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With the 2024 Grammy nominations recently being released, eyes are on SZA who is in the lead with nine nominations in total. Of the nine, she is in the running for the big three: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr. believes she could walk away with the latter.“I really will give you an interesting perspective here, but I think [SZA] has a 1/8 chance,” he shared with <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/recording-academy-ceo-harvey-mason-jr-2024-grammys-nominations-1235643874/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. “No, I mean, I think she has a chance because she had an incredible record. The nominees this year all made such great music. It’s really going to come down to the second round of voting [and] this second listen [and] who moves the voters and who makes an impact with the voters. And I do believe she has a shot.”In the Album of the Year category, the S.O.S album is up against the projects of Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, Janelle Monáe, Lana Del Rey, boygenius, Olivia Rodrigo, and Miley Cyrus.Mason Jr. added, “It’s a competitive landscape. There’s a lot of extremely talented artists with big projects, so we’ll see. It’s hard to predict where the votes will end up.”He touched on the amount of women nominees for the 2024 Grammy's and the force behind it. “Well, it is major, he began When you talk about the women nominees this year, you start to get a sense of how that’s going to impact the next generation of music people and music-makers who say, ‘I look kind of like that person.’ Or maybe ‘I sing like that person’ or ‘I play a little bit like that other person; I can do that’ or ‘I can be in music’ or maybe ‘I can be on the Grammy stage.’ So for me, this gives us such a great opportunity to do the work we do, fighting for the rights of music people and advocating for people for music, community and education.”

Grammy's CEO Believes SZA Can Win Album Of The Year

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Clearly R&B is not "dead" based on this year's Grammy nomination reveal.R&B songstress SZA leads the list with nine nominations, followed by Victoria Monét with seven nominations, and artists like Janelle Monáe, Summer Walker, and Coco Jones each with impressive nods for some of the hottest songs and albums released this year. SZA's noms include Record of the Year and Best R&B Performance for “Kill Bill” and the prestigious Album of the Year for SOS. Monét’s seven nominations include Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best R&B Album and more. Her song “Hollywood,” featuring Earth, Wind & Fire and her daughter, Hazel Monét, is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance. This <a href="https://www.wbls.com/wbls-news/victoria-monets-2-year-old-daughter-becomes-youngest-grammy-nominee">makes Hazel the youngest nominee</a> in Grammy history. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzfLHXAxsoZ/Jones’ nominations also include Best New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song. Ice Spice’s multiple nominations also include Best New Artist. And Janelle Monae landed a nomination in one of the big three categories with The Age of Pleasure getting an Album of the Year nomination. The Grammys is also introducing several new award categories this year, including Best African Music Performance and Best Alternative Jazz Album. Burna Boy, Tyla and Davido are among the first nominees for the historic African Music Performance category.The 2024 Grammy Awards will be held at the Crypto.com Center in Los Angeles on February 4th. Find a full list of nominations <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/2024-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list">here</a>.

SZA and Victoria Monét Lead Grammy Nominations

SZA has consistently been getting the flowers she deserves this year and they aren't stopping. She has now been named asVariety‘s 2023 Hitmaker Of The Year. The R&B singer joins names like Olivia Rodrigo, Metro Boomin, Maren Morris, Mark Ronson, Billie Eilish, and FINNEAS who will all be honored at the outlet's seventh annual Hitmakers celebration, taking place early next month.The special November issue of the outlet and its accompanying ceremony highlights the 25 most consumed songs of the year, as measured by Billboard and Luminate Charts. It also shines a light on those behind the productions.“The goal of Hitmakers always has been to honor the top artists and songs of the year, and especially the people behind them,” Variety’s executive music editor Jem Aswad said in a statement.“SZA, her SOS album and tour, and her hits this year are not only a creative and commercial triumph but one with a reach that stretches far beyond the music world. We are so proud to honor her as our Hitmaker of the Year, and to honor Olivia Rodrigo, Metro Boomin, Maren Morris, and more.”SZA's SOS was released in December 2022 and is her most successful album thus far. It has broken chart records held by names like Janet Jackson and Beyoncé. The album is currently sitting at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart and remains at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top R&B Albums chart for the 47th consecutive week.