Dear listeners,
This morning, the nominees for the 67th annual Grammy Awards were revealed, and the names that appeared most often should be quite familiar: Beyoncé (leading the pack with 11 nominations), Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone and Charli XCX (all with seven nods apiece). The Grammys have rarely been so reflective of the top of the charts and the celebrity zeitgeist, and that can make the announcement feel anticlimactic. But if you dig a little deeper into the list — as I do on today’s playlist — plenty of surprises and discoveries await.
All seven of the artists included below are nominated for Grammys next year, even if they’re not the marquee acts vying for the biggest, all-genre awards (record, album and song of the year). But the genre-specific categories are often the best places to find interesting music you might not have heard before: Today, I’m highlighting recent tunes from the Pakistani composer Arooj Aftab, the boisterous British band Idles and the Nigerian songwriter-turned-solo star Tems, to name a few. Plus, this collection of songs also features a certain Australian goth rock legend who has somehow never won a Grammy. Will 2025 be his year? We’ll find out on Feb. 2. Until then, here’s the full list of nominees, Ben Sisario’s roundup of all the story lines to watch and the pop team’s discussion of the year’s surprises and snubs.
All the king’s horses and — oh, nevermind, nevermind,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: “Song of the Lake”
Let’s begin with this regal, oddly stirring opening track from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ latest album, “Wild God.” Even though Cave may not leap to mind when you think of the Grammys, it’s still rather astonishing he’s never won one, given his deep, boundary-pushing discography and especially his late-career renaissance, which has included excellent recent albums like “Skeleton Tree” and “Ghosteen.” He and the Bad Seeds have two opportunities to finally take home a trophy next year: “Song of the Lake” is nominated for best alternative music performance and “Wild God” is nominated for best alternative album.
2. Arooj Aftab: “Raat Ki Rani”
In 2022, the composer and vocalist Arooj Aftab became the first Pakistani woman ever to win a Grammy, when her incantatory “Mohabbat” was awarded best global music performance. She’s nominated again in that category, for this hypnotizing, appropriately nocturnal track named for a night-blooming flower. The LP on which it appears, the enchanting “Night Reign,” also received a nod for best alternative jazz album.
3. Idles: “Gift Horse”
The raucous British post-punk group Idles scored its first two Grammy nominations in 2023, and Friday it received two more: Idles’ fifth album, “Tangk,” is up for best rock album, while the driving single “Gift Horse” will compete with such legacy acts as Green Day, Pearl Jam and the Black Keys for best rock song.
4. Madison Cunningham: “Subtitles”
The singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham’s off-kilter but virtuosic guitar playing has certainly grabbed the attention of the Recording Academy: The 28-year-old has been nominated for Grammys in the past four consecutive years, and in 2022 her “Revealer” won best folk album. Cunningham has become such a Grammy favorite that even her one-off singles — like the clever, jaunty “Subtitles,” nominated for best Americana performance — have awards potential.
5. Tems: “Burning”
The Nigerian musician Tems picked up her first Grammy in 2023 as a featured artist on “Wait 4 U,” a collaboration with Future and Drake that won best melodic rap performance. (Future and Drake winning a Grammy for a song they made together? Those were the days.) Following the release of her full-length debut album, “Born in the Wild,” Tems has three opportunities to win for her solo work, including the smoldering “Burning,” which is nominated for best R&B song.
6. Sierra Ferrell: “American Dreaming”
The soulful-voiced singer-songwriter Sierra Ferrell received her first Grammy nominations Friday — four of them — in the Americana and American Roots categories. “American Dreaming,” the centerpiece of her fourth album, “Trail of Flowers,” is nominated for best American roots song and best Americana performance. (In the latter category, her competition is someone I was not expecting to see on that particular ballot: Beyoncé.)
7. Kacey Musgraves: “The Architect”
Finally, let’s close with yet another artist nominated for best Americana performance, Kacey Musgraves, who appears as a featured artist on Madi Diaz’s slow-burning “Don’t Do Me Good.” But the song for which Musgraves received the most nominations this time is something of a deep cut from her latest album — this sweet, spiritually minded ballad on which she looks to the cosmos and asks, “Can I speak to the architect?” If you have any quibbles with these Grammy nominations, you might be asking the same question.
The Amplifier Playlist
“7 Deep Cuts From the 2025 Grammy Nominations” track list
Track 1: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Song of the Lake”
Track 2: Arooj Aftab, “Raat Ki Rani”
Track 3: Idles, “Gift Horse”
Track 4: Madison Cunningham, “Subtitles”
Track 5: Tems, “Burning”
Track 6: Sierra Ferrell, “American Dreaming”
Track 7: Kacey Musgraves, “The Architect”
Bonus Tracks
Thank you for all the feedback on Tuesday’s playlist of songs that mention baseball players — although a startling number of you thought I had never before heard John Fogerty’s “Centerfield.” (I have, I just didn’t include it because I’d prefer never to hear it again.) Another popular suggestion, though, which I can in good conscience recommend: Dave Frishberg’s ode to that most musical of baseball player names: “Van Lingle Mungo.”
The post 7 Deep Cuts From the 2025 Grammy Nominations appeared first on New York Times.
