah Andoh, Clio Gould & The Oculus Ensemble) (A)

Muse (Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Isata Kanneh-Mason) (A)

Origins (Lucie Horsch) (A)

Saudade (Plinio Fernandes) (A)

Schubert: Winterreise (Benjamin Appl) (A)

Secret Love Letters (Lisa Batiashvili, Yannik Nézet-Séguin & Philadelphia Orchestra) (A)

Song (Sheku Kanneh-Mason) (A)

Christoph Franke

Brahms & Berg: Violin Concertos (Christian Tetzlaff, Robin Ticciati & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin) (A)

John Williams - The Berlin Concert (John Williams & Berliner Philharmoniker) (A)

Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos (Lars Vogt & Orchestre De Chambre De Paris) (A)

Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas (Elisabeth Leonskaja) (A)

Mozart Y Mambo: Cuban Dances (Sarah Willis, José Antonio Méndez Padrón & Havana Lyceum Orchestra) (A)

James Ginsburg

As We Are (Julian Velasco) (A)

Avant L'Orage - French String Trios (Black Oak Ensemble) (A)

Gems From Armenia (Aznavoorian Duo) (A)

Stephenson: Symphony No. 3, 'Visions' (Vladimir Kulenovic & Lake Forest Symphony) (A)

Trios From Contemporary Chicago (Lincoln Trio) (A)

When There Are No Words - Revolutionary Works For Oboe And Piano (Alex Klein & Phillip Bush) (A)

Elaine Martone

Beethoven: The Last Sonatas (Gerardo Teissonnière) (A)

Big Things (Icarus Quartet) (A)

Perspectives (Third Coast Percussion) (A)

Schnittke: Concerto For Piano And Strings; Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2 (Yefim Bronfman, Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra) (A)

Strauss: Three Tone Poems (Franz Welser-Möst & The Cleveland Orchestra) (A)

Upon Further Reflection (John Wilson) (A)

Judith Sherman - WINNER

Akiho: Oculus (Various Artists) (A)

Bach, C.P.E.: Sonatas & Rondos (Marc-André Hamelin) (A)

Bolcom: The Complete Rags (Marc-André Hamelin) (A)

Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartets (Takács Quartet) (A)

Huang Ruo’s A Dust In Time (Del Sol Quartet)

It Feels Like (Eunbi Kim) (A)

León: Teclas De Mi Piano (Adam Kent) (A)

Violin Odyssey (Itamar Zorman & Ieva Jokubaviciute) (A)

Works By Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman (Michael Repper & New York Youth Symphony) (A)

Classical

82. Best Orchestral Performance

Award to the Conductor and to the Orchestra.

Adams, John Luther: Sila - The Breath Of The World
Doug Perkins, conductor (The Crossing, JACK Quartet, Musicians Of The University Of Michigan Department Of Chamber Music & University Of Michigan Percussion Ensemble)

Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 7-9
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Eastman: Stay On It
Christopher Rountree, conductor (Wild Up)

John Williams - The Berlin Concert
John Williams, conductor (Berliner Philharmoniker)

Works By Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman - WINNER
Michael Repper, conductor (New York Youth Symphony)

83. Best Opera Recording

Award to the Conductor, Album Producer(s) and Principal Soloists, and to the Composer and Librettist (if applicable) of a world premiere Opera recording only.

Aucoin: Eurydice
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Barry Banks, Nathan Berg, Joshua Hopkins, Erin Morley & Jakub Józef Orliński; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)

Blanchard: Fire Shut Up In My Bones - WINNER
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Angel Blue, Will Liverman, Latonia Moore & Walter Russell III; David Frost, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)

Davis: X - The Life And Times Of Malcolm X
Gil Rose, conductor; Joshua Conyers, Ronnita Miller, Whitney Morrison, Victor Robertson & Davóne Tines; Gil Rose, producer (Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Odyssey Opera Chorus)

84. Best Choral Performance

Award to the Conductor, and to the Choral Director and/or Chorus Master where applicable and to the Choral Organization/Ensemble.

Bach: St. John Passion
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor (English Baroque Soloists; Monteverdi Choir)

Born - WINNER
Donald Nally, conductor (Dominic German, Maren Montalbano, Rebecca Myers & James Reese; The Crossing)

Verdi: Requiem - The Met Remembers 9/11
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; Donald Palumbo, chorus master (Michelle DeYoung, Eric Owens, Ailyn Pérez & Matthew Polenzani; The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)

85. Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance

For new recordings of works with chamber or small ensemble (twenty-four or fewer members, not including the conductor). One Award to the ensemble and one Award to the conductor, if applicable.

Beethoven: Complete String Quartets, Volume 2 - The Middle Quartets
Dover Quartet

Musical Remembrances
Neave Trio

Perspectives
Third Coast Percussion

Shaw: Evergreen - WINNER
Attacca Quartet

What Is American
PUBLIQuartet

86. Best Classical Instrumental Solo

Award to the Instrumental Soloist(s) and to the Conductor when applicable.

Abels: Isolation Variation
Hilary Hahn

Bach: The Art Of Life
Daniil Trifonov

Beethoven: Diabelli Variations
Mitsuko Uchida

Letters For The Future - WINNER
Time For Three; Xian Zhang, conductor (The Philadelphia Orchestra)

A Night In Upper Town - The Music Of Zoran Krajacic
Mak Grgić

87. Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Award to: Vocalist(s), Collaborative Artist(s) (Ex: pianists, conductors, chamber groups) Producer(s), Recording Engineers/Mixers with greater than 50% playing time of new material.

Eden
Joyce DiDonato, soloist; Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor (Il Pomo D’Oro)

How Do I Find You
Sasha Cooke, soloist; Kirill Kuzmin, pianist

Okpebholo: Lord, How Come Me Here?
Will Liverman, soloist; Paul Sánchez, pianist (J’Nai Bridges & Caen Thomason-Redus)

Stranger - Works For Tenor By Nico Muhly
Nicholas Phan, soloist (Eric Jacobsen; Brooklyn Rider & The Knights; Reginald Mobley)

Voice Of Nature - The Anthropocene - WINNER
Renée Fleming, soloist; Yannick Nézet-Séguin, pianist

88. Best Classical Compendium

Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s) and Engineer(s) of over 50% playing time of the album, and to the Composer and Librettist (if applicable) with over 50% playing time of a world premiere recording only.

An Adoption Story - WINNER
Starr Parodi & Kitt Wakeley; Jeff Fair, Starr Parodi & Kitt Wakeley, producers

Aspire
JP Jofre & Seunghee Lee; Enrico Fagone, conductor; Jonathan Allen, producer

A Concert For Ukraine
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor; David Frost, producer

The Lost Birds
Voces8; Barnaby Smith & Christopher Tin, conductors; Sean Patrick Flahaven & Christopher Tin, producers

89. Best Contemporary Classical Composition

A Composer's Award. (For a contemporary classical composition composed within the last 25 years, and released for the first time during the Eligibility Year.) Award to the librettist, if applicable.

Akiho: Ligneous Suite
Andy Akiho, composer (Ian Rosenbaum & Dover Quartet)

Bermel: Intonations
Derek Bermel, composer (Jack Quartet)

Gubaidulina: The Wrath Of God
Sofia Gubaidulina, composer (Andris Nelsons & Gewandhausorchester)

Puts: Contact - WINNER
Kevin Puts, composer (Xian Zhang, Time for Three & The Philadelphia Orchestra)

Simon: Requiem For The Enslaved
Carlos Simon, composer; Marco Pavé, librettist (Carlos Simon, MK Zulu, Marco Pavé & Hub New Music)

Music Video/Film

90. Best Music Video

Award to the artist, video director, and video producer.

Easy On Me
Adele
Xavier Dolan, video director; Xavier Dolan, Nancy Grant & Jannie McInnes, video producers

Yet To Come
BTS
Yong Seok Choi, video director; Tiffany Suh, video producer

Woman
Doja Cat
Child., video director; Missy Galanida, Sam Houston, Michelle Larkin & Isaac Rice, video producers

The Heart Part 5
Kendrick Lamar
Dave Free & Kendrick Lamar, video directors; Jason Baum & Jamie Rabineau, video producers

As It Was
Harry Styles
Tanu Muino, video director; Frank Borin, Ivanna Borin, Fred Bonham Carter, Alexa Haywood & Bryan Younce, video producers

All Too Well: The Short Film - WINNER
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, video director; Saul Germaine, video producer

91. Best Music Film

For concert/performance films or music documentaries. Award to the artist, video director, and video producer.

Adele One Night Only
Adele
Paul Dugdale, video director

Our World
Justin Bieber
Michael D. Ratner, video director; Kfir Goldberg, Andy Mininger, Scott Ratner & Michael D. Ratner, video producers

Billie Eilish Live At The O2
Billie Eilish
Sam Wrench, video director; Michelle An, Tom Colbourne, Chelsea Dodson & Billie Eilish, video producers

Motomami (Rosalía Tiktok Live Performance)
Rosalía
Ferrán Echegaray, Rosalía Vila Tobella & Stillz, video directors; Karen Saurí Marchán & Christy Alcaraz Moyer; video producers

Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story - WINNER
(Various Artists)
Frank Marshall & Ryan Suffern, video directors; Frank Marshall, Sean Stuart & Ryan Suffern, video producers

BARN
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Daryl Hannah, video director; Gary Ward, video producer

10 Must-See Moments From The 2023 GRAMMYs: Beyoncé Makes History, Hip-Hop Receives An Epic Tribute, Bad Bunny Brings The Puerto Rican Heat

 The 2023 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 65th GRAMMY Awards, returns to Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, and will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT.

The eligibility period for the 65th GRAMMY Awards is Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 – Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. All eligible awards entries must be released within this timeframe.

The Recording Academy and GRAMMY.com do not endorse any particular artist, submission or nominee over another. The results of the GRAMMY Awards, including winners and nominees, are solely dependent on the Recording Academy’s Voting Membership.

Tobias Jesso Jr. wanted to know how to write a hit song, so he read How to Write a Hit Song. Not that he needed to figure out how to break into the mainstream: he had already written a tune with Sia and Adele that cracked the Billboard Hot 100. But in an effort to take his young career seriously — that of writing behind the curtain for the stars — he cracked open the book at a café.

Just then, a voice: "What the hell are you doing?" He glanced up. It was Sia.

"She was like, 'Why are you reading that?' and I was like, 'I honestly don't know,'" Jesso remembers with a laugh. "I think I just put the book away from that point on and was like, OK, I don't need the books. And I just felt like there's been a different one of those lessons at every step of the way where I'm just like, Man, I think this is what I got to do, and then I just figure it out."

Since that exchange, Jesso has written with a litany of contemporary stars: John Legend, Shawn Mendes, Pink, Haim, Harry Styles — the list goes on. (As per the latter, he co-wrote "Boyfriends" on Harry's House, which was crowned Album Of The Year at the 2023 GRAMMYs.) 

And at said ceremony, he received a historic honor — the first-ever golden gramophone for Songwriter Of The Year. As Evan Bogart, Chair of the Songwriters & Composers Wing, recently toldput it to GRAMMY.com: "We're looking for which songwriters have demonstrated, first and foremost, that they're considered a songwriter first by the music community. We want to recognize the professional, hardworking songwriters who do this for a living."

Read More: Why The New Songwriter Of The Year GRAMMY Category Matters For The Music Industry And Creator Community

Clearly, Jesso fits the mold, and possesses technical chops worthy of How to Write a Hit Song. But his realization — that he can literally throw out the rulebook — speaks volumes as to his flexible, collaborator-first and fun-first process. 

"I get into a room and I really want to enjoy the people, and the songs will come if we're all just being honest," he tells GRAMMY.com. "If you take a few days or weeks to get to know somebody, all of a sudden, your songs are deeper." 

And while working his interpersonal and collaborative magic, he keeps his ears and imagination open — a momentary trifle can become the heart of a song. It happened with Cautious Clay's "Whoa," which came from messing with some, well, whoas. 

"It was a little silly at first," says Jesso,the songwriter whose first output was "inappropriate" high-school joke songs. "But now it wasn't silly anymore."

GRAMMY.com sat down with Jesso about his creative beginnings, the experience of working alongside pop titans, and how his inaugural GRAMMY win for Songwriter Of The Year happened during the happiest, most creatively fruitful period of his burgeoning career.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

How did it feel to take home the golden gramophone — the first ever in this category?

It felt tremendous. It felt amazing. It's such an honor to have received it, and I felt the weight of what it meant. I get really stage frightened, and so I kept telling myself there's no way I was going to win, just so I wouldn't be nervous or anything like that. 

But weirdly, when I did win, I was very not nervous. I don't know how to put it, but it was the opposite of what I thought I would feel. I don't know if I've never been awarded something so prestigious. My elementary school did a piece on me after I won the GRAMMY, and it was sort of largely a "We didn't see any talent at all" kind of thing.

So, I'd say "tremendous" would be probably the one word I would feel most aptly describes it. I'm just really, really proud of the category and its creation, and super lucky to have been a part of it at all. Especially in the year that it comes out. I was baffled that I was nominated. 

I had already felt like that rush of whoa, this amazing thing happened when I was nominated. And then winning was the next level of completely beyond what I could have ever expected.

How does the win help chart the next stage of your career?

As a songwriter, your job is to serve the artist. Your job is to serve the artist — the person who the song's for. And I think because of that, most songwriters have a very serve mentality, which generally doesn't work out well on the business side of things for you. 

I think if you took all the producers in the world and took all the songwriters in the world and tried to look at which ones are more business savvy, I'd say nine times out of 10, it's probably the producers. 

I think a lot of people — artists or songwriters among them — have imposter syndrome, feeling like they don't really know whether they belong there or they're just lucky or they have what it takes for the next one, even. If they know they had a good run or whatever, they're always going back to the well and praying that there's something in there. 

And I think this GRAMMY is almost like having a symbol of a really good run — a really good, fertile time of creativity or something. TI think the way I see it is sort of a symbol of this period of time where I had a lot of ideas, and worked really hard, and managed to somehow win this thing, which is, for me, is huge. It means a lot. 

For the songwriting community to have the award to look forward to, to have this symbol of Hey, you can be creative as a songwriter and just be a songwriter who doesn't sing and doesn't produce, and [the fact] you can get this prestigious symbol of your gifts that the world will now recognize — I think that's a wonderful thing for songwriters to have.

Take me back to the beginning of your career writing songs, either for yourself or others. The first time you really embraced this magical act of creation.

I was such a lazy songwriter for so many years because I always loved writing songs, writing songs with my friends in high school and stuff like that. But I never really wanted to play an instrument, and I never really wanted to sing them myself. 

I think probably back in high school, in 1998 or '99, it was because they were joke songs. So I probably didn't want to sing them because they were inappropriate or something. I always wanted to. The beginning for me was definitely a sort of moment of hearing Tracy Chapman when I was like, Oh, this is what I'm going to do. Not be Tracy Chapman, but write songs.

From there I was really lazy and I just tried to do as little as possible, but I had this sort of confidence that I was somehow good at it. So, I would sometimes have my friends who played guitar or my friends who played piano, or whoever was around, do the music part for me, and I could just kind of pipe in and direct where I felt like my skillset was. 

I started writing on piano for the first time when I was 27. That was a big moment for me where I was. I feel like I finally figured it out. It took me a long time: I still don't know how to play the piano, but I know I'm going to figure this out now.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way with bands and with albums or whatever. Things that just didn't exactly go the way [I planned them]; my gut was eventually telling me it just wasn't right. And then, when I started playing piano, it just finally all felt right, and I didn't think too much about it. I just sort of started doing it. 

During that time, I unfortunately had to sing to get my album out, which was sort of a means to an end. But as soon as I was able to, I ducked away from that and started writing. Then I just had a new job. I was like I got promoted or something. 

As you honed your ability and developed your craft, how did you follow that chain of connections to be able to write for who you've written for?

It's funny because Adele was the first person I worked with — [but] not in a professional way where managers and stuff like that are involved, and it's not just a friend of mine from high school or something. She was sort of my blueprint for how those things went.

I couldn't have gotten any luckier than with Adele, because her blueprint for how to do a writing session is the most pure in the game. There's nothing to hide behind. There's no producer in the room. She came to my friend's grandparents' where there are no mics; there's no studio equipment at all. There's a piano. And she just goes, "Great, let's write a song."

I don't know that that even exists much anymore. There's not even a microphone to capture what's going on, let alone one of the biggest players in the entire world doing it — just showing up, being like, "Let's write a song." And there's nothing to record her. I thought that was really cool. I'm like, "That's how I write songs. I just sit in front of a piano and just do what I think I like." And she was like, "And me too."

So, that's how we got along real great off the bat. And then from there, I would say it was just the most epic amount of failures and trial and error to figure out what the hell I was doing in every different session. I mean, I was treading water at times, and I felt like I was smoking crack sometimes, because I was so creative in a certain scenario I didn't expect to be creative in or something like that.

I think it's just this kind of learning process. There are a lot of people who are typically geared towards one style of writing. You're the country guy or you're the pop guy, or you're the ballad guy. And I could see that I was getting typecast. I was starting to get typecast, especially early on in my career because ballads, that's just the tempo that's naturally within me. It's sort of my soul tempo to just slow things down. I can write much easier in that tempo. I'll always sort of naturally progress there.

But I wanted to push the limits of that, and I wanted to figure out a way to get out of that typecast. And so I tried as quickly as I could to pick people who would be like, "Please don't play a ballad."

And when I started doing that, it was, again, trial and error. I think Niall [Horan of One Direction] was the first person I worked with who was in the pop world, and he was very much an acoustic singer. So I think that I was going into that session thinking I wanted to do upbeat pop. So I don't know — you get in the door and then you just try to acclimate yourself to the environment and help out as much as you can.

I think that's the best way to put it, because you never know what you're going to be doing. You never know what the artist is going to want from you or not want from you. A lot of the job is just figuring all that stuff out and then trying to just have fun while you're doing it. I think it's just that good energy, good attitude, and good people tend to sort of gravitate together.

How would you characterize the state of your artistic journey at this point?

I would say it feels the richest, in the sense that I'm the happiest I've been working.

I've found my rhythm — my perfect work-life balance kind of thing — so I can spend time with my son. And I think because of all of the time I've spent writing songs and how many songs come out, which is not a lot compared to how much you spend writing, you kind of learn that the relationships you make in the room are really the things that you really take out of it. It can be a lot more than, "I'm just a songwriter here to serve this artist" or whatever.

Lately, probably because of all the time I've spent doing it, I get into a room and I really want to enjoy the people. And the songs will come if we're all just being honest. We all know why we're here. We don't need that pressure in the room, and we don't need the A&R sitting in the room. We can get a song, but let's just be honest and really enjoy each other's company for a while.

And I think once that starts happening, it's way, way more fruitful in the long run. Because if you take a few days or weeks to get to know somebody, all of a sudden, your songs are deeper.

As a songwriter, your job is to point out metaphors or parallels — and things that could spark some interest in an artist's mind. And the better you get to know somebody, the more amazing the writing process can be.

That's been happening a lot in my recent sessions with Dua [Lipa] and Harry, another just amazing person. He is a great guy, but we haven't done that much writing together, but we know each other mostly through Kid Harpoon — Tom [Hull], who's the best.

I'm getting to know the people, and that's the most important part for me — I'm working with the people I want to work with. That's my journey now. I'll always work with new people, but I don't need to work with people I don't really vibe with or listen to. That's not really my interest anymore, especially if I'm in it for the right reasons. I'd say it's just more intentional, and I'm being more honest.

When you walk into a room to write with somebody, what are the first steps, or operating principles?

My operating principle is: Do I want to get to know this person, and do they want to get to know me at all, or do they just want to write a song and not want to open up?

If it's somebody who seems very open to talk, that's usually a good sign. And if not, then you just do what they want. You start writing a song and that's fine too. Sometimes there's great, catchy stuff. It's not always the deepest stuff.

Maybe they're the ones writing the lyrics, so maybe it is. But my operating principle is kind of, if I'm having a good time and everyone's having a good time, we're doing something good. We're not writing a bad song. We're just not. If we were writing a bad song in this room of professionals, we wouldn't be having a good time.

And when you're having a good time, good ideas do come. Even if they are silly at first and they're more openly accepted, and everything in the room is flowing better when those channels of enjoyment are sort of open, and everyone's laughing and having fun and dancing and being silly, that's how you get creative.

I don't know of many songwriters who are just dead serious. I've maybe met a couple. So I think my operating principle is to have a good time. That's going to be the funnest day, no matter what. It's probably going to be a better song for it if you're having fun and you like the people and they like you, and everything's going well.

Why is it crucial that the Recording Academy honor not only public-facing creators, but those behind the curtain?

I won't speak for myself as much as just the amazing people who I've worked with. You can't understand what kind of work has to go into a song. It's so funny, because it's a three-minute thing that sounds like most people can do it in an hour or something, but some of these things take months of work to get right.

I think it's really important to acknowledge everyone involved in each of the processes, because to give credit to just producers and artists, and then it's like, "Yeah, but the storytellers aren't even in the room," is like the congratulating a director and an actor, and then being like, the writer is s—. It's like, what? The movie wouldn't exist without them!

That just wouldn't happen. So, it feels like the right thing. I'm a bit overwhelmed and still a bit in disbelief, but it's snowing in LA, so miracles do happen.

What would you tell a young songwriter who wants to roll up their sleeves and do this?

I would say just be a good person and keep learning. Everyone's not perfect at the start. But if I had to give one piece of advice that was super, super important to me, is the good guys are winning in the end sometimes.

Like I said, the friendships and the artists, you don't want to come in being a d—. And I don't mean that strictly for men. I just mean whoever's coming in, you want to be a nice person. I think there's a lot of good people, and there's a lot of bad people too. You find your crew — energy finds energy.

Meet Stephanie Economou, The First-Ever GRAMMY Winner For Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media

Whenever Bobby McFerrin sings, freedom reigns. It twists and shouts; caresses and soothes; howls and coruscates.

After racking up 10 GRAMMY Awards and worldwide acclaim, McFerrin said this when the National Endowment for the Arts inducted him into its 2020 Jazz Masters class: “My pursuit of music has always been about freedom and joy.”

The son of two incredible singers, Sara Cooper (a former vocal professor at Fullerton College) and Robert McFerrin (an operatic baritone who was the first Black American man to sing at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera), McFerrin seemed destined to become a star. He sang in church choirs while growing up in Los Angeles. He studied music at California State University at Sacramento and Cerritos College in Norwalk, California. Afterward, he played piano and organ with the Ice Follies and in pop bands. And in 1980, he toured with the iconic jazz singer, Jon Hendricks.

McFerrin was 31 years old when he released his debut LP in 1982. But his artistry sounded fresh and fully developed. He contorted his four-octave voice in an array of colors, textures and improvisational shapes, liberating the role of a jazz singer.

McFerrin’s reputation as an ingenious and fearless virtuoso grew. His 1984 sophomore LP, The Voice, marked the first time a jazz singer recorded an entire album without any accompaniment or overdubbing. In addition to showcasing marvelous interpretations of songs by James Brown and Billy Strayhorn, it also revealed McFerrin to be an engaging composer through such infectious songs as “The Jump,” and “I’m My Own Walkman.”

A year later, his guest appearance on “Another Night In Tunisia” from the Manhattan Transfer’s LP, Vocalese, earned McFerrin his first two GRAMMY Awards. The following year, he won a GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male for his stunning rendition of “Round Midnight,” featuring pianist Herbie Hancock from the movie soundtrack, Round Midnight. His collaboration with Hancock also garnered McFerrin another GRAMMY win in 1987 for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male for “What Is This Thing Called Love?” from the LP, The Other Side Of Round Midnight.

For all of McFerrin’s exhilarating virtuosity, he imbues it with vast emotional range, especially humor. He can infuse his improvisations with the madcap kinetic energy of a Tom and Jerry cartoon chase scene, then pull the amorous heartstrings with a tender ballad.

Of course, the lyrics that McFerrin became most famous for are from his sanguine 1988 hit, “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” which catapulted him into superstardom. The song won three

GRAMMY Awards — Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

That enormous success didn’t impede McFerrin’s flair for adventure. He brought a quixotic spark to his records and projects that broke the conventions of jazz singing. He collaborated with classical music heavyweights such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist W.A. Mathieu and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; he has created elaborate vocal choirs such as 2010’s VOCAbuLarieS with composer Roger Treece; and delved deep into the Negro spiritual canon on his enthralling 2013 album, spirityoual.

Nearly 40 years after winning his first GRAMMY, McFerrin’s continued boundless musicality is a true embodiment of artistic freedom.

Here's What Happened At The Recording Academy's 2023 Special Merit Awards Ceremony Honoring Heart, Nirvana, Nile Rodgers, The Supremes & More

Stephanie Economou was so certain she wouldn't win a GRAMMY, that she sat near the back of the auditorium.

The video game soundtrack composer was nominated for the inaugural Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media award for her score to "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök" — a lavish expansion of the latest entry in Ubisoft's series of historically inspired action role-playing games.

"I was up against titans in the video game composing industry, so I was just happy to be nominated and happy to be there," Economou tells GRAMMY.com. But despite the heavy competition — Austin Wintory for "Aliens: Fireteam Elite," Bear McCreary for "Call of Duty Vanguard," other industry juggernauts — the golden gramophone was hers.

From rows and rows deep, Economou dashed to the stage feeling more than a little conflicted. "I was experiencing a lot of impostor syndrome," she says. "I'm still pretty new to this, and I was like, Did I earn this? Do I deserve this?" 

It was Wintory, who Economou characterizes as "very, very, very well-known," who set her self-doubting mind at ease: "It's absurd to even question why you're here," he told her, from her recollection. "The music is great, and what you represent is something important."

The soundtrack to "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök" isn't just high-quality; it's immersive, evocative and boundary-pushing. Taking cues from neofolk, Nordic folk and black metal, Economou employed a diverse palette of instruments — synthesizers, lap harp, viola da gamba, et al — to make the open-world RPG evermore captivating and transportive.

Economou opened up to GRAMMY.com about her creative journey through the worlds of film and TV, the manifold inspirations behind the "Dawn of Ragnarök" score, and her hope that this new GRAMMY Award will grant the video game music community the esteem it deserves.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

I imagine there's a degree of aristocracy in the video game scoring community, as there is in many subcultures. If so, was there a feeling upon receiving this GRAMMY that it's giving way a tad?

Yeah, I think there was. Truly, whoever won this category, it was going to be a huge celebration, because it's such a win to even have the validation from the Recording Academy to have video games as their own thing. So, regardless of who won, it was always going to be somebody who I think has earned a level of respect in the industry.

But I do think there is something to be said potentially for the fact that: yes, I am younger, and I am slightly newer to games. Maybe that balance is shifting where people are connecting with creators who are coming at this with a different lens and have something slightly different to say.

I just think that as a composer, I represent something different from what much of this industry can be — which is not better or worse, it’s just another perspective. And sometimes people can be attracted to what that diversity can bring.

Tell me about your early inspirations and what drew you to this medium.

I grew up playing violin and piano, and I pursued in college specifically concert music. So, I didn't score my first short film until I was in college at New England Conservatory, which is a music-only school.

There was just something there that clicked with me. I loved the collaborative process, working with a filmmaker who was really challenging me to try things out of my comfort zone. I grew up loving a lot of music. I grew up loving orchestral music because it's what I was playing in school. Most of all, I grew up loving classic rock, and just the rock genre — punk, metal, things like that. So, I have a lot of different, very, very eclectic influences, which I think is what made it so exciting to write music that felt genuine to me.

But I thought that film music and scoring for media in particular offered this really rare opportunity to potentially harness all of those influences that I loved from growing up — just putting them in a blender and seeing what comes out.

Depending on the project you’re working on, too — you could be working on a period drama where you have to study baroque music, or you could be working on an Assassin’s Creed game and someone says they want to do a black metal score. That’s pretty much exactly what happened. So, I love the challenge that’s built into this work.

Stephanie Economou. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Tell me how your career ramped up to "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök." What games did you work on prior to this title?

I mainly just worked in film and TV. Video games are still a pretty new thing for me.

But when I moved out to LA to start working in the industry, I got pretty lucky and ended up working for a composer named Harry Gregson-Williams, who is very well-known and respected. He composed for Shrek and Chicken Run and The Equalizer and Mulan, and had a bunch of huge, really different films.

So, I cut my teeth with him for six years and was writing on his scores and just being a part of his team, and that's pretty much where I learned everything. I got my credits writing additional music on his projects. 

And when I went out on my own, I was looking to get offered a Netflix TV series called "Jupiter's Legacy," which I think was a big catalyst for making an imprint with Netflix in particular, and with other people who really enjoyed that show.

From there, I've been doing lots of different work — documentary work, feature films, animations, a lot of different stuff. I instantly forget every single project I've ever done when anybody asks me this question, but there are lots of things that were propelled forward.

And then, Ubisoft called and said they were looking for a composer they hadn't worked with before — someone who didn't necessarily have game experience — and they asked someone to demo for this DLC [downloadable content] for "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" called "The Siege of Paris." That was my first intro to video game music.

So, I demoed for that, I got that job, and then the following expansion was "Dawn of Ragnarök," so they asked me if I could do that one.

What are some of the specific procedures involved in scoring a video game? What mental space do you need to occupy to write music for games as opposed to the other mediums you've worked in?

In film and TV, those stories are fixed. So, even though they might be editing throughout the time you're writing the music, they're still linear. Video games are nonlinear and interactive with the player, so the music is very alive. It's almost communicating with the player as they're going through the story.

When you're composing the music for something like that, you're kind of designing it as well. So, you need to have an awareness of: OK, even though this track is three minutes long, the player could be in this space for an hour.

Or they could happen upon a danger or tension area, and you need to design layers on top of a base layer that could be triggered at any moment, that can give them that rush or feeling of uneasiness. And then you could have a fight break out, and it's all sort of modular building blocks.

But the biggest challenge that comes with something like that where there are so many moving parts musically, is that you still need to make sure that it's not just the same thing looping over and over again.

The music needs to have shape and a theme, and it can have harmony and modulate, and each of the layers can play with the rudiments of tempo. You can play with double time and half time and triplets and subdivisions that can play into that intensity, but in a very carefully designed way.

So, there are a lot of levels of awareness that need to go into composing something that is interactive and nonlinear, which I think is a really fun challenge. But coming into games and being newer to it, there was a steeper learning curve.

I think that's the challenge with it — making a piece feel really musical and gripping, but being able to do all of those very specific technical things at the same time.

How would you characterize your personal stamp on whatever score you create?

I'm truly bad at recognizing what I think my signature is, because I think it's ever-evolving. But I do think that I try to bring an edge, or something a little bit risk-taking, into all of the music that I make.

I really don't like the idea of writing the same cue more than once, even though sometimes that's what we have to do for the job. I really like the idea that not one of my scores sounds like another one. That's not specific, but process-wise, I get excited by projects that can allow me to do something I haven't done before.

I feel like the space of video games is especially encouraging for taking those kinds of risks, and working with Ubisoft, that's definitely what they were doing. At every turn, they were like, Push it further, get more experimental, get less expected. And I love that. I love playing with the expectation of the listener and redefining what people consider to be game music.

Tell me more about how you incorporated the building blocks of black metal in the "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" score — grainy production, tremolo picking, a symphonic sweep.

The black-metal thing came as a suggestion from one of the game developers very, very early in the process. I love metal music, but I had never studied the black-metal subgenre in particular. So, I looked into that stuff.

My first protocol was finding musicians who were really well-versed in that. I found this band called Wilderun; Wayne Ingram is the lead guitarist. He was one of the biggest collaborators on this project, and he introduced me to Heilung and Wolves in the Throne Room and all these amazing black-metal and neo-folk bands.

"Assassin's Creed Valhalla" also has this Nordic folk influence, which is something I wanted to tie into "Dawn of Ragnarok." There's actually a lot of musical overlap, I would say, between Nordic folk and black-metal. Even if it's coming from a rustic, primitive way, it's very cinematic. You can have these symphonic sorts of influences with distorted guitars and really punchy drums and blast beats and growly vocals and stuff.

So, it all ends up tying together, but getting the right temperature for each of the stylistic influences was a challenge. So, dialing in that black metal and some of those performances from the soloist… it wasn't hard, but it was definitely something that I had to pay very close attention to [in order] to make sure that I was really nailing it.

It was super fun. I never thought I was going to be able to write a black-metal influenced score, but the best part of it was being able to collaborate with these musicians. It was just a really amazing, fruitful experience.

Tell me about your other collaborators on this soundtrack.

Ari Mason is another one of the soloists. She was a vocalist and played viola da gamba on the score too. She put off this really fresh Nordic folk, neofolk energy to the whole score, which was really amazing.

I got a tagelharpa, which was really, really difficult to play, but cool to just gather. I tend to collect instruments based on the project that I'm working on. So, I recorded on that and experimented with a lap harp, which was really fun, and then recorded with a bunch of different string instruments.

And then, we put some synths in there, because, as you probably know too, black metal and neofolk, it's very uniquely ambient and textural as well, So even though there can be these big black-metal moments, there's a lot of heavily curated ambience and textural stuff going on in there too.

That's the most fun stuff for me. That's something that I feel like lives in most of my music, regardless of the style.

Prior to your black-metal immersion, what are some other formative influences that made their way into your work?

So, I grew up listening to System of a Down, and Toxicity is probably still one of my favorite albums of all time. I listen to it [chuckles] a lot. I do feel like there were some times when it was tipping more into System of a Down, and Ubisoft was like, "I think we're departing a little too far from black metal!"

Pink Floyd is probably my favorite band of all time, and Animals is my favorite album. There's things in that music where I can look back at my own music and say, "Oh wow, there's something in there that does remind me a bit of Animals," or a bit of this, a bit of that. I used to listen to Blink-182 and stuff from my childhood that brings me a lot of joy still. And then newer stuff like Patrick Watson and Father John Misty.

I try to just listen to new music whenever I can — which, truth be told, I struggled with for a long time, because working in music and doing music all day, sometimes you just feel really inundated and don't want to listen to anything else.

So, I sort of struggled with that for a while. But now, every morning, I come into the studio and go on YouTube and just listen to different things that I have never heard of before, and I think that's a really inspiring way to start the day.

Stephanie Economou. Photo: Claus Morgenstern

With this GRAMMY in hand, where do you want to creatively venture next?

I would just love to keep working with these amazing creators in the video game space and keep doing more film and TV projects. I always strive to work with storytellers who are saying something different and being innovative, and people who are going to want music that opens a different dimension for the viewer and the audience.

I do feel like games are the most direct way into that world for listeners. I think it's all art, really.

Can you talk about the subculture of video game scorers, positive or negative? What would you do to change it if you could?

I think we've all read about how some of these video game companies can be very toxic working environments, and in particular for women. I have to say that my experience as a woman composer in the video game music space is that I have only been supported by these game companies, and it's been a really lovely, encouraging space to make music. Then, I would say the video game composing community is really great too.

I really appreciate this community of composers. We're all just putting our heads down and doing the work. But ultimately, I think that the amount of diverse voices in video games is a bigger population as compared to film and TV. I think game companies are more apt to hire women composers, and video game composers are super-accepting and a generally diverse group of people.

I'm really lucky to be here, and I've only felt support from my fellow artists in this world. So, I would say all good stuff, but maybe ask me in 10 years and I'll have some more stories.

With the initiation of this GRAMMY category, do you feel like the video game music world might get more of the respect that it deserves?

I'd f—ing hope so, man. It's so crazy that it did take this long to recognize video game music on its own.

There are some people I talk to who aren't really even gamers or don't really understand how exciting the video game medium is. They're like, "Oh, wow, it's really a sign of the times that video game music is being recognized." It's like, we've been here for decades.

I think it's well overdue, especially because gamers really, really listen to this music. I grew up gaming and I still do now, and there's something about hearing those scores that I grew up with from these games; it elicits this very visceral memory. It sets you in a place and time and it's a very deep-seated thing.

I love film soundtracks too, but I don't get that same overwhelming thrill when I listen to the music for a film soundtrack as I do for a game soundtrack. If I hear the theme for "Halo," it's like I'm overcome, and I think there's something to be said for that.

I think people who live in these narratives in video games really want to listen to the music again and re-experience the excitement of that story just by listening to the soundtrack alone. It defines this little slice of time that they enjoyed this game and fought through it. It's just a really special experience.

So, I think it's well-timed that game music is recognized, because it really does offer this emotionally connecting experience for the audience.

Inside Dungeon Synth: A Transportive, Atmospheric & Bracingly Earnest Realm

When young jazz luminary Samara Joy accepted a golden gramophone for Best New Artist at the 2023 GRAMMYs, the sequence of expressions that flitted across her visage seemed to cover the entire spectrum of feeling.

The 23-year-old vocalist born Samara Joy McLendon had already won a GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the Premiere Ceremony, for her acclaimed second album and Verve debut, Linger Awhile. This win during the CBS telecast was an entirely different beast. 

The artist who just a few years ago had been a promising undergrad and audibly nervous on the phone now stood onstage at the Crypto.com arena before global megastars from Taylor Swift to Lizzo to Adele — not to mention 12.55 million people at home.

Speaking to GRAMMY.com in its wake, Joy likened the experience to living "in a parallel universe or a movie."

"I'm still in shock and disbelief because I truly didn't think that I would be in the position to receive such an honor," Joy said of the Best New Artist win, where she forged ahead of fellow nominees like Brazilian star Anitta, genre-blending singer/songwriter Omar Apollo, British indie oddballs Wet Leg, and her fellow rising jazzers DOMi & JD Beck.

"I am, however, grateful for the honor, because it reassures me of the fact that I want to continue pursuing music and growth as a musician," Joy continued. "This signifies the beginning of a musical journey that I'm nervous but excited to embark on."

While Joy's  post-show comments focused on her continued development as an artist, the effect of her win quickly became conspicuous. Less than two weeks after the Feb. 5 ceremony, she appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" to perform the recitative standard and Linger Awhile cut "Guess Who I Saw Today."

But it's worth considering what this General Field win means not only for Joy, but the jazz community writ large. Like other genres that appear deeper down the GRAMMY nominees list — from classical to reggae to spoken word — jazz can be treated as a little niche, partitioned off into a corner of the music landscape. Even the most heralded rising talents seldom rocket to celebrity status.

It's only once in a while that jazz completely and utterly perforates the mainstream — like in 2020, when Pixar's Soul was released, featuring consulting work from real-deal musicians from deep in the NYC scene, like Jon Batiste and Terri Lyne Carrington.

Some of these breakthroughs have happened at the GRAMMYs. In 2003, the charismatic and versatile Norah Jones swept the General Field, winning GRAMMYs for Best New Artist, Album Of The Year (for Come Away With Me) and Record Of The Year (for "Don't Know Why"), on top of wins for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Vocal Performance.

Five years later, Herbie Hancock — one of the most brilliant harmonic thinkers of the 20th century, and 21st — won Album Of The Year for River: The Joni Letters, his tribute to his old collaborator and fellow game-changing genius Joni Mitchell. In that category, the album beat out Kanye West's Graduation and Amy Winehouse's Back to Black.

In 2011, bassist, composer and vocalist Esperanza Spalding won Best New Artist and has been a steady presence at the GRAMMYs ever since, winning right up to the 2022 GRAMMYs (Best Jazz Vocal Album, for SONGWRIGHTS APOTHECARY LAB) and landing a nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for her work with Wayne Shorter, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Leo Genovese on that year's Live at the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Additionally, at the 2022 GRAMMYs, Lady Gaga paid tribute to her collaborator, Tony Bennett, with a performance of "Love for Sale" and "Do I Love You" — both from their final duets album, which won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at that year's ceremony. (Previously, their album Cheek to Cheek won in the same category, at the 2015 GRAMMYs.)

On top of all that, other crossover artists with jazz connections, from Jacob Collier to Robert Glasper to Thundercat, have made big splashes at Music’s Biggest Night.

Despite operating under the "jazz" umbrella, all these artists are wildly divergent in almost every possible way. Joy is connected to a jazz-vocal tradition that snakes way back in history, back to when her heroes like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae were dropping jaws.

"I'm overjoyed at Samara's success. But not surprised," Lisa Goich-Andreadis, the Director of Awards and Jazz Genre Manager at the Recording Academy, tells GRAMMY.com. "The first time I heard her voice, I couldn't believe that it was coming out of a 22-year-old. It has the richness and depth of the legends that came before her. She channels something out of another era. Her rise is well-deserved."

What makes Joy fresh is that it's her doing this music, channeling it through her vibrant abilities and irresistibly vivacious spirit. There are a lot of singers doing standards, but there's only one Joy. 

"She f—ing deserves it, man," pianist Geoffrey Keezer, who took home a GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Composition at the same ceremony, tells GRAMMY.com. "She can sing her butt off, and I don't know her personally, but from everything I see, she seems like a really nice person, and really humble and down-to-earth. I think it's fantastic."

Keezer sees Joy's triumph at the 2023 GRAMMYs as a reminder, loud and clear, that jazz is no antiquated or peripheral artform. Rather, it is a vibrant and alive genre very much in the now. 

"The whole umbrella genre is Black American Music, and jazz is the branch of it that has a swing beat," he explains. "So, it's just as current and relevant as anything else. There's all these different branches of the same tree. When the one that swings wins, it's just nice to have that recognized as: Yes, we're still here. This is still part of it, and it's important, and it's where it all came from."

To Goich-Andreadis, Joy's win is significant because it shows that she's being noticed by a wide audience far afield from the jazz community — including that of such esteem as the pre-GRAMMYs MusiCares Persons Of The Year event, which honored Motown titans Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson.

"She received a rousing standing ovation by the crowd, with honorees Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson leading the way," Goich-Andreadis remembers of her performance. "It's great to see a representative from this genre touching so many with her talent."

Keezer views Joy's ascent as part of a greater mass of acknowledgement, including that of Spalding, Hancock, and five-time GRAMMY winner Billy Childs — a rising tide that lifts all boats. "I think cumulatively, it opens doors," he says. "It gives the general public, I almost want to say, permission to like this music and think it's cool.

"Audiences are smart, man. People want to hear good musicianship," he continues. "You watch the Olympics to see Simone Biles, or tennis to see Serena Williams, or whatever. You want to see human excellence in real time, in front of your eyes. So, that's what we're seeing with Samara Joy. She's the real deal, and she's doing it right in front of you with no gimmickry and no Auto-Tune."

As to the wider impact of her big wins, Joy can't prognosticate. She only hopes to move the needle.

"I hope that this win means that jazz musicians will be paid a bit more attention and respect for their contributions to music as a whole," Joy says. "It really is a wonderful community that deserves some more shine than it's been given. It's a small step but a step nonetheless."

No matter what happens, perhaps the essence of this victory is simply that the flame is proudly preserved and bore by a worthy ambassador. "Samara is carrying on this very treasured and important musical tradition," Goich-Andreadis says. "Jazz is America's gift to the world."

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