A Look At The Nominees For Album Of The Year At The 2023 GRAMMY Awards

Photo courtesy of the Recording Academy

list

The 2023 GRAMMY Award nominees for Album Of The Year span the landscape of pop, R&B, rap, reggaeton, and more. Here are the nominees — by ABBA, Harry Styles, Beyoncé, Adele, Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, and Lizzo.

Morgan Enos

|GRAMMYs/Nov 15, 2022 - 05:58 pm

For what seems like ages, people have been portending the album's extinction as a viable format. To which we ask: when, exactly?

The GRAMMY for Album Of The Year is a precious honor among many — partly because it celebrates excellence in that timeless format. Ever since at least 1955, when Frank Sinatra released one of the earliest concept albums, the long-player has been a vehicle for transformative — and often world-changing — artistic expressions and achievements.

A big component of that is how songs talk to each other, which is what you lose when considering songs as single releases. And this ineffable commingling of ideas, emotions and narratives is apparent throughout the nominations for Album Of The Year at the 2023 GRAMMYs.

What happens when you meditate on the confluence between Adele's "Easy On Me" and "I Drink Wine"? Or Kendrick Lamar's "We Cry Together" and "Mother I Sober"? Or Coldplay's "Let Somebody Go" and "Coloratura"? And those are just a few examples — live with these albums for a while, and numberless other spiritual links appear.

To absorb how songs can live together — and fight, and make up, and everything else — is one of the true joys of music. And in a transparent, peer-to-peer process, the Recording Academy's voting members decided that these 10 nominees wove together albums that became far more than the sum of their inspired parts.

Looking for more GRAMMYs news?The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

ABBA — Voyage

Talk about a satisfying return for a band that seemed to never go away — even though ABBA did for a whopping 40 years. And what a comeback, by way of their new album, Voyage — which shared a title with their innovative, virtual concert residency.

The LP reminded the world of why legions of fans fell in love with "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia" and the like. While they were unabashedly pop, the palindromic quartet of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Agnetha Fältskog were forward-thinking enough to bend Pete Townshend and John Lennon's ears.

Reunion albums after so much time away can raise suspicions, but Voyage put them all to bed. Like fellow pop tinkerers Electric Light Orchestra, the new material (like "Keep an Eye on Dan," "No Doubt About It" and "Don't Shut Me Down") could have been beamed from 1975.

This GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year follows their 2022 GRAMMY nomination for Record Of The Year — by way of "I Still Have Faith In You," the lead track from the album.

ABBA have stated that this is their last hurrah; if so, what a magical finale. Because Voyage hits just like the… well, hits.

Adele - 30

A new Adele album, with titles like "Cry Your Heart Out," "Oh My God" and "I Drink Wine" — casual onlookers might envision a soundtrack to an extended ugly-crying session. Well, it can be that if you want it to be.

But Adele is no one-dimensional artist — far from it. And her stunning latest, 30, is a cornucopia of wildly variable moods, production styles and flavors of ear candy.

This is partly due to the inspired production of Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Shellback, Ludwig Göransson, and other leading lights — and mostly due to Adele hurtling forward as a prime communicator and expresser.

Adele has long been a sturdy presence at the GRAMMYs, earning 15 golden gramophones and 18 nominations up to this point. The 2023 GRAMMY nominations mark another chapter in her musical life.

And it goes beyond 30's GRAMMY nomination for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. The majestic lead single "Easy On Me" was nominated for golden gramophones for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video. (Additionally, Adele: One Night Only is in the running for a GRAMMY for Best Music Film.)

Is 30 a work of bracing catharsis, in a very on-brand sense? Of course — this is Adele we're talking about. But the album maintains a pep in its step, and plenty of surprises in every song.

Here's just one, from before it even came out: "Is that really a feature from Erroll Garner, a jazz pianist who died in 1977?" Only you, Adele.

Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti

Un Verano Sin Ti may have been one of the hottest pop albums of the year — of any regional genre or national origin. It's the kind of work that bridges international markets, that sells out Yankee Stadium two nights in a row, that debuts at the top of the Billboard 200. (It was the second Spanish-language album to ever do that, to boot.)

And from a GRAMMYs standpoint, the Puerto Rican rapper and singer born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio has the wind in his sails. Not only has he previously won two golden gramophones and been nominated for six; at the 2023 GRAMMYs, Un Verano Sin Ti is up for a GRAMMY for Best Música Urbana Album, and "Moscow Mule" is up for another for Best Pop Solo Performance.

All that being said, Bad Bunny's latest bears a quality rare in offerings from artists of his caliber — it magically maintains a handmade, personal quality that sticks out among the pack.

Loosened-up, tropical-inflected tunes like "Me Porto Bonito," "Yo No Soy Celoso" and "Aguacero" don't chew the scenery to impress you; they seem as natural as breathing, which belies the level of craft involved in each song's construction, and the subtle emotional incisiveness of his messaging.

All of it adds up to a long-player that feels relaxed yet focused feels vaporous without being ephemeral.Un Verano Sin Ti is a summer dream — and an unforgettable one.

Beyoncé - Renaissance

The sociocultural shifts of the past few years have led to a reassessment of music history through the lens of identity. And one big win was the realization that disco, in fact, did not suck — thank you very much.

Not only was the lion's share of the music great, but the discotheque provided a haven for free expression among any number of marginalized groups, in regard to skin color, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The engine of RENAISSANCE, Beyoncé's first album in six and a half years, is the eternal power of the dancefloor — both in sound and spirit. Of course, this has been a throughline of her past work, for which she's picked up an astounding 28 GRAMMYs. But never before has it been contained and consolidated on one album like this.

This aesthetic doesn't render RENAISSANCE a mere throwback, but a future-forward addition to the dance/pop lineage. "Cozy" and "Thique" speak to radical self-acceptance; cornerstone track "Plastic Off the Sofa" is cinematic and immersive; despite the title, closer "SUMMER RENAISSANCE" is an on-ramp to revel in these sounds in fall, winter, and spring.

On the 2023 GRAMMYs nominations list, Beyoncé can be found all over the place: on top of this Album Of The Year GRAMMY nomination, RENAISSANCE is up for a GRAMMY for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

And on a track-by-track level, she's represented in the Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Dance/Electronic Recording, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Remixed Recording categories. "BE ALIVE," Beyoncé's tune for the film King Richard, is nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Song Written For Visual Media.

Beyoncé has made clear that RENAISSANCE is the first in a three-part installment: it's anyone's guess as to where this boundary-breaker will venture next. But until then, this dance party is forever.

Read More: How Many GRAMMYs Has Beyoncé Won? 10 Questions About The Renaissance Singer Answered

Mary J. Blige — Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)

The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul returned in 2022 in multiple surprising ways. In February, she released Good Morning Gorgeous, a work of emotional depth with a surprising bite to it. (Would another R&B act of her generation drop a track like "On Top," with the cutting-edge MC Fivio Foreign?)

Thirty years after the release of her debut album, What's The 411, the previously nine-time GRAMMY winner hasn't lost one iota of her clarity of creative vision or cachet as an R&B innovator.

This is reflected not only in the bold, brassy sound throughout Good Morning Gorgeous, but the presence of other high-profile guests, like DJ Khaled on "Amazing," Anderson .Paak on "Here With Me," Dave East on "Rent Money," and Usher on "Need Love."

Two days after the album's release, Mary J. Blige stormed the Super Bowl with Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, in a celebration of hip-hop as an ever-swelling force four decades in.

That performance made abundantly clear that this world would be unrecognizable without the soul edge Blige has brought and continues to bring.

At the 2023 GRAMMYs, she's not only nominated for golden gramophones for Album Of The Year, but Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance ("Here With Me"), Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song ("Good Morning Gorgeous").

Clearly, the Queen's reign continues unabated.

Brandi Carlile — In These Silent Days

Brandi Carlile is a known quantity far outside of the singer/songwriter these days. She's swelling in the public sphere as a media personality, and friend and booster to a recovering (and returning!) Joni Mitchell.

And that's for a very good reason: few can weave words and melodies like her, and deliver them with such gravitas.

This was clear at the 2022 GRAMMYs, when two cuts from In These Silent Days — "Right on Time" and "A Beautiful Noise" — earned her four GRAMMY nominations, in the Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance categories. (She was also nominated for a GRAMMY for Best American Roots Performance, for her featured appearance on Brandy Clark's "Same Devil.")

But, again, it's how all the songs talk to each other — and Recording Academy members were ravished by all 10. Taken as a whole, In These Silent Days imparts a dizzying amount of literary detail, with the immediacy of a blast of Laurel Canyon air.

"You and Me on the Rock," featuring indie-poppers Lucius, brings the heartache and jubilation of Mitchell's Blue into the 21st century; the strummy abandon expertly disguises the next-level craft beneath the hood.

Elsewhere, the Fleetwood Mac-like "Broken Horses" swings like a pendulum — this is a heavyweight artist we're reckoning with. And it's bracing to hear Carlile almost completely unadorned on impassioned closer "Throwing Good After Bad," lifted by the subtlest strains of a string section.

At the 2023 GRAMMYs, Carlile is also represented in the Best Americana Album category; Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song, for "Broken Horses"; and Best Americana Performance, for "You and Me on the Rock."

On the cover of In These Silent Days, Carlile looks to be casually fixing her collar, as if the contents of the album amounted to a throat-clearing. The album might be partly a letter to the past, but heaven knows what's in her immediate future.

Coldplay — Music Of The Spheres

Coldplay won over the world for writing cleareyed, intimate songs about romantic insecurity and longing; now, they write about everything. Literally everything, transcending the concerns of terra firma and bounding through the celestials.

Everything about Music of the Spheres is a wild swing, which befits a band seemingly destined to carry the torch of the outsized U2.

Frontman Chris Martin said he was inspired by the enormity of the Star Wars universe and the title-track opener — stylized as a Saturn emoji — feels like the Flash Gordon-style opening crawl, an awe-inspiring sci-fi universe whirring to life. And the first single, "Higher Power," reaches for nothing less than the gates of Heaven.

That the Englishmen are able to engage in such space-scraping without sacrificing their core identity is somewhat miraculous. "Humankind" is a Kubrickian update on the anthemic mold they've always adhered to — going all the way back to A Rush of Blood to the Head, which turned 20 in 2022. And "Let Somebody Go," featuring Selena Gomez, feels as pared-down as their intimate, beloved debut, Parachutes.

For a song on the scale of "My Universe," not only guest would do: Martin and company had to tap the arguably biggest pop group on the planet, BTS. The song cycle ends with the 10-minute "Coloratura," which shows how Coldplay manage to stay creatively unpredictable even as their cachet grows heavenward.

On top of Music of the Spheres' GRAMMY nominations for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, "My Universe" is represented in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. But whether or not Coldplay ultimately take home their golden gramophones, they've made an album that belongs to the planets and stars.

Kendrick Lamar —Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

In the years since his gritty, explosive DAMN., Kendrick Lamar went off the grid and into a period of profound self-examination.

"I spend most of my days with fleeting thoughts. Writing. Listening," Lamar wrote in an August 2021 blog post. "Love, loss, and grief have disturbed my comfort zone, but the glimmers of God speak through my music and family. While the world around me evolves, I reflect on what matters the most."

When the Pulitzer Prize winner and (at the time) 14-time GRAMMY winner finally dropped a new song, "The Heart Pt. 5," it was clear that introspection had resulted in work of a renewed and downright frightening intensity.

"I come from a generation of pain, where murder is minor/ Rebellious and Margielas'll chip you for designer," the MC, who now nicknames himself "Oklama," rapped in the attendant video. "Belt buckles and clout, overzealous if prone to violence/ Make the wrong turn, be it will or the wheel alignment."

As the stark, one-shot video progressed, Lamar's face morphed into deepfake impersonations of O.J. Simpson, Kanye West, Jussie Smollett, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Nipsey Hussle — as the latter, who was murdered in 2019, he rapped about gazing at his family and friends from heaven.

A track like that wouldn't have fit the concept of Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, and accordingly, wasn't on the album. Because Mr. Morale is foremost an album about fatherhood, fidelity, and destroying old attitudes by fire. "Kendrick made you think about it, but he is not your savior," he reminds us at the outset of "Savior," demolishing his self-mythology.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout an exhilarating and exhausting 78 minutes, Lamar ruthlessly interrogates his ingrained attitudes about fatherhood ("Father Time"), relationships with women ("We Cry Together"), and transgender relatives ("Auntie Diaries").

At the 2023 GRAMMYs, "The Heart Pt. 5" was nominated for GRAMMYs for Song Of The Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song.

And the courageous and unflinching Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers picked up GRAMMY nominations for Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album. Its resonance extends past the lyrical subject matter, or the gonzo arrangements where every musical decision seems wildly unorthodox.

Because if you zoom out, it's unlike anything Lamar — or any other rapper, for that matter — has ever made.

Lizzo — Special

In the past few years, Lizzo has enjoyed an expeditious ascent from flute-toting, self-loving charmer to a downright media titan. In her Amazon Prime reality show "Watch Out for the Big Grrrls," plus-sized models compete to become her backup dancer; her eye-popping VMAs dress reflected how her idiosyncratic visual aesthetic is rapidly gaining steam.

And her 2022 was typified by her latest album, Special, which consolidates her musical gifts and ever-evolving messaging in a cohesive blend of funk, disco, hip-hop, and pop. The single "About Damn Time" is practically destined to loom large in her legend; it joins "Good as Hell," "Truth Hurts," and the rest as calling-cards for her meme-friendly, feel-good outlook.

But the singles weren't exactly the point this time around: the matured and restrained Special is a window into Lizzo's particular universe, where the headline is "You matter, just the way you are."

Lizzo has previously picked up three GRAMMYs and three GRAMMY nominations; at the 2023 GRAMMYs, "About Damn Time" is nominated for GRAMMYs for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. Additionally, by way of a Purple Disco Machine remix, said track is represented in the Best Remixed Recording category.

And because of the way that song interacts with vulnerable album tracks like "Naked" and "If You Love Me," Recording Academy membership decreed that Special is in the running for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Because when you strip away the memes, the hashtags, and the media appearances, Lizzo makes albums — superb ones. And when it comes to honors like this, it's, well, about damn time.

Harry Styles — Harry’s House

With his self-titled debut and follow-up, Fine Line, Harry Styles had already catapulted himself far past the purview of One Direction.

But his third album, Harry's House, ups the ante in a new way; it presents a totally liveable, self contained domicile. Within the LP, can take a load off on the couch, pontificate in the kitchen, or brood on the edge of the bed.

How can an album take on such qualities? That's partly because every song, "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" to "Late Night Talking" to "Love of My Life," is imbued with that charm only Styles possesses — the one that lays waste to Madison Square Garden and gave him a Hollywood star turn in Don't Worry Darling.

"Karate Chop" (2013)

A 19-year-old Metro crafted his first charting single right before making a life-changing move to Atlanta. With piercing synths and bubbly arpeggios, the song was the lead single for Future’s highly anticipated sophom*ore album, Honest.

But Metro, a freshman at Morehouse College at the time, wasn’t sold on its success. "I never really like it," Metro told XXL. "Then every time people would come into the studio, he would always play the record and I was like, ‘Why are you so stuck on this s—? We have way harder records.’"

But after cranking out a new mix on the original track, "Karate Chop" went on to become his first placement on a major label album. The remix with Lil Wayne further elevated the record and, by virtue, Metro’s profile as a musical craftsman.

"Jumpman" (2015)

Metro mastered the late-summer anthem in 2015 with "Jumpman." The song was the most notable hit from Drake and Future’s collaborative mixtape, What a Time to Be Alive, and went on to shut down bustling nightclubs and obscure strip joints. And while the record didn’t perform as well as other songs on this list, it secured Future his first Top 20 hit.

The song — which features Metro’s signature bass and a screeching raven sound effect — also saw a streaming boost after an Apple Music commercial featuring Taylor Swift rapping to the song. According to Adweek, the campaign helped generate a 431 percent increase in global sales

What makes "Jumpman" even more special is that a collab between Future, Metro, and Drake may never happen again. Reportedly, the duo is at odds with Drake because the OVO artist decided to link with 21 Savage on Her Loss instead of doing a follow-up project with Future.

"Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" (2016)

"Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" is the song that set Kanye West’s album, Life of Pablo, ablaze. Opening with a clip of gospel musician and singer T.L. Barrett’s Father I Stretch My Hands,” Metro’s signature producer tag kicks the record into full gear. The pulsating synthesizers and bouncy percussion match West’s raunchy and sexually explicit lyrics.

Metro’s production received significant praise, with several publications pointing to his contributions on end-of-year listings. And in the eight years since its release, "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1" has been certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making it one of Ye’s most-sold records of all time.

"Congratulations" (2016)

After the success of "White Iverson," a young Post Malone was on the hunt for the hottest producers in the rap game. He managed to land Metro, who worked with fellow producers Frank Dukes and the prolific Louis Bell on the triumphant trap record "Congratulations."

On a 2022 episode of the podcast "Full Send," Metro revealed that the celebratory song was made after watching the world’s greatest athletes eclipse historic feats of their own. "I remember the Olympics was on TV, and just how the music was sounding, it sounded like some champion s—," he said.

"Congratulations" marked Post Malone’s second Top 20 hit following his debut, "White Iverson." The song was certified diamond after totaling more than 11 million combined sales. Today, it remains one of Metro’s biggest achievements.

"Bad and Boujee" (2017)

Fueled by virality and a shoutout from Donald Glover at the 2017 Golden Globes, the Migos and Lil Uzi Vert’s "Bad and Boujee" landed Metro Boomin his first No. 1 Billboard hit as a producer.

The song has every element Metro fans have grown to love: moody keys, hard-hitting bass, and plenty of room for the artists’ adlibs to pierce through the track.

Two months before its eventual ascension, the song had a steep hill to climb atop the Billboard charts. But Metro’s production and the chemistry between Quavo, Offset, and Uzi helped the record shoot up to its rightful place. It continues to garner praise In the years since its 2016 release, too. It was ranked No. 451 on Rolling Stone’s "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list

"Mask Off" (2017)

When "Mask Off" dropped in 2017, it scorched the Billboard charts. Hip-hop was flirting with flutes (as heard on songs like Drake’s "Portland" and Kodak Black’s "Tunnel Vision" — another Metro-produced beat) — but "Mask Off" stands out as the biggest song of the short-lived era.

Metro infused jazz-like undertones to perfectly meld the flute lick into the dark and mystic beat. The record led to the remix with Kendrick Lamar, with his verse breathing new life into the already-seismic hit. It’s now certified nine times platinum.

Years after the song’s release, Future said "Mask Off" initially put radio programmers in disarray. In his East Atlanta rapper’s Apple Music documentary The WIZRD, he revealed that the song dropped before Carlton WIlliams’ "Prison Song" sample was officially cleared. "Out of all the songs, ‘Mask Off’ wasn’t even legit," he said. "The s— was on the radio, they’re thinking it’s not a sample, but it got so big they were like, ‘It’s a sample.’"

"Heartless" (2019)

The Weeknd's "Heartless" is a pop and electro-clash classic that fires on all cylinders. The visuals are atmospheric, the lyrics are ultra-stimulating, and the production — partly handled by Metro — makes for a lasting club banger.

The leading single for The Weeknd’s fourth studio album, After Hours, topped the Billboard charts. It marked the Toronto-born crooner’s fourth No. 1 hit and unveiled the depths of Metro’s musical arsenal.

Metro produced four tracks on After Hours: "Faith," "Escape from L.A.," "Until I Bleed Out" and "Heartless." On the latter and in his other collaborations with The Weeknd, James Blake, and Solange, Metro’s creative sorcery was tested. He proved, once again, that he could generate a hit outside the confines of trap music.

"Creepin’" (2022)

After a solid outing on his first album Not All Heroes Wear Capes, Metro returned with another series of hard-hitting records. His second solo venture, Heroes & Villains, featured John Legend, Don Tolliver, Travis Scott, and other premiere artists. But the biggest song to come out of the star-studded lineup was "Creepin’" featuring 21 Savage and The Weeknd.

The only single to Metro’s second solo album struck sonic gold. The Weeknd’s flowy vocals overlay the silky and harmonic record, which transitions to a more trap-induced beat once 21 Savage’s verse kicks in. The remake of Mario Winans’ "I Don’t Wanna Know" was a notable departure from Metro’s past singles, which heavily lean on his trap roots. But it still managed to connect with his audience – and even beyond it. "Creepin" peaked at No. 3 on Billboard, which was Metro’s highest-charting solo record up until that point.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023)

Following the success of "Creepin’" and his other smash singles, Metro extended his creative powers to the film world. He was given the green light to executive produce the soundtrack for Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Metro Boomin told Indie Wire that he crafted songs from rough animations and selected scenes "just to get in the world and the story of Miles [Morales] and what he’s going through," He even exchanged phone calls and texts with the film’s composer Daniel Pemberton to ensure the soundtrack and score were on the same accord.

From the classical serenade "Am I Dreaming" to the Latin swing of "Silk & Cologne" and the Timbaland-stomping "Nas Morales," the result was an equally transformative musical experience. Each record ranged in musicality and tone while beautifully complementing the vibrant animated superhero flick.

"Like That" (2024)

"Like That" is easily one of the best beats in Metro’s catalog, and may end up being one of the most memorable. Samples from Rodney O & Joe Cooley’s "Everlasting Bass" and Eazy-E’s 1989 classic "Eazy-Duz-It" shaped the bouncy trap beat, sinister synths, and spine-chilling baseline. But Kendrick Lamar’s verse turned it into a heat-seeking missile.

With the song’s thunderous bass and rapid hi-hats in the background, Kendrick dissed J. Cole and Drake for their recent claims of rap supremacy, particularly on 2023’s "First Person Shooter." The lyrical nuke sparked the Civil War-style rap feud, which led to a seven-song exchange between Kendrick and Drake.

The initial musical blow made the genre stand still. It also led to the massive success of the record, which notched Future and Metro another No. 1 hit song. It also helped the pair’s album, We Don’t Trust You, claim the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Inside The Metro-Verse: How Metro Boomin Went From Behind-The-Scenes Mastermind To Rap's Most In-Demand Producer

Shaboozey

Photo: Daniel Prakopcyk

interview

After Beyoncé introduced Shaboozey to a global audience via 'COWBOY CARTER,' his genre-shattering third album arrives on the wings of his own international smash, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" and makes a declaration: 'Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going.'

Tamara Palmer

|GRAMMYs/May 31, 2024 - 03:40 pm

The last two months have been monumental for Shaboozey. On March 29, Beyoncé fans around the world embraced his two guest collaborations on her COWBOY CARTER album, "SPAGHETTII" and "SWEET HONEY BUCKIIN'" — and they were instantly interested in what else the Nigerian-American singer had to offer. According to his label, EMPIRE, Spotify listens of Shaboozey's music (including his first two albums, 2018's Lady Wrangler and 2022's Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die) rose by 1000 percent after COWBOY CARTER dropped.

Six weeks later, his growing fandom sent his breakthrough single, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country chart — ironically, dethroning Queen Bey's "Texas Hold 'Em" in the process. The song instantly proved to have crossover appeal, also peaking at No. 3 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, along with reaching the top spot on pop charts in Australia, Canada, Norway, and Sweden.

With his third album, Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going, the man born Collins Chibueze is eager for audiences new and old to get a deeper look into his ever-evolving artistry, which he's been honing for more than a decade. He leans into country and the soundtrack of the open road on "Highway" and "Vegas," while also tapping into his talent as an MC on "Drink Don't Need No Mix" with Texas rapper BigXthaPlug. He displays a softer side, too, with tracks like "My Fault," an apologetic and pleading country ballad performed with Noah Cyrus, and "Steal Her From Me," which finds Shaboozey smoldering with his own Southern slow jam.

Shaboozey's massive global recognition may be fresh, but he's here to remind listeners that he's not a new artist. In a candid interview with GRAMMY.com, the singer discusses how he's put in a decade of hard work in order to appear to be an overnight success.

You've topped the country charts as well as pop charts around the world. Do you think we are witnessing a more welcoming era in country music right now?

See Also

A Brief History of Genre at the Grammys

I think it's definitely a lot more welcoming. All these genres of music now, just because of the internet age and the access to information — like, now I can go watch Tubi, which has thousands of Western movies, and then Spotify, I can jump from listening to a Townes Van Zandt album or a Leonard Cohen album, and then I can go play Future, you know what I mean?

And then I can jump from them, and go listen to The Marías, who are friends of mine. I can listen to some indie rock music, and then I can listen to some Fred again.. or something like that. So having all that at your fingertips, I think, it's allowed for some interesting combinations in all genres of music.

I think we're the generation of paint splatter! I do think it is very welcoming. As artists we are able to connect. We can have our own micro communities. There's not just one way to connect with people now, there are so many other ways. It's different out there now, it's really different.

You're releasing your second album with EMPIRE — how has the company helped you to develop?

EMPIRE has been super awesome. I was signed to Republic for a while, for a year or two, and I saw some article where it talked about Universal partnering with EMPIRE to handle some distribution stuff. I remember talking to my manager at the time, and being like, "We should go there!"

Major labels can get pretty cluttered. Sometimes they just don't have the bandwidth to develop acts that aren't going to take off in a couple weeks or a month or a quarter. They have these quarterlies they have to meet.

So for an artist like me, who is — a lot of people like to describe me as disruptive. It's weird to describe yourself as that. I'm just being me, and people are like, "That's disruptive." But for someone like me, who's like that, it's very important for me to be innovative and push things, and change the way people consume.

I never came in the game wanting to be stereotypical, or just your usual artist. I came in just trying to be like, Man, I love art. I love being creative and that's what I am. Sometimes that's hard to package to everyone. It's like, what is it? For major labels, sometimes, they love to be like, this is pop, this is country, this is just that.

And so for EMPIRE to bring me into what they had going on, and to stick with me within these three or four years I've been with them, knowing that there has been a lot of ups and downs. There've been a lot of [times] that we thought were going to do something that [we] didn't. Because it's a process with artistry, it doesn't happen overnight. They say it takes 10 years to have an overnight success, and it's true.

Your new album flows so well. Was it written to be taken in as one complete piece?

I'm a lover of a concept album. I love film, I love stories, I love payoffs. I love the hero's journey, they call it.

There is a way to tell a story in a three-act structure. And within those structures you have your rising action, you have your hero's call to action. They lead the world, you have your climax, and then you have, was the hero changed? Did they get the thing they were looking for at the end of it?

I'm a huge fan of film, huge on concepts, world building. I want something to feel immersive, so arrangement is big to me.

But before, I used to be super picky about [ensuring that] everything needs to connect, and I had to learn to let that go and just know that that's a part of me as an artist. As I create, I'm telling these stories naturally, so I stopped being too hard on myself about things needing to connect because that would cripple me at certain points. But now, again, I'm just learning how to let it go, and let it come naturally. It's cool to see that people are still saying with this project that there's still a concept there. And I'm like, oh, there is still a concept there. There is still a story.

My last project [Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die] was super inspired by western films. Old western films, like, spaghetti westerns, and the whole nature of outlaw, just like period piece western culture. So I was huge on everything needing to feel like it was period. It needed to feel like this 1800s western, and this Black outlaw and his gang.

Obviously, I wanted the [visual] content to reflect that. And then you're realizing… Wait, every video shoot I'm having to rent western wardrobe and chaps? It's a lot to do all the time, you know? It was a commitment… and I don't wear that everyday, so it wasn't really 100 percent being authentically myself in that moment. It was like, I'm creating a character and this character is separate from me.

That's hard to do all the time. Especially when it's a period piece in the 1800s and you're in 2024. So at some point I was like, hey, I want this project to be more like, I can put something on in my closet and go shoot some content, versus having to find a western town, or a world or environment that fits the 1800s.

Do you think that Beyoncé was inspired by that album?

I definitely think so. I think that's what was cool about her project, and her entry into country. I saw a lot of similarities between the things that inspired us.

What I love about country is, I really love the old stuff that really does play into the old West, the Wild West — and I saw that Beyoncé, she would talk about little things like that, too. Like the outlaws, hangmen and six shooters, and stuff like that. So you can see that she's really inspired by that stuff as well. I was told by her team that she would definitely watch a lot of old Western films through the process of doing her project.

How has the Beyhive treated you since you appeared on COWBOY CARTER?

I love that community. Seriously, that community, they've been extremely supportive from what I've seen, because Beyoncé's message has been about shining light on people that may have been overlooked. So they definitely carry out the mission of supporting the people that Beyoncé supports. They've been amazing.

I would like to say that early on with "Bar Song," they were definitely pre-saving it, they were sharing it as much as they could on Twitter, and there were a lot of posts that I was making that were getting high viewership. You could tell that there were a lot of impressions before the "Bar Song" came out. So they're great.

Did you ever think you'd be on an album with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton?

I hoped for those things when I was creating my album. I wanted to see more hip-hop artists collaborating with people like that. I was always like, man, if I was given a $10 million budget to make a project, I'd get Willie Nelson or Hank Williams Jr. or someone like that to jump on it. I want to see something like that.

As someone whose parents grew up in Nigeria, what do you think of the global breakthrough of Nigerian artists like Burna Boy and Wizkid?

It's amazing to see. Afrobeat is definitely universal now, global like that. I think Wizkid was one of the pioneers of getting that music across the water in such a way. Burna Boy, too — if you check out his aesthetic, it's influenced by a lot of different things. He's not just wearing traditional Nigerian garments, he's wearing designer stuff, and he's got the jewelry pieces and Cartier. It's presented in a way that that style of music wasn't really represented [before] in that sense.

I lived in Nigeria for a year or two, and when I was there, there was no wifi or the internet. Now I go back and my cousins are on Netflix and on Instagram and all these places. So yeah, everything is spreading out. But as far as Afrobeat, I mean, that music is incredible, the production. It's so infectious when you hear it, but it's cool to see people of Nigerian descent, me as well, having our reach everywhere.

Davido, he reached out to me a couple days ago, he's like, "I need you to get on this record." There's a lot of Nigerian artists now that are hitting me up, and are like, "Hey, will you jump on this, will you jump on that?" I'm hearing some of those guys are trying to get into country music. It's cool to kind of have my own Burna Boy moment right now!

The new album sounds like you really worked on developing your voice as an instrument, with more singing than rapping. Is that a fair assumption?

Yeah. Being from Virginia, we didn't have those outlets to kind of hone in on. I didn't have a vocal coach, or a songwriting program, or anything like that. We kind of had to figure it out on our own.

I think that's why you have so many artists that come from Virginia where they're all very eclectic, they all have this kind of rawness to them. Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Pharrell, even Tommy Richman. He's got that song going crazy viral too. You know the song, the "Million Dollar Baby" song. It's a guy singing falsetto [like] Bee Gees over a hip-hop beat. I'm like, where did you learn to structure a song like this?

This album was that project for me. My manager here [told me] it's working, because I'm learning how to arrange music and write songs that have a broader appeal, but I didn't know that at the time. We were just having fun, just learning how to do it with whatever resources we had. It can get kind of funky.

I think my first project was very funky, and then this one was [made after] 10 years of being in it. You start to figure it out a little bit more.

Beyond Country: All The Genres Beyoncé Explores On 'Cowboy Carter'

Leon Michels, center, poses with Black Thought, Kirby and members of El Michels Affair backstage at "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon."

Photo: Rosalind O'Connor/NBC via Getty Images

interview

Multi-instrumentalist turned GRAMMY-nominated producer Leon Michels has had a hand in a wide range of pop and hip-hop music. Read on for the stories behind his smash hits with Norah Jones, Black Thought, Kalis Uchis, Aloe Blacc, and others.

Carter Van Pelt

|GRAMMYs/May 27, 2024 - 03:17 pm

A child of New York’s ultra-niche soul revival scene of the early 2000s, multi-instrumentalist turned producer Leon Michels has had an extensive reach into global pop music. As both producer and session man, Michels has worked with the Carters, Norah Jones, Black Thought, the Black Keys, Kalis Uchis, and Aloe Blacc — to name a few.

He has held to a specific creative vision for more than two decades, first through his heavily sampled El Michels Affair projects and a healthy schedule of releases through Truth & Soul records and later, Big Crown, the label he co-founded with DJ Danny Akalepse in 2016. He runs a studio in upstate New York called the Diamond Mine North, where he does most of his work since relocating from New York City in 2017. He has two GRAMMY nominations to his name, for Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous and Lizzo’s Special.

Trained originally on piano, he took up drums and eventually saxophone through the guidance of his high school music teacher, Miss Leonard. "[She] is actually the person I owe it all to. She started this jazz band when I was in fifth grade, and there's no drummer, so she asked me if I would learn drums," he tells GRAMMY.com. "I did that, and she would give me Duke Ellington cassettes, Sydney Bichet, Johnny Hodges. She would just feed me music."

Daptone Records co-founder Gabe Roth recruited and mentored Michels while he was still in high school, and the teenager soon became a regular touring member of what would become the Dap-Kings, backing singer Sharon Jones during an early run of success in the mid-2000s. " I joined Sharon Jones when it was the Soul Providers. We went on tour in Europe with them. Somehow my parents let me do it. I don't even understand. Gabe came over and sweet-talked them."

Michels left the group in 2006 after seven intense years, wanting to spend more time recording than enduring the grind of touring. His chosen timing caused him to miss out by mere "months" on the group’s recording sessions for Amy Winehouse’s four-time GRAMMY winner Back To Black. Despite what appeared to be a major missed opportunity, he turned his focus to his group El Michels Affair after initial encouragement from the 2005 album Sounding Out The City, released on Truth & Soul, the label he had co-founded.

Finding his inspiration in the intersections of soul and hip-hop, as a fully committed instrumentalist producer, he was able to develop an analog soundscape that quickly caught the ears of artists including Raekwon and other Wu-Tang Clan alumni, with whom he toured in 2008. This led to the follow-up album Enter The 37th Chamber in 2009. Samples from El Michels Affair, including those by Ghostface Killah, Jay-Z, Just Blaze, J. Cole, and Travis Scott quickly proliferated and opened doors. Via the Lee Fields album My World, Michels' work caught the attention of Dan Auerbach, with whom he and his longtime collaborator and bassist Nick Movshon toured from 2010 to 2012.

Producing the Aloe Blacc song "I Need A Dollar" in 2010 further enhanced his credentials and provided the financial stability to allow him to be true to his creative spirit, which he has done successfully over the last decade.

Leon Michels spoke to GRAMMY.com about some key career recordings, including his latest release with singer Clairo.

Clairo – "Sexy to Someone" (Charm, 2024)

I met Clairo almost three years ago. I made a record with her that took three years to complete, which is actually one of the longest stretches I've ever spent on a record.

She’s made two records before this. Her first record, Immunity, came out when she was 19. It's a pop record, and it was very successful. But she's a total music nerd like me. She’s constantly scouring the Internet for music. The way people, especially young people, ingest music these days is just insane. She's got great taste.

Her first record was super successful. She made her second record, Sling, with Jack Antonoff, and it was an ambitious folk record, and a huge departure from her first record. I think it caught her audience off guard, but it was kind of a perfect move because now she can make whatever she wants.

When she came to me, I was excited but slightly confused. What do I do? Because in those situations, you think, well, I need to facilitate a successful pop record, but she just wanted all the weird s—.

It’s this cool mix of pop elements, but some of the music sounds like a Madlib sample. All of it is steeped in pretty cool references and older music, but her perspective is a 25-year-old’s, and she’s an incredible songwriter. It's a really cool mix.

**Norah Jones - "Running" (Visions, 2024)**

Norah used to hit up me and Dave Guy, trumpet player in the Menahan Street Band and the Roots, if she needed horns.

As we were coming out of the pandemic, she hit me up and wanted to make some music. We made a few songs and then after that, she asked me to produce her Christmas record, which was super fun because I've never listened to Christmas music. I started to enjoy it, which was weird because I had thought I hated Christmas music. I mean, once you start to dig for Christmas records, pretty much all of your favorite artists have them. I was listening to Christmas music from March to October the entire year.

After that, we made Visions, which is all original stuff. Norah's just so talented. Her musicianship is actually some of the most impressive I've ever seen or worked with. She's so good that when I play with her, I get intimidated and I forget basic harmony and music theory!

Read more:

We cut that record, mostly just the two of us. There's a couple of songs where we got a band, but most of it was in my upstate studio. She would just come over from nine to three. She would come after she dropped her kids at school and then have to leave to pick them up. It was super fun to make, essentially just jamming all day.

[Overall] it’s not a huge departure for Norah, but sonically it is a departure, and it's got this very loose, "un-precious" quality. That's maybe a little different from her other stuff.

"Running" was her choice as a single. When it comes to singles — the songs that have actually been most successful — I've wanted to take those off the record. I have no idea what's going to be the hit or not.

**Black Thought - "Glorious Game" (Glorious Game, 2023)**

That was a total pandemic record — at the start of the pandemic when everyone was completely locked in, we had no idea what was going on.

Black Thought texted me out of the blue, and I think he was just trying to stay busy. So he just said, "Can you send me songs?" I sent him maybe two songs and then he sent back finished verses three or four hours later. Most of that record was just me sending him s— and him sending it back, and then going like that. We had probably 20 songs.

The time I did spend in the studio with him was, he's a total savant. He sits there while you're playing a song, and it kind of looks like he's on Instagram or f—ing around, you know what I mean? Does this guy even like this song? And then 45 minutes later, he’ll be like "Aight, ready." And he goes in there and, and he'll rap four pages of lyrics in one take. It's insane. He remembers everything; we'll do a song and then three years later, he'll have to redo it, but he'll know the lyrics from memory.

There's a couple of things that I figured out on that record. One: The thing I love about sampled hip-hop production the most is it's almost always pitch-shifted, which makes a giant difference in the sound. And if the piano has decay or vocals have vibrato, when you pitch it up, it becomes something that is so uniquely hip-hop. The second thing was, with hip hop, one of the best parts about sampling is the choices a producer has to make when they are limited to chopping a two-track mix. If you have multi-tracks, there are too many options.

I think that record resonated with people who are hip-hop aficionados who really love the art of emceeing.

**Aloe Blacc - "I Need A Dollar" (Good Things, 2010)**

We had just recorded the Lee Fields record, My World. Eothen Alapatt, who used to be a label manager at Now Again, was a friend of mine. [Jeff Silverman and I] started Truth & Soul, but we had no infrastructure. We thought My World would have a bigger reach if Stones Throw took care of the press and distribution. And so Eothen said "Yeah, we can do that, but instead of paying us, just make a record with this artist we have, Aloe Blacc."

I had no idea who he was. And so that was the business deal. We didn't get paid for the record initially. The payment was that they were going to promote Lee Fields record for us. So [Aloe] came to New York, and I did it with my partner at the time, Jeff Silverman, also Nick Movshon, who played on the entire record.

He wanted to do this Bill Withers thing. "I Need A Dollar" was probably my least favorite song on the record. I think I have this aversion to anything that's slightly cheesy, but I've gotten better at it. But at the end of the day, it's just a good song. It got picked up as the theme song to an HBO pilot called "How To Make It In America." And then, it just blew up in Europe. It was No. 1 everywhere. But it never hit in America.

It kind of set me off on a weird path for a minute, because I got a taste of success. And made some poor career decisions. I tried to a do lot of songwriting sessions with strangers. It was maybe four years until I decided to just make El Michels Records.

**The Carters - "SUMMER" (EVERYTHING IS LOVE, 2018)**

At the time, I was making these sample packs and sending them out to producers. One of them was this slow jam, and so the producers called me up and said "We used one of your samples. It's for a giant artist. We can't tell you who it is. You have to approve it now. And you can't hear it, but it's going to change your life." That’s what they kept saying to me. Then they said "It's coming out in two weeks."

So I figured they used one of my samples and chopped it up and did their thing to it. And so when the record came out, it was Beyoncé and Jay-Z. It was the first track on that record they did together, the Carters. And it was mostly just my original sample with some new bass and string section. So basically it was just Beyoncé and Jay-Z over an El Michael's Affair track. The track was called "Summer," and my original never came out.

So just hearing Beyoncé, hearing these giant pop voices that I associate with absolute hits, over my song, that was pretty cool.

**Liam Bailey - "Dance With Me" (Zero Grace, 2023)**

Me and him just have a very crazy chemistry when it comes to music, because it all happens super fast and with very little thought. Sometimes I'll listen to Liam's stuff, and I actually don't know how we did it. That is actually the goal. That’s why Lee "Scratch Perry" is the greatest producer of all time, because he could access that instant input, instant output type of creativity. It just passes through him and then it's on the record. Making music with Liam is like that; I'll make some instrumental, or I'll have an idea and then he'll freestyle lyrics one or two times.

To me, it sounds gibberish, but then he'll go through it and change one or two words and all of a sudden has this crazy narrative, and it's about his childhood [for example]. When I’ve worked with him, he has this same process where it's just kind of "hand to God" s—, just let it happen. I was trying to make something the way Jamaicans did, [like] that brand of Jamaican soul from the mid-'60s.

**Brainstory - "Peach Optimo" (Sounds Good, 2024)**

I met those guys through Eduardo Arenas, who's the bass player from Chicano Batman, and he had recorded a couple of demos from them. And they had one song in particular that really caught my attention, which made it onto their first record called "Dead End."

They’re three jazz kids. Their dad was a gospel singer and loved soul and Stevie Wonder. So they grew up on all that stuff as well. Producing a band like Brainstory is super easy, because they rehearse all the time. Most of their songs are written; all I have to do is maybe shuffle around sections or just essentially cut stuff out. Because a lot of times when bands write music and rehearse every day, they just love to play, so sections are endless.

I'll…have a sound in mind for the record, some reference for me and the engineering hands to kind of work from. And in the case of Sounds Good, the reference for the whole sound of the record was that this is Gene Harris song called "Los Alamitos Latin Funk Love." This is kind of the vibe of the entire record. We just cut that record over the course of a year, but it was two sessions that were maybe six days each.

Kevin is the main vocalist and he's amazing. He can do that sweet soul background stuff perfectly. And when he does [his own] background vocals, it's this thing that not a lot of people can do where he changes his personality. So he becomes three different people. Then the background sounds like an actual group.

Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya attend The 2024 Met Gala

Photo: Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

list

From groundbreaking florals to silhouettes in black and piles of tulle, discover all of the spell-binding looks worn by music icons on the Met Gala red carpet in celebration of "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion."

Nina Frazier

|GRAMMYs/May 6, 2024 - 10:52 pm

This year's Met Gala invited guests to step into the enchanting "Garden of Time" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where fashion meets fantasy. Celebrating the Met's exhibit "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," the first Monday in May saw stars transform the red carpet into a vibrant display of sartorial storytelling. The theme showcased a collection too delicate to wear but alive with the stories of fashion's past.

From co-chairs Zendaya and Bad Bunny to Tyla and Jennifer Lopez, see how music icons and film stars embodied this year's theme with spectacular flair. The gala not only highlighted the sensory and emotional richness of fashion but also set the stage for a night of memorable styles — groundbreaking florals, tiered tulle and all.

Explore the full spectrum of this year's enchanting looks from fashion's grandest night in the showcase below.