Taylor Swift And Kanye West Earn Last-Minute Grammy Noms As Recording Academy Expands List Of Nominees
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Taylor Swift and Kanye West wound up being last-minute additions to some suddenly expanded lists of Grammy nominees this week, thanks to an 11th-hour change made by the Recording Academy.
Abba and Lil Nas X were also last-minute additions to the Grammy nominations following a Recording Academy meeting 24 hours before the nominations were announced Tuesday morning, The New York Times reported.
Swift and West were already nominated in other categories, but they were added to the album of the year category for their respective releases "Evermore" and "Donda," thanks to the academy's decision to expand the number of nominees, according to the Times. The decision allowed them to join the other nominees -- Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X and Jon Batiste.
The New York Times also reported expansions in the record of the year category with Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" and Abba's "I Still Have Faith in You" added to the list at the last minute.
The nominations for the songwriters' song of the year category and best new artist category were also expanded at the last minute, allowing Doja Cat's "Kiss Me More" and "Right on Time" by Brandi Carlile to make the song category while adding rapper Baby Keem and composer Arooj Aftab to the best new artist category, according to the Times.
The Recording Academy stated during Tuesday's nominations announcement that it decided to expand the four general field categories to 10 nominees.
In an interview with the Times, Recording Academy president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the expansion of nominations has been in the works for years, noting the Latin Grammy Awards expanded their lists to 12 last year.
Mason told the paper the addition of Swift and West to the expanded list of nominations was not for commercial reasons or to improve television ratings.
The 2022 Grammy Awards will be held Jan. 31 in downtown Los Angeles.
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