AILSA CHANG, HOST:
This Sunday's Grammy Awards feature some of the biggest pop stars in the world, as Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Billie Eilish and others compete for the top prizes in music. And all week on our show, we'll be throwing the spotlight on some up-and-coming stars in our annual series on first-time Grammy nominees. And to kick us off right now, we have a preview of the awards with Stephen Thompson of NPR Music. Hey, Stephen.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa. It's great to be here.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so there was so much debate in the immediate aftermath of the fires here in LA as to whether the Grammys would even go on at all, but, you know, the Recording Academy decided to just go ahead and proceed with the awards. What was the thinking there?
THOMPSON: Well, there's often a reflexive tendency - and this came up a lot during the COVID era and after other events - to say, you know, now is not the time for a celebration. And I understand that response.
CHANG: Yeah.
THOMPSON: It's a big part of why a lot of the industry parties leading up to the Grammys have been canceled this year. You're going to see a more muted show as a result. But the Grammys are also huge for LA's local economy. Thousands of people make that telecast happen. Most of them are not out-of-touch millionaires looking to celebrate themselves, you know?
CHANG: Yeah, absolutely.
THOMPSON: They're working a trade just like anybody else. They're still putting on the show, but they're also using that show as a fundraising opportunity. They're trying to make the best of a terrible situation.
CHANG: Fundraising for recovery after the fires, yeah?
THOMPSON: Exactly.
CHANG: OK, well, with the Grammys going forward as planned, just give us what you think is going to be the biggest storyline Sunday night.
THOMPSON: Well, I think the biggest storylines revolve around the top four categories - album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best new artist. And in each of those categories, you have face-offs between huge pop stars. You've got, you know, Taylor Swift versus Beyonce versus Billie Eilish. Chappell Roan versus Sabrina Carpenter in best new artist.
CHANG: Yeah.
THOMPSON: You know, where does Kendrick Lamar fit in?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT LIKE US")
KENDRICK LAMAR: (Singing) They not like us. They not like us. They not like us.
THOMPSON: A lot of wild cards - none of the major categories have a slam-dunk frontrunner this year because you have multiple juggernauts in each category. And there are lots of ways in which one artist might wind up dominating the night, but there are also opportunities for left-field nominees to pull off these huge, huge upsets just because so many powerhouses are there to split the vote.
CHANG: OK, so what would represent a huge, huge upset? Or on the flip side, what's a shock that maybe shouldn't be so much of a shock after all?
THOMPSON: OK, well, let's take album of the year as an example. There are eight nominees. Six of them are massive pop stars. You got your Taylor Swift, your Billie Eilish, Beyonce, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX. Those women kind of help define the year in music that we're talking about here.
CHANG: Yeah.
THOMPSON: And they all have large constituencies, but they're competing for a lot of the same real estate. They're competing for a lot of the same kind of commercial pop music terrain. But you've also got two totally left-field entries in this field. You've got Andre 3000 from OutKast with this instrumental flute odyssey called "New Blue Sun." I cannot...
CHANG: Right?
THOMPSON: ...Imagine it winning, but you never know...
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDRE 3000'S "NINETY THREE 'TIL INFINITY AND BEYONCE")
THOMPSON: ...And Jacob Collier's "Djesse Vol. 4." Now, Jacob Collier is not a household name, but he does have a ton of industry support as kind of an old-fashioned jazzy singer-songwriter who dabbles in the Great American Songbook while at the same time being very proficient in places like YouTube, where he's developed a lot of young fans who've admired his use of technology, his prodigious kind of instrumental gifts and his ability to kind of tie together the old and new. And if you are looking for a blueprint of the kind of artist the Grammys absolutely love, he has a wide-open lane to pull off what would be considered just a colossal upset.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHE PUT SUNSHINE")
JACOB COLLIER: (Singing) She knows just how to wake me.
THOMPSON: I don't think Andre 3000 is likely to compete heavily in this category, but Jacob Collier's the kind of person where, all of a sudden, if you're looking for what's trending on Grammy night and you see all these web searches for who is Jacob Collier, I would not be stunned. On a similar note, you have a potential scenario coming up with record of the year, albeit with a much, much bigger name than Jacob Collier, where you've got this field of huge, current pop stars who are in a field with the song "Now And Then" by The Beatles.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOW AND THEN")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) And now and then, if we must start again...
THOMPSON: Now, "Now And Then" by The Beatles is, like, famously, like, this archival Beatles song. Like, John Lennon recorded this demo in the '70s. The Beatles over the years kind of worked on it...
CHANG: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Tried to resuscitate it. And thanks in part to production helped by AI, they were finally able to release "Now And Then" in late 2023. And it kind of somewhat inexplicably wound up getting nominated for record of the year even though it's, you know, not "Let It Be," right? It's, like, a fairly - like a sentimental favorite, but not a major, major song.
CHANG: But it proves your point about how the Grammys, they like stuff that's old and familiar, right?
THOMPSON: Exactly. I mean, who doesn't like The Beatles?
CHANG: Exactly.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
CHANG: OK, well, because the Grammys do tend to gravitate to what's old and familiar often, I'm curious because they've also worked to diversify their voting body, right? Have you noticed a shift at all in what earns nominations and what earns awards because of that diversification?
THOMPSON: Well, there's definitely been evolution over the years. The Grammys have made a lot of strange picks. Some of them stem from voters being out of touch with current trends. That's how you wind up with stuff like that year that Jethro Tull beat Metallica for the first ever heavy metal Grammy...
CHANG: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: ...Which we're still laughing about, like, almost 40 years later. But this year, most of the major nominations are going to current pop stars. The field is younger. It's dominated by women, which is a major change from even 10 years ago. That's clearly - part of it is a reflection on the industry and what's been popular, but it's also, I think, a product of voters who are a little more plugged in to today's music. But there are still glass ceilings that are going to come into play, which is how you wind up with this phenomenon where Beyonce has won the most Grammys of all time, but has still never won album of the year or record of the year.
CHANG: Yeah.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
CHANG: Yes, exactly. OK, so the Grammys, I mean, they're full of live performances from big stars. Are there any that you are especially anticipating?
THOMPSON: Well, I often say that the Grammys are a 3 1/2-hour infomercial for the music industry, and the performances are a huge part of that. This is how the industry wants to present itself to the world. And, you know, they're still rolling out some announcements of who's going to perform, but I'm excited about the potential for just big pop-star spectacle. You know, Charli XCX is performing. I would imagine she's going to go big.
You know, you talked upfront about how you're profiling first-time Grammy nominees. The best new artist field is really well represented among the performers. Chappell Roan puts on an incredible show. Benson Boone is very dynamic. Sabrina Carpenter is hugely fun. I can't wait to see Doechii. Wait till you see Raye. If you haven't seen Raye, Raye is a delight. Lots of people, I think, are going to fall in love with her watching her at the Grammys this weekend. Even if your favorite artist doesn't win or isn't nominated, you're going to see some memorable performances.
CHANG: All right, the Grammys are this Sunday night. I'll be tuning in and so will Stephen Thompson. Thank you so much, Stephen.
THOMPSON: Thank you, Ailsa.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORTH IT")
RAYE: (Singing) Baby, bae, b-b-bae-b-b-baby, would you? Would you make it all right?
CHANG: And we will be profiling some of this year's first-time nominees, as we said, all week long on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, so stay tuned for that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORTH IT")
RAYE: (Singing) When I see the sun rising, you make it that much better. So I hope you're going to make it all worth it... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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