2022 Grammy Music Awards set to hold Today
The world’s biggest music awards will hold today Sunday as the star-studded ceremony is traditionally billed as “music’s biggest night”
There are 70 categories in total, with everyone from Lady Gaga to Barack Obama on the nominations list.
The venue is the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas
Big Night For Nigerian Artistes
Femi Kuti
Wizkid
Burna Boy
Femi Kuti and Wizkid were nominated in the Best Global Music Performance and Best Global Music Album categories.
Femi Kuti’s Pà Pá Pà was nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category while Wizkid Featuring Tems Essence was nominated in the same category.
Wizkid’s Made in Lagos was nominated in the Best Global Music Album category and Femi Kuti and Made Kuti’s Legacy +made the same category.
Grammy winner, Burna Boy has been nominated for his part in Angélique Kidjo’s song Do Yourself
1934 song nominated for record of the year
Unbelievably, Cole Porter’s I Get A Kick Out Of You is one of the 10 songs in the running for record of the year, thanks to a new cover version by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett.
It’s part of a hallowed Grammy tradition of recognizing the old guard – regardless of whether their latest release helped define the year in music.
In Bennett’s case, it’s a fitting tribute to a career that has spanned eight decades in clubs and concert venues. The star announced his retirement last year at the age of 95, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Drake asked to be left out
Drake’s latest opus, Certified Lover Boy, had been nominated for rap album, and the single Way 2 Sexy, featuring Future and Young Thug, was up for rap performance. But he asked for the nominations to be withdrawn before the voting period closed, and the Academy honoured his request.
He’s a long-time critic of the ceremony – even when he wins. “We play an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport,” he said while picking up an award for God’s Plan in 2019. “You already won if you have people singing your songs word for word, if they’re singing in your hometown. You’re already winning, you don’t need this right here.”
Also absent is The Weeknd, who is refusing to participate in the Grammys after being snubbed last year.
Ariana Grande and Doja Cat also declined to submit their duets with the star for awards, in an apparent show of solidarity. But Kanye West didn’t get the memo: His single Hurricane, which features The Weekend and Lil Baby, made it onto the best melodic rap song shortlist.
Surprise nomination of Pakistani Arooj Aftab
Equally shocked was Pakistani-American musician Arooj Aftab, who gained a nomination on the strength of her third album Vulture Prince.
Fans of British band Glass Animals were stunned to see them nominated this year, more than a decade after they first formed (they are only now feeling the first flushes of US success, with the number one single Heat Waves).
“I didn’t think that something like that could happen,” said the 37-year-old before heading to Las Vegas for the ceremony, adding: “I felt like it’s something that should happen.”
Aftab, who studied at the Berklee School of Music and is based in Brooklyn, has won rave reviews for her music – which mingles jazz, Hindustani classical music and Sufi devotional poetry. Her album, Vulture Prince, is dedicated to her younger brother, who died during the writing of the record.
