If the nominations for the 66th Grammy Awards make anything clear, it’s this: When music’s highest honors are handed out in February, the winner of the most-coveted prizes will be either a female act — or Jon Batiste.
Women thoroughly dominate the major all-genre categories in nominations announced Friday by the Recording Academy, with work by female vocalists and musicians nabbing seven of the eight nods each for album, record and song of the year, and women taking more than half of the slots in best new artist.
SZA, the witty and adventurous R&B singer known for her frank depiction of millennial romance, leads the field with nine nominations overall, including for album of the year (for her smash “SOS”) and record and song of the year (for her No. 1 single, “Kill Bill”). Behind her with seven nods each are Phoebe Bridgers, whose supergroup rock band Boygenius is up for album of the year (for “The Record”) and record of the year (for “Not Strong Enough”), and the ascendant R&B singer-songwriter Victoria Monét, who scored nominations for record of the year (for “On My Mama”) and best new artist, among other prizes.