Following the recent announcement of nominees, music’s biggest night is now just a couple of months away. The 2024 Grammys ceremony is set to happen on February 4, 2024, and it is highly anticipated by all. The Grammy for Album of the Year is inarguably the most prestigious award presented annually by the Recording Academy. The most recent awardee in the category is Harry Styles for his critically acclaimed third album Harry’s House.
The eight albums selected are outstanding, having earned praise since their release. However, this award also will be shared by the primary artist and their collaborators. Therefore, featured artists, producers, songwriters, mastering engineers, and recording engineers or mixers of the winning album will be credited as winners as well. However, unlike before, the condition is that they be credited on at least 20% of the album’s playing time. Here are the nominees for Album of the Year for the 2024 Grammys.
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The Age Of Pleasure – Janelle Monae
Janelle Monáe’s fourth studio album, The Age Of Pleasure, is a beautiful mesh of R&B, soul, reggae, and afrobeat. The album was released on June 9, 2023, and received an outstanding reception. Additionally, it peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart and is Monae’s fourth consecutive top-20 album. It features lyrics from Barrington Levy, Jayla Hickmon, Ophlin Russell, and Taylor Parks, among others.
Production credits go to Roman GianArthur, Nana Kwabena, Nate Wonder, and Sensei Bueno, as well as Monáe herself. Furthermore, Sean Combs served as executive producer, while mixing and mastering were handled by Dave Kutch and Mick Guzauski, among others. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 appear as featured artists on the opening track, “Float." Doechii, Grace Jones, CKay, Amaarae, Nia Long, and Sister Nancy also feature on tracks throughout the album. The Age Of Pleasure is Monáe’s second album to be nominated in the Album of the Year category.
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey released her ninth album, and the alternative pop project has earned the singer her second nomination in this category. Del Rey is up for a total of five awards at the 2024 Grammys. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd was largely produced by Del Rey and Jack Antonoff. However, it also features production from Drew Erickson and Nick Waterhouse, among others. Furthermore, while Del Rey provided lyrics on all 16 tracks, she was assisted by several writers.
They include Antonoff, Erickson, Sam Dew, Brian Fennell, and Benji Lysaght among others. The album features guest appearances from Father John Misty, Bleachers, Tommy Genesis, and SYML. Additionally, Jon Batiste appears on “Jon Batiste Interlude,” as well as the Grammy-nominated single “Candy Necklaces.” The album was mixed and mastered by Antonoff, Laura Sisk, Dean Reid, and Ruairi O’Flaherty, among others.
Endless Summer Vacation – Miley Cyrus
In 2023, Miley Cyrus dominated charts and radio with her smash hit single, “Flowers.” The project that houses the song is now up for Album Of The Year at the 2024 Grammys. Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus’ eighth album, was released on March 10, 2023. It features several prominent producers, including Mike Will Made-It, Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson, Greg Kurstin, and more. Brandi Carlile and Sia are the only featured artists, appearing on “Thousand Miles” and “Muddy Feet," respectively. While Cyrus provided lyrics on all 14 tracks, several other writers also helped out as well. Some of them are Ian Kirkpatrick, Caitlyn Smith, David Frank, and Thomas Hull. Furthermore, the album was engineered by Brian Rajaratnam, Piece Eatah, and Stacy Jones among others. Finally, the mastering was handled by Joe LaPorta.
Guts – Olivia Rodrigo
Following her critically acclaimed debut album, Olivia Rodrigo released Guts on September 8, 2023. Her sophomore project, Guts debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, and houses the Hot 100 number-one single, “Vampire.” Dan Nigro has sole production credits on most of the tracks. However, Ryan Linvill co-produced “Logical” and “The Grudge,” while Ian Kirkpatrick and Alexander 23 have credits on “Get Him Back.” While Rodrigo and Nigro have writing credits on all the tracks on Guts, they were assisted on two songs. Julia Michaels lent her pen to “Logical” and Amy Allen co-wrote “Pretty Isn’t Pretty.” The nomination of Guts for Album of the Year is also Rodrigo’s second consecutive nod in the category. She could finally take home the gold at the 2024 Grammys.
Midnights – Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift described Midnights as the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout her life. Swift’s tenth studio album was released on October 21, 2022, to widespread critical acclaim. The standard edition of the album contains 13 tracks. However, the Target Exclusive Lavender Edition, 3am Edition, and Til Dawn Edition contain 16, 20 and 23 tracks, respectively. Midnights was almost entirely written and produced by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff. Additional production credits go to Aaron Dessner, Keanu Beats, Braxton Cook, Sounwave, and Jahaan Sweet. Furthermore, there are only two guest appearances on the album. Lana Del Rey features on “Snow on the Beach,” and Ice Spice on the Grammy-nominated remix of “Karma.” Finally, Midnights was mixed and mastered by Serban Ghenea and Randy Merrill respectively.
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The Record – Boygenius
The supergroup Boygenius was formed in 2018 by three of indie music’s finest. Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus first released music as Boygenius in 2018. Their first project in five years, The Record was released as their debut album on March 31, 2023. It peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, and topped the Rock Albums chart as well. All three members of Boygenius have production credits on the album, and the songs were entirely written by them. Additionally, The Record is devoid of guest features. Boygenius received an impressive seven nods for the 2024 Grammys.
SOS – SZA
SZA is the artist with the most nominations for next year’s ceremony and was evidently in her bag when she created SOS. The highly anticipated follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut album CTRL, SOS has exceeded all expectations. It comes as no surprise that it was nominated in this category. Unarguably, the album is one of the biggest threats on this lineup, especially considering the year it’s had. Guest appearances include Travis Scott, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Don Toliver. Additionally, Phoebe Bridgers features on the Grammy-nominated “Ghost In The Machine.” Babyface, Carter Lang, Benny Blanco, and Jay Versace among many others, have production credits on SOS. This is SZA’s first-ever nomination in the Album of the Year category.
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World Music Radio – Jon Batiste
Jon Batiste took home five statuettes at the 2023 Grammys, one of which was for Album of the Year. At the 2024 Grammys, he could win a second consecutive award in the category with World Music Radio. His seventh studio album was released on August 18, 2023. The 21-track album features guest appearances from several artists, including Lil Wayne, Leigh-Ann, Fireboy DML, and NewJeans among others. Additionally, production credits go to Jon Bellion, Braxton Cook, Zach Dawes, and TenRoc, among many others. Besides Batiste himself, the writing credits on World Music Radio are shared by several other songwriters. Some of these writers are Harold Lilly, Andre Lindal, Stefan Johnson, Dwayne Carter, Nija Charles, and Nick Waterhouse.
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