Every year, the anticipation for the Grammy Award ceremony is rife. 2023 is no different as the world had its eyes fixed on the  Crypto Arena in Los Angeles on February 5th. Even though the award ceremony tends to have controversial moments, it is a celebration of talent and a crowning moment for many artists and musicians. 2022 blessed us with good music all year round both at home and abroad, and once again Afrobeats takes a comfy seat at the front row of the world’s genres.

As per Grammy customs, the Recording Academy put out its nominations list in November 2022, with the awards spread across 91 categories. This year, there are more categories in store namely Best Americana Performance, Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games and Other Interactive Media, Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical, and Best Song For Social Change. The latter did not receive any nominations.

We’ve become used to witnessing our artists sit amongst some of the world’s greatest musicians. Burna Boy and Tems bagged nominations to which they received a great reception back in October. Burna Boy was nominated in two categories; Best Global Album for his latest Love, Damini, and Best Global Music Performance for the smash hit, “Last Last”. However, it wasn’t to be for the African Giant this time, missing out on the chance to win both awards. He can take solace in his win for the all-conquering Twice As Tall. You can’t win them all.

On the bright side, it’s great news for Tems as she bags her first Grammy award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for her work on Future’s “Wait For U” off his 2022 album I Never Liked You. Tems, who’s still basking in the euphoria of her Oscar nomination for Best Original Song with “Lift Me Up”, continues on an upward trajectory that feels ordained as much as it is deserved. She adds “Wait For U” to her ever-growing scorecard, but she has the original song, “Higher” to thank for her win. It is a perfect example of how parts of a song can be reimagined to give something else.