Powered by her smash hit album “Renaissance” and hit “Break My Soul,” Beyonce could potentially make Grammy history Sunday evening as she carries a leading nine nominations into the 65th annual rendition of Music’s Biggest Night.
Already the record-holder for the winningest woman of all time, with 28 Grammys overall, with just four wins Sunday, Beyonce could overtake the late conductor Georg Solti as winningest artist of all time. Solti won a leading 31 career Grammys.
The nine nominations Beyonce earned this year put her in a tie with her husband, Jay-Z, for the most-nominated artists in Grammy history, with 88 nods each.
But while she has a strong chance of becoming Grammy’s winningest artist ever, Beyonce is also looking to finally stake a claim on some of the Recording Academy’s top honors. Of her 28 Grammy wins, only one was in the general-music categories — a Song of the Year victory for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” All of her other wins were in so-called “down-ballot” genre categories.
Heading into Sunday’s event at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, many pundits have suggested that with a chance to set a Grammy record, this is the year the Recording Academy could finally recognize her in the top categories of Album, Record and Song of the Year.
She’s nominated in all of those categories, with “Renaissance” up for Album of the Year and “Break My Soul” nominated for Record and Song of the Year. The Record of the Year award honors performers, while Song of the Year honors songwriters.
The competition, however, is stiff. Kendrick Lamar has eight nominations going into the event, while Adele and Brandi Carlile each have seven. Lamar and Adele are also nominated with Beyonce in the top three Grammy categories, as are Lizzo and Harry Styles.
Competing with Beyonce’s “Renaissance” for Album of the Year will be “Voyage” by ABBA, “30” by Adele, “Un Verano Sin Ti” by Bad Bunny, “Good Morning Gorgeous” by Mary J. Blige, “In These Silent Days” by Carlile, “Music of the Spheres” by Coldplay, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” by Lamar, “Special” by Lizzo and “Harry’s House” by Styles.
Beyonce’s “Break My Soul” will compete for Record of the Year against “Don’t Shut Me Down” by ABBA, “Easy on Me” by Adele, “Good Morning Gorgeous” by Mary J. Blige, “You and Me on the Rock” by Carlile with Lucius, “Woman” by Doja Cat, “Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy, “The Heart Part 5” by Lamar, “About Damn Time” by Lizzo and “As It Was” by Styles.
Song of the year hopefuls are the writers behind GAYLE’s “abcdefu,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” Styles’ “As it Was,” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Beyonce’s “Break My Soul,” Adele’s “Easy on Me,” DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” and Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That.”
In the other top category of Best New Artist, nominees are Anitta, Omar Apollo, DOMi & JD Beck, Muni Long, Samara Joy, Latto, Maneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg.
Trevor Noah will host the 3 1/2-hour Grammy telecast beginning at 5 p.m., when the top honors are presented. The vast majority of Grammy Awards will be presented during the Premiere Ceremony beginning at 12:30 p.m. at the Microsoft Theater.
The main ceremony at Crypto.com Arena will mark a return to the Grammys’ traditional home, following two years of COVID-related relocations. Last year’s ceremony was moved to Las Vegas due to surging infections in Los Angeles County. The 2021 event was scaled down due to the pandemic and held on an outdoor event deck at L.A. Live.
As usual, the Grammy telecast will be heavy on musical performances. Scheduled to take the stage are Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Luke Combs, Brandi Carlile, Steve Lacy, Lizzo, Kim Petras, Harry Styles and Sam Smith.
The ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment will feature a series of performances honoring those who died in the past year. Kacey Musgraves will perform “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in a tribute to Loretta Lynn. Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt will honor Christine McVie with a performance of “Songbird.” Meanwhile, Maverick City Music and Quavo will team up on a performance of “Without You” in tribute to rapper Takeoff.
The show will also feature an all-star celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop. LL Cool J will introduce the segment and also perform during the tribute, which will be produced and arranged by Questlove, with music provided by The Roots and narrated by Black Thought.
Performing during the segment will be Big Boi, Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, De La Soul, DJ Drama, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Missy Elliott, Future, GloRilla, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Mele Mel & Scorpio/Ethiopian King, Ice-T, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, The Lox, Method Man, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rahiem, Rakim, RUN-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella, Scarface, Swizz Beatz, and Too $hort.
Among those scheduled to serve as presenters during the ceremony are first lady Jill Biden, Cardi B, James Corden, Billy Crystal, Viola Davis, Dwayne Johnson, Olivia Rodrigo and Shania Twain.
The Grammys will be broadcast on CBS and stream on Paramount+.