19 surprising facts about the 2019 Grammy nominees

Notice a few extra names this year? You should, because every one of the four major categories (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist) now contains eight entrants. This is the first time in the Grammys’ six-decade existence that more than five nominees have been selected in a single category, let alone four categories. Credit goes to the Grammys Diversity and Inclusion Task Force for this historic effort to include a wider array of artists in this and future ceremonies.

It’s no surprise seeing Kendrick Lamar at the top of the list of most nominations, with eight, and the same can be said for Drake’s seven nods. But the next in line is Brandi Carlile, who after never receiving a nomination in her 13-year career, amassed six at this year’s event. Apparently six is a magic number for the folk and Americana musician, as that’s also how many albums she had to release before getting attention from the Grammys. Her most recent effort, ironically titled “By the Way, I Forgive You,” hit as high as No. 5 on the Billboard 200 while topping both the U.S. Folk Albums and U.S. Top Rock Albums charts.

This year’s ceremony includes nominations for six artists who appear in the top 20 all time in terms of most career nominations. Willie Nelson’s two nominations this year give him a total of 51 (with eight wins). Beyoncé’s three chances in 2019 give her 66 (with 22 wins). Kanye West’s Producer of the Year nod brings him to 69 (21 wins) — the same number as fellow nominee John Williams (24 wins). Jay-Z’s three get him up to a solid 77 nominations and 21 wins. Think Hova is king? Think again. Not only does the legendary Quincy Jones hold the record with 80 career nominations, but he also could nab another this year, which would add a 28th Grammy to the producer’s list of lifetime accomplishments.

Everywhere you look, women are dominating the nominees list for the 2019 Grammys, especially in the major categories. Female artists own or share six of both the Best New Artist and Song of the Year nominees as well as five nods for Album of the Year and four for Record of the Year. After a poor showing in 2018, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow controversially told female artists to “step up,” and that’s exactly what they did.

Florida Georgia Line formed in 2010, released three platinum albums, owns 13 No. 1 singles and has amassed a slew of honors, including multiple Academy of Country Music, American Music, CMT Music, CMA, Billboard and Teen Choice Awards. Yet the band has never won a Grammy. Even more shocking, Florida Georgia Line has never even received a nomination until this year’s Best Country Duo/Group Performance nod. If it wins, the award will actually be a shared honor, as the country duo’s only nomination is for being featured vocalists on the Bebe Rexha song “Meant to Be.”

Don’t look now, but the Backstreet Boys — still consisting of original members Nick, Howie, AJ, Brian and Kevin — have earned a nomination this year for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with their song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” If it feels like it’s been a while since the BSB were relevant, it has. The boy band’s last nomination was 17 years ago, for the song “Shape of My Heart.” In other nostalgia news, this year’s Best Pop Duo/Group category seems like total turn-of-the-millennium throwback, as in addition to the Backstreet Boys, it also includes nods for Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Maroon 5.

Last year we covered the unusual origins of Childish Gambino’s monicker, and this year we’ll do the same for fellow rapper Cardi B, who, along with Childish Gambino, is also up for five Grammys in 2019. Bacardi rum was actually the inspiration for “Cardi B,” a nickname the musician adopted to go along with her sister, who was born Hennessy Carolina Almánzar. Even more surprising, Cardi’s real first name is actually more unique than her showbiz name, as she was born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar on Oct. 11, 1992.

Shock-rocker Alice Cooper and musician John Legend both have a chance of winning a Grammy this year, but it's not in the category some might expect. In fact, those not paying close attention might be surprised to find out Cooper and Legend are not only part of the same category but also part of the same nominee. Believe it or not, they were both in the cast of the NBC musical TV special “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” and are subsequently both up for Best Musical Theater Album.

Beyoncé was something of a mentor to R&B duo Chloe x Halle, as Queen Bey plucked them out of obscurity, gave them a cameo in her “Lemonade” visual album and slotted them as an opening act for one of her solo tours as well as her tour with Jay-Z. Now Chloe x Halle have a chance to dethrone the Queen. In addition to a nod in the Best New Artist category, they're up for Best Urban Contemporary Album (for their debut “The Kids Are Alright”), where they will square off against the Carters’ collaborative record “Everything is Love.”

As if it isn’t surprising enough that H.E.R. received five nominations (including both Best New Artist and Album of the Year) but has yet to release a full-length debut album, the 21-year-old R&B musician also has quite the backstory. Under her birth name of Gabi Wilson, H.E.R. appeared on “The Today Show” when she was just 10 years old. After covering Alicia Keys and being labeled as a prodigy (in addition to singing, she can also play piano, guitar, bass and drums), Wilson went on to compete in a Radio Disney contest at age 12, get signed to a record deal with Sony at age 14 and release five EPs as H.E.R. between 2016 and 2018.

Greta Van Fleet might have four nominations, but that doesn’t mean people know a lot about the Michigan-based rockers...other than their obvious Led Zeppelin influences. Two members of the quartet, Josh Kiszka (vocals) and Jake Kiszka (guitar), are twin brothers in their early 20s, and a third bandmate is their brother, Sam (bass). Sam and drummer Danny Wagner are even younger than the twins. How young? Young enough that they won’t be able to legally drink at the Grammy ceremony or after-parties. In addition to Best New Artist, Greta Van Fleet have a shot at Best Rock Performance (“Highway Tune”), Best Rock Song (“Black Smoke Rising”) and Best Rock Album (“From the Fires”). 

Mary Gauthier’s album “Rifles & Rosary Beads” isn’t just worthy of praise for its Grammy nomination in the Best Folk Album category, but also because of its ties to U.S. soldiers. Through the foundation SongwritingWith:Soldiers, “Rifles & Rosary Beads” was co-written with U.S. veterans, active-duty troops and their families, and a portion of every sale of the record goes back into the program. The 11-track album previously earned a Record of the Year nod at the Americana Music Honors & Awards but was bested by Jason Isbell’s “The Nashville Sound.” 

Have you heard about this Ed Sheeran guy? He’s the 20-something who has won four Grammys and sold more than 100 million singles and 38 million albums worldwide, including both the best-selling single and best-selling record of 2017. Everybody knows Sheeran by now, except, apparently, the folks who decided on this year’s nominations. The British pop star’s song “Perfect” (performed both solo and as a duet with Beyoncé) was one of the biggest hits of 2018 as well as a No. 1 single worldwide, yet it didn’t receive a single nod. 

Ariana Grande is up for Best Pop Solo Performance (“God is a Woman”) and Best Pop Vocal Album (“Sweetener”), but she didn’t receive any nominations involving her incredibly popular hit song “Thank U, Next.” This may shock some fans, but there’s actually a good reason for it. To qualify for the 2019 Grammys event, a song had to have been released prior to Sept. 30, 2018, which means the surprise Nov. 4 release of “Thank U, Next” came a bit too late. No worries, however; the song will have a shot in 2019, and we’re pretty sure we’ll still have it on repeat until then.

In 2018, Carrie Underwood released her sixth studio album (titled “Cry Pretty”). She reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and became the first female country musician to ever achieve the latter feat four times. This was Underwood’s first crack at co-producing a record. It resulted in the highest sales for a country album in three years and the highest-selling week for any female artist in 2018, and it yielded two incredibly popular singles. Yet Underwood is nowhere to be found among the 2019 Grammy nominees, even though the release of the single “Cry Pretty” still made the cutoff. That makes us want to cry, and it ain’t gonna be pretty.

Bittersweet moments happen quite often at the Grammys, as many artists have received posthumous nominations throughout the award show’s history. This year includes two departed artists, the first of whom being rapper Mac Miller, who died of an overdose just one month after releasing his acclaimed fifth studio album, “Swimming,” which is up for Best Rap Album. Interestingly, the late Chris Cornell actually received a second consecutive posthumous nomination in 2019. The iconic frontman died in 2017 but received a Best Rock Nod last year (for the song “The Promise” from the movie of the same name) and is once again in the category this year for the song “When Bad Goes Good,” a previously unreleased track included on his recent self-titled box set.

Most people are aware that “A Star is Born,” the Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper film that yielded four Grammy nominations and five Golden Globe nods (with one win), is a remake, but few realize how many times it has been remade. After first hitting the big screen as a romantic drama in 1937, it was later made into a musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954, another musical in 1976 starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson and a 2013 Bollywood film titled “Aashiqui 2.” So don’t give us any guff about spoiling the ending! (OK, fine, we won’t.)

Shooter Jennings (son of the legendary Waylon Jennings) has released a dozen albums — including 11 as a solo artist and one as a member of Stargunn — but 2019 marks the first year he’ll be up for a Grammy. In fact, he’ll actually be up for two. However, despite recently dropping the album “Shooter” just last year, neither of his two nods are for albums he performed on. Instead, Jennings has a shot at winning both Record of the Year and Album of the Year as a co-producer of Brandi Carlile’s aforementioned “By the Way, I Forgive You.”

We’re huge fans of “Weird Al” Yankovic, but even we were surprised to see the Prince of Parodies on the list of nominees for 2019. After all, Weird Al hasn’t released a studio album since 2014’s “Mandatory Fun,” which eventually won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. However, Yankovic dropped a box set back in November 2017, titled “Squeeze Box,” which nabbed a nod for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.