The Grammy Nominations 2022 would certainly be a mirror, judging how the mainstream music industry would be seeing itself this year. As it goes, the Recording Academy has started recognizing itself in jazz everyman Jon Batiste, who currently leads the award nominations with 11.
Although it can never be denied that Batiste is an extremely talented, socially aware musician, he is also inoffensive, with his music not having the same dangerous edge that others do. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is a step down from his soundtracking a CBS show. After him, Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, and H.E.R. have eight nods each, and Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish bring up the frame with seven nods each.
Grammy Nominations 2022- What Could Go Wrong?
Obviously, the Grammy Nominations 2022 are simply reflective of the methodology that the Academy chooses to receive mainstream music. The biggest change that this year would see is that the Academy has seemingly expanded its number of nominees to 10 in the four main categories- Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the year, and Best New Artist- which had eight nominations the previous year.
Amidst major controversies, the secret nominating committees have also had their roles reduced after the hue and cry raised by The Weeknd. And with the current eligibility window set for this year, Adele might not just run away with all.
But the Grammy Nominations 2022 refuse to take up a challenge. The Album of the Year award would simply be an industry-friendly slurry of polite traditionalism, with the nominees being Batiste, or Tony Bennett, or next-gen pop- Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, or established stars- Justin Bieber. It could be said that last year was quite disappointing, with Jazmine Sullivan not even getting a nod.
And while we can excuse the Grammy Nominations 2022 for missing out just a few times, it does sound quite bizarre that Arooj Aftab- someone who has been living in the States since 2005- would find their composition ‘Mohabbat’ listed under the Best Global Performance Category.
