As women hit the stage at the Grammys, Taylor Swift is aiming for a record

Everyone is looking at you—who else? Taylor Swift in front of Sunday’s Grammy Awards, where the pop sensation may shatter the record for the most wins in the Album of the Year category at a ceremony where women are finally taking center stage. SZA, who has nine nominations overall, will be the most prominent attendee at the star-studded event in Los Angeles. Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, and Billie Eilish are all vying for the top three awards.

SZA received the most nominations of any artist with her sophomore album SOS, which explored an eclectic blend of pop, rock, and jazz with dreamy electro inflections. Additionally, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers of Supergroup Boygenius are nominated for six Grammy Awards.

After becoming weary of being referred to as “women in rock,” the trio—who had met as rising stars in the independent music scene—decided to work together while still releasing separate music. Bridgers’ partnership with SZA has earned her a seventh nomination.

Victoria Monet is a contender for Record of the Year, and Janelle Monae and Lana Del Rey are in the running for Album of the Year. So, unless Jon Batiste, the darling of the Grammys, wins, it’s very possible that a female performer will take home the top honors. Two years after defeating pop royalty to dominate the proceedings, the piano virtuoso is the only contestant for the two major prizes.

For Batiste, whose victory in 2022 was accompanied by a great deal of personal hardship behind the scenes while his wife, the writer Suleika Jaouad, was undergoing treatment for a recurrence of leukemia, it will be an especially moving occasion. This time, she’ll be able to attend the celebration while her partner competes for some of the biggest awards in music.

Among his many honors, Batiste is a nominee for the Pulitzer Prize for Songwriting for Butterfly, a song he wrote for Jaouad while she was in the hospital. “To be able to commemorate the record and that song together with her this time at the Grammys? That’s what I find most enjoyable about this,” Batiste stated to AFP in a late-year interview. “It’s full circle.”

Swift, 34, is already the talk of the music industry and makes headlines seemingly every day. If her album Midnights wins Album of the Year, it would be a record-breaking fourth award for the artist. She presently shares three of the top album awards with Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon.

Producer Jack Antonoff, who is highly sought after by Swift, received six nominations for his work, particularly with her and baroque pop artist Del Rey, who received five nominations for her album Did you know there’s a tunnel beneath Ocean Blvd.

Additionally, the soundtrack to the hugely successful movie Barbie could also shine: songs from the lively summer hit received 11 nominations, owing to performances by Eilish, Dua Lipa, rapper Nicki Minaj, and the film’s outstanding sleeper… actor Ryan Gosling, a nominee for an Oscar.

Rapper Ice Spice, a bubbly Bronx native, is also vying for awards for her work on Barbie and the Best New Artist title, which industry insiders believe she could win following a breakout year in which she went viral.

The Grammy Awards gala show, which is highly theatrical and features performances by many of the top candidates, including SZA, Eilish, and Rodrigo, is held before the great majority of the more than 90 competitive medals are awarded. Rapper Travis Scott, country artist Luke Combs, and Nigerian phenomenon Burna Boy will also perform. And the Grammy Awards will see the iconic Joni Mitchell make her Grammy Awards debut.

With a Lifetime Achievement Award and nine competing Grammys under her belt, the 80-year-old is vying for best folk album with her live CD, “Joni Mitchell at Newport.” Over fifty years ago, “Clouds” brought her her first Grammy.