As the 66th annual Grammy Awards approach, set to be handed out this Sunday in Los Angeles, all eyes are squarely on global sensation Taylor Swift, poised to potentially set a new record for the highest number of Album of the Year victories, marking a significant shift as women finally take the spotlight in this year's awards ceremony.
SZA will arrive at the star-studded event in Los Angeles as the evening's top nominee with nine, while Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Miley Cyrus are also in the running for the show's top prizes.
Janelle Monae and Lana Del Rey are in the mix for Album of the Year, while Victoria Monet is a contender for Record of the Year.
So it's highly likely a female act will win the top awards – unless Grammy darling Jon Batiste does.
The piano virtuoso is the sole man up for the two major prizes, two years after he bested pop's royalty to dominate the proceedings.
It will be a particularly poignant evening for Batiste, whose triumph in 2022 was paired with immense personal struggle behind the scenes as his wife, the writer Suleika Jaouad, was receiving treatment for a recurrence of leukemia.
Turkish nominees
Arranger Esin Aydıngöz, known for her work on the "Wednesday" series directed by Tim Burton, has been nominated for a Grammy award for her arrangement of the song "Paint It Black," featured in the first episode of the show.
Turkish American composer, pianist, singer and multi-instrumentalist Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol also got his Grammy nomination, as he was nominated in the Best Engineered Album, Classical category for his album "A Gentleman of Istanbul" – a collaboration with A Far Cry string orchestra founded by numerous alumni from the New England Conservatory.
Latin artists snubbed
Each time the nominations for a showbiz awards show are rolled out, there are accusations of "snubs" – but the Recording Academy's history of sidelining Latin music artists seems more like a pattern than a fluke.
This year, not one Latin musician earned a Grammy nod in the Big Four categories, which celebrate the year's top album, record, song and new artist.
Some critics voiced surprise at the slight, one year after reggaeton megastar Bad Bunny made history with the first Spanish-language work nominated for Album of the Year, which lent hope that the Academy was waking up to Latin music's broad audience.
But those hopes were dashed: In particular, many industry watchers expressed shock that Peso Pluma – the fast-rising Mexican superstar who broke into the global mainstream with a string of hits this past year – was left out of the Best New Artist category.
The 24-year-old received his only nomination in the category for – wait for it – Best Musica Mexicana.
"By leaving him out of the general-field awards, they aren't just snubbing a lone artist here," wrote one Rolling Stone critic. "They're brushing off an entire new wave of talent that's been changing the musical landscape."
Reggaeton hitmaker Karol G was recognized only in musica urbana, while superstar Shakira and her collaboration with Argentine producer Bizarrap was completely shut out, as was rising artist Eladio Carrion.