With all the different Grammy Award categories in existence, it would be impossible to broadcast them all within the allotted network time. So, the Recording Academy must pick and choose which awards are most important. Or so it seems.
Really, aren’t all the categories worth celebrating? So much goes into making music, and everyone deserves some recognition. The reality is that Best Pop Vocal Album just hits better with the viewing audience than, say, Best Musical Theater Album. But here, we’re honoring those wild and genre-specific categories that are relegated to the Premiere Ceremony.
The Grammy Award Technical Categories
If it has to do with anything behind-the-scenes, we’re celebrating it here. Producer of the Year, Non-Classical went to Cirkut, who worked with Lady Gaga on Mayhem and with Rosé and Bruno Mars on their collaboration “APT”.
Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical was well-deserved by Amy Allen. In the past couple of years, she’s had huge hits in the pop world. She worked closely with Sabrina Carpenter on her last two albums, Short n’ Sweet and Man’s Best Friend, along with songs for Tate McRae and Jessie Murph.
Best Recording Package, which celebrates album design, went to Bruce Springsteen’s Tracks II: The Lost Albums. The art directors for that album design, Meghan Foley and Michelle Holme, received the award.
Meanwhile, Tyler, the Creator won Best Album Cover for his 2024 album Chromakopia. The Grammy Award for Best Album Notes went to Ashley Kahn for the Miles Davis compilation Miles ’55: The Prestige Recordings. Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical went to Pino Palladino and Blake Mills’ That Wasn’t a Dream, engineered by Joseph Lorge, Blake Mills, and Patricia Sullivan.
Genre-Specific Awards
The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording went to Tame Impala’s “End of Summer”, while Best Dance Pop Recording went to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra”. Meanwhile, Best Dance/Electronic Album was FKA Twigs’ Eusexua.
Rock music is often broken down into subgenre categories at the Grammys, but not before the award is given for Best Rock Performance. That went to Yungblud’s performance of “Changes (Live From Villa Park)”. Best Metal Performance went to Turnstile’s “Birds”, who also won Best Rock Album for Never Enough.
Leon Thomas won Best R&B album for MUTT, while Kehlani won Best R&B Performance for “Folded”. Best Progressive R&B Album went to Durand Benarr’s Bloom.
Miscellaneous Grammy Awards
Looking for the offbeat Grammy Awards that defy categorization? How about Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, which went to Words for Days Vol. 1 by Mad Skillz. The Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album award went to Carla Patullo’s Nomadica, while Best Children’s Music Album was awarded to Harmony by FYÜTCH and Aura V.
We’ve got Best Comedy Album for Nate Bargatze’s Your Friend, Nate Bargatze. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama won the Best Audiobook, Narration, and Storytelling Recording Grammy Award for Meditations: Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And John Williams, alongside director Laurent Bouzereau, won Best Music Film for Music by John Williams.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The post The Wildest Grammy Award Categories We Didn’t Get to See on TV appeared first on VICE.
