One key component to achieving sustained success as a musical artist is the ability to adapt to shifting tastes and audiences. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is when artists experiment with different genres. Such switch-ups have often been embraced by the Recording Academy, with artists being rewarded after launching in one genre and then dabbling in others as their careers progress.
Most recently, Post Malone netted three nominations in the country field for his latest record, F-1 Trillion, including Best Country Album. Before then, Malone had struggled to get traction in Best Pop Vocal Album, missing out on nominations for his previous four albums.
Likewise, Bruno Mars had not been considered in the R&B field before his third album, 24K Magic, which swept that field as well as the General Field, becoming his most decorated project at the Grammys to this day. Similarly, the Black Eyed Peas spent the first couple years of their career mostly relegated to the rap categories. After officially moving to pop music entirely with The E.N.D., the band received their first Album of the Year nomination, while also winning three more Grammys. Then there’s Beyoncé, whose Cowboy Carter saw immense success in the country field after the singer strayed from pop and R&B.
This year, two notable artists are looking to change genres in the hopes of Grammy success: Charli xcx and Taylor Swift.
Charli’s Music, Fashion, Film is a rock- and alternative-oriented record, moving away from her typical dance-pop works — a decision that many longtime fans initially questioned. The album will likely be entered for Best Alternative Music Album as such and could have submissions for the rock and alternative song categories as well.
Going from dance to alternative is historically not a stretch. Britain’s LCD Soundsystem competed twice in Best Dance/Electronic Album for their self-titled album (2006) and Sound of Silver (2008), then moved to alternative and earned a nomination for their 2017 comeback, American Dream. While FKA Twigs had been ignored competing in the alternative field throughout her discography, she successfully submitted and won in dance for her newest record, Eusexua. Dance and alternative seem to share voting pools, too. Acts like Tame Impala, Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, James Blake, and Moby have been able to get their albums or songs nominated in both fields with no issue.
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s latest hit single, “I Knew It, I Know You,” from Toy Story 5, is likely headed for nominations in the country field. Swift was obviously a big player in country when she began her career, netting multiple wins before shifting to pop with 1989.
That move was immediately celebrated by the Grammys, with the album netting a Best Pop Vocal Album win, as opposed to the Best Country Album losses of her two previous albums, Red and Speak Now. It is likely that country will accept Swift back, though, as she was nominated for Best Country Song in 2021 for “I Bet You Think About Me” from Red (Taylor’s Version). Swift has missed nominations for submissions from other albums like Lover (“Soon You’ll Get Better”), Folklore (“Betty”) and Evermore (“No Body, No Crime”), but considering none of those songs could be classified as a huge hit, it’s unlikely “I Knew It” suffers the same fate.
With critics and charts on their side, it is likely that Taylor and Charli will both be welcomed by their targeted genres. If so, they’ll add to the list of artists who rode creative risk to major rewards from the Recording Academy. The Grammys are a peer-voted award, and no one knows better than fellow artists how impressive it is to succeed while reinventing yourself and pushing boundaries.
