GRAMMY season is back! The nominees for the 64th annual GRAMMY Award ceremony were revealed on Tuesday during a livestream event from the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. And to no one’s surprise, The Orchard’s distributed artists and label can be spotted across numerous categories and genres, for a total of 40 nominations!
Rap veteran Nas’ latest album, King’s Disease II (Mass Appeal Records) received a nomination for Best Rap Album. King’s Disease II debuted at No.3 on the U.S Billboard Top 200 chart, with its first-week sales number topping Nas’s Grammy-winning predecessor King’s Disease. Last year, King’s Disease took home the award for Best Rap Album, Nas’s first GRAMMY win after his 14 GRAMMY nominations throughout his decades-long career.
Hit-Boy, the executive producer behind King’s Disease II, also received a Producer of the Year nomination for his work on Nas’ latest masterpiece. As one of Hip-Hop’s most in-demand producers, Hit-Boy is no stranger to success with a discography that includes chart-topping singles such as “Flawless” (Beyoncé), “Drop the World” (Lil Wayne), and “Trophies” (Drake). Hit-Boy is the not-so-secret weapon behind both of Nas’s latest works, the GRAMMY-nominated King’s Disease II as well as its GRAMMY-winning predecessor King’s Disease.
This year’s Best Gospel Album nominations unsurprisingly featured some of The Orchard’s distributed work, from Maverick City Music’s Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition to Jekalyn Carr’s Changing Your Story. The American worship collective Maverick City Music have been redefining the Gospel music scene with their contemporary music that ventures past the boundaries of traditional Christian music. Over the past few years, Maverick City Music has topped charts and collaborated with some of music’s biggest names, such as Justin Bieber, P. Diddy, and Tori Kelly to name a few. The Tribl Records artists’ fifth live album, Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition, became a commercial success soon after its release, debuting at No.8 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums Chart. This newly GRAMMY-nominated project consisted of a live Gospel A-side (“Breathe”), as well as a Rap/R&B produced B-Sided (“Same Blood”).
Jekayln Carr’s record sales, radio successes, and award-winning discography have made her one of the top young artists in Gospel music. Her fifth full-length album, Changing Your Story, is nominated for this year’s Best Gospel Album GRAMMY Award, the artist’s fourth GRAMMY nomination of her career. Carr’s latest uplifting album encourages listeners to overcome the issues and struggles that have plagued their lives. The album’s title song, “Changing Your Story,” quickly landed at the top of Billboard’s Gospel Airplay Chart, becoming Carr’s fourth #1 song at the young age of 23.
Starting in 2020, Sturgill Simpson (High Top Mountain Records/Thirty Tigers) returned to the music of his native Kentucky with two different bluegrass projects – both of which received nominations this year! His 2020 project Cuttin’ Grass – Vol.1 (Butcher Shoppe Session) received a nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. Less than a year after writing Cuttin’ Grass, Simpson wrote the concept album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, in less than a week. The Ballad of Dood and Juanita received a nomination for Best Country Album.
The biggest night in music will take place on Monday, January 31, 2022. Tune in to the live broadcast on CBS or on-demand on Paramount+ starting at 8PM ET/5PM PT. Find The Orchard distributed nominees below and the full list of nominees here.
Duo/Pop or Group Performance
BTS – “Butter” (BIGHIT)
Best Metal Performance
Dream Theater – “The Alien” (UK Century Media Records)
Best Rap Album
Nas – King’s Disease II (Mass Appeal)
Best Country Album
Sturgill Simpson – The Ballad of Dood & Juanita (Thirty Tigers/High Top Mountain Records)
Best New Age Album
Wouter Kellerman & David Arkenstone – Pangaea (KELLERMAN MUSIC)
Best Jazz Vocal Album
Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter – SuperBlue (Edition Records)
Nnenna Freelon – Time Traveler (Origin Records)
Gretchen Parlato – Flor (Edition Records)
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Yellowjackets + WDR Big Band – Jackets XL (Mack Avenue Records)
Christian McBride Big Band – For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver (Mack Avenue Records)
Best Latin Jazz Album
Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo – El Arte Del Bolero (MRI/Miel Music)
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
“Man of Your Word” – Chandler Moore & KJ Scriven; Jonathan Jay, Nathan Jess & Chandler Moore, songwriters (Tribl Records)
Best Gospel Album
Jekalyn Carr – Changing Your Story (Lunjeal Music Group Inc.)
Maverick City Music – Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition (Tribl Records)
Best Roots Gospel Album
The Isaacs – Songs For The Times (New Day/House of Isaacs)
Best Latin Pop Album
Paula Arenas – Mis Amores (Do Re Millions, LLC)
Best Música Urbana Album
Bad Bunny – El Último Tour Del Mundo (Rimas Entertainment)
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
Diamante Eléctrico – Mira Lo Que Me Hiciste Hacer (Deluxe Edition) (Diamante Eléctrico, LLC)
Best Tropical Latin Album
Aymee Nuviola – Sin Salsa No Hay Paraíso (Top Stop Music)
El Gran Combo De Puerto Rico – En Cuarentena (Rimas Entertainment )
Tony Succar – Live In Peru (SMELAT/ Unity Entertainment Corp)
Best Bluegrass
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass – Vol.1 (Butcher Shoppe Session) (Thirty Tigers/High Top Mountain Records)
Best Traditional Blues Album
Blues Traveler – Traveler’s Blues (Round Hill Records)
Best Folk Album
Mary Chapin Carpenter – One Night Lonely [Live] (Thirty Tigers/Lambent Light Records)
Best Regional Roots Music Album
Big Chief Monk Boudreaux – Bloodstains & Teardrops (Whiskey Bayou Records/Select O Hits)
Best Reggae Album
Gramps Morgan – Positive Vibration (Halo Entertainment Group)
Jesse Royal – Royal (Easy Star/MRI)
Best Spoken Word
Dave Chapelle (& Amir Sulaima) – 8:46 (Third Man Records LLC)
Best Comedy Album
Lavell Crawford – The Comedy Vaccine (Comedy Dynamics, A Nacelle Company)
Best Immersive Audio Album
Det Norske Jentekor – Stille Grender (2L)
Best Immersive Audio Album (63rd Grammys – was postponed)
Stemmeklang – Tomba Sonora (2L)
Cantus & Tove Ramlo-Ystad – Fryd (2L)
Best Recording Package
American Jackpot / American Girls – Reckless Kelly [Sarah Dodds & Shauna Dodds, art directors] (No Big Deal Records / Thirty Tigers)
Best Album Notes
Willie Dunn [Kevin Howes, album notes writer] – Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology (Light In The Attic Records)
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Hit-Boy – King’s Disease II (Mass Appeal)
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Steve Gadd Band – At Blue Note Tokyo (BFM Jazz)
Rachel Eckroth – The Garden (IP Golubeva Alina Vladimirovna)
Mark Lettieri – Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2 (GroundUP Music)
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media
Kris Bowers – Bridgerton (Lakeshore Records)
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Imani Winds – “Bruits” (Bright Shiny Things / MRI)
Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Curtis Stewart – “Of Power” (Bright Shiny Things / MRI)
