Its obvious that when I haven’t left the house for the best part of a year, that its hard to contain myself when it comes to the Grammy awards. Honestly, I’m generally not a huge fan of award ceremonies but this has me all jittery!

An artist that i have become a major fanboy of is Jhené Aiko. Jhené falls in the category of a strong (and i hate to use the term) female artist. The truth is, that Jhené cannot put a foot wrong and is one of a group of relatively new artists that have seen females pretty much take over the world of RnB, Hip Hip, Funk and Soul. I could only imagine a festival with an all female line up. Can you see it?? Jhené Aiko, Elle Mai, Georgia Smith, H.E.R, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish – Yes, Billie is a superstar and I wont apologise for saying that. I was lucky enough to see her (and Georgia Smith) at EP 2019 and she was epic! So epic, that a ton of people were squashed from the crowds that came to the main stage to see her, but anyway, I digress……

Some Grammy nominations in the R&B and Rap categories are as follows:

Best R&B Performance For new vocal or instrumental R&B recordings.

• LIGHTNING & THUNDER Jhené Aiko Featuring John Legend
• BLACK PARADE Beyoncé
• ALL I NEED Jacob Collier Featuring Mahalia & Ty Dolla $ign
• GOAT HEAD Brittany Howard
• SEE ME Emily King

Best Traditional R&B Performance For new vocal or instrumental traditional R&B recordings.

• SIT ON DOWN The Baylor Project Featuring Jean Baylor & Marcus Baylor
• WONDER WHAT SHE THINKS OF ME Chloe X Halle
• LET ME GO Mykal Kilgore
• ANYTHING FOR YOU Ledisi
• DISTANCE Yebba

Best R&B Song A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

• BETTER THAN I IMAGINED Robert Glasper, Meshell Ndegeocello & Gabriella Wilson, songwriters (Robert Glasper Featuring H.E.R. & Meshell Ndegeocello)
• BLACK PARADE Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk & Rickie “Caso” Tice, songwriters (Beyoncé)
• COLLIDE Sam Barsh, Stacey Barthe, Sonyae Elise, Olu Fann, Akil King, Josh Lopez, Kaveh Rastegar & Benedetto Rotondi, songwriters (Tiana Major9 & EARTHGANG)
• DO IT Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey, Anton Kuhl, Victoria Monét, Scott Storch & Vincent Van Den Ende, songwriters (Chloe X Halle)
• SLOW DOWN Nasri Atweh, Badriia Bourelly, Skip Marley, Ryan Williamson & Gabriella Wilson, songwriters (Skip Marley & H.E.R.)

Best Progressive R&B Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded progressive vocal tracks derivative of R&B.

• CHILOMBO Jhené Aiko
• UNGODLY HOUR Chloe X Halle
• FREE NATIONALS Free Nationals
• F*** YO FEELINGS Robert Glasper
• IT IS WHAT IT IS Thundercat

Best R&B Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new R&B recordings.

• HAPPY 2 BE HERE Ant Clemons
• TAKE TIME Giveon
• TO FEEL LOVE/D Luke James
• BIGGER LOVE John Legend
• ALL RISE Gregory Porter

RAP

Best Rap Performance For a Rap performance. Singles or Tracks only.

• DEEP REVERENCE Big Sean Featuring Nipsey Hussle
• BOP DaBaby
• WHATS POPPIN Jack Harlow
• THE BIGGER PICTURE Lil Baby
• SAVAGE Megan Thee Stallion Featuring Beyoncé
• DIOR Pop Smoke

Best Melodic Rap Performance For a solo or collaborative performance containing both elements of R&B melodies and Rap.

• ROCKSTAR DaBaby Featuring Roddy Ricch
• LAUGH NOW CRY LATER Drake Featuring Lil Durk
• LOCKDOWN Anderson .Paak
• THE BOX Roddy Ricch
• HIGHEST IN THE ROOM Travis Scott

Best Rap Song A Songwriter(s) Award.  A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only..

• THE BIGGER PICTURE Dominique Jones, Noah Pettigrew & Rai’shaun Williams, songwriters (Lil Baby)
• THE BOX Larrance Dopson, Samuel Gloade, Rodrick Moore, Adarius Moragne, Eric Sloan & Khirye Anthony Tyler, songwriters (Roddy Ricch)
• LAUGH NOW CRY LATER Durk Banks, Rogét Chahayed, Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Ron LaTour & Ryan Martinez, songwriters (Drake Featuring Lil Durk)
• ROCKSTAR Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, Ross Joseph Portaro IV & Rodrick Moore, songwriters (DaBaby Featuring Roddy Ricch)
• SAVAGE Beyoncé, Shawn Carter, Brittany Hazzard, Derrick Milano, Terius Nash, Megan Pete, Bobby Session Jr., Jordan Kyle Lanier Thorpe & Anthony White, songwriters (Megan Thee Stallion Featuring Beyoncé)

Best Rap Album For albums containing at least 51% playing time of new rap recordings.

• BLACK HABITS D SMOKE
• ALFREDO Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
• A WRITTEN TESTIMONY Jay Electronica
• KING’S DISEASE Nas
• THE ALLEGORY Royce 5’9″

The show will air at 1am GMT and my days of being able to stay up late and not crash the car are far behind me so i guess i’ll be watching on Monday.

Anyway, enjoy the show and (Shameless plug) dont forget to check out RnB Sessions on Saturday and Sundays 6-8 GMT.

Much love,

Al