American singer Beyonce has received nine nominations for the 59th annual Grammy Awards. She is the first artist to get nominated in the pop, rock, R&B and rap categories in the same year. With her latest studio album “Lemonade”, Beyonce will be competing with artists Adele, Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West, Danish group Lukas Graham, pop duo Twenty One Pilots, Mike Posner and Justin Bieber for album, song and record of the year.
Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West have all got eight nominations each, while Adele got five. Beyonce and Adele’s albums sold over 10 million copies. Beyonce has already received 20 Grammys. She is also the most nominated woman in the history of the award with 62 nominations so far. “Artists are feeling emboldened and courageous and just wanting to step out of the predictable boundaries of what they have done. Of course, [Beyonce] is the poster child for that,” Recording Academy CEO and President Neil Portnow told The Associated Press. The Recording Academy started the awards in 1959.
For the album of the year, Beyonce’s “Lemonade” is up against Adele’s “25”, Drake’s “Views” and Bieber’s “Purpose”. The category got a surprise entrant in the form of country singer Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”.
Beyonce’s song “Formation” from the her latest album will compete with Adele’s “Hello”, Rihanna and Drake’s “Work,” Twenty One Pilots’ “Stressed Out” and Lukas Graham’s “7 Years” for record of the year.
Nominations for Song of the Year are “7 Years”, Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill In Ibiza,” and Beyonce and Adele’s songs. Beyonce has also been nominated for best rock performance (“Don’t Hurt Yourself” with Jack White), pop solo performance (“Hold Up”), rap/sung performance (“Freedom” with Kendrick Lamar) and urban contemporary album (“Lemonade”).
Nominees for the best new artist of the year include the Chainsmokers, the D.J. duo, Chance the Rapper, country singers Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini, and the singer/rapper Anderson Paak.
David Bowie, who died of cancer in January, got four nominations for his last album “Blackstar”. The organisation also included streaming-only recordings this year for the first time. These are songs that are not for sale, but only available on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
The Academy is judging among songs and albums released between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016. The awards will be announced on February 12, 2017.
Here is the complete list of nominees for the awards.
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