Grammy Predictions: Could Harry Styles and Silk Sonic Be Spoilers in the Anticipated Beyoncé-Adele Showdown?

The nanny’s not done spilling the tea… and this stuff is piping hot!

Little Simz has won the 2022 Mercury Prize with her fourth studio album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.The 28- year old artist was among the 12 acts who were in the running for the prestigious award, alongside Harry Styles and Sam Fender.The announcement was made by DJ Jamz Supernova during the award ceremony, which recognises the best British or Irish album of the year, at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, West London, on Tuesday evening. Accepting her prize onstage, the British rapper and singer said she was “very overwhelmed and grateful” to receive the accolade. “To my family over here, my loved ones right here.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic London-based rapper Little Simz has been awarded the 2022 Mercury Prize, topping a list of candidates that included Harry Styles, Wet Leg and Sam Fender. The 28-year-old performer won for “Sometimes I Feel Introvert,” her fourth album, and her second to be nominated for the prestigious honor, after “Grey Area” landed on the shortlist for the same award in 2019. Little Simz has been considered a major artist in the U.K. for years, although this album represented more of a breakthrough for her in the U.S. That may hold somewhat true in her native country, too — she recently won the best new artist award at the Brits, despite having released albums over the last seven years.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Guess how many submissions Taylor Swift has on the preliminary Grammy ballot? If you know her all too well, you can probably intuit the answer to that one even before we tell you? It’s 13… of course. But there are many other burning questions about the ballot that has gone out to Recording Academy members where the answers are not so easily guessed, and we’re here to clear up some of those mysteries. The annual intrigue often centers on which categories certain genre-straddling artists ended up submitting their material in… or where that material got shifted sometimes against the artists’ wishes, as we’ve seen already this year with Nicki Minaj very vocally objecting to having “Super Freaky Girl” moved from a rap category to pop.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The fact that Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” was shifted out of the Grammys’ rap categories and into the pop division on a preliminary ballot has nearly resulted in an international incident, given the ensuing publicity and controversy as voting began this week. It’s certainly resulted in the year’s most visible hip-hop feud, with a fiery war of words between Minaj and Latto, whose “Big Energy” stayed as a rap contender and was not bounced to pop. But lost amid all this — or unreported till now, anyway — is the fact that Minaj is, in fact, on the ballot in rap categories this year… just not for “Super Freaky Girl.” Grammy voters who’ve received their ballots tell Variety that Minaj is in contention in the best rap performance category for another song of hers, “Do We Have a Problem?,” which has a featured appearance from Lil Baby. The Grammys’ rap screening committee apparently considered this more of a true hip-song and “Super Freaky Girl” more pop in nature, splitting the difference.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic It’s only the first week of first-round voting for the Grammys, but the awards process has already stirred up a major controversy in the hip-hop world and beyond, bringing sparring between rappers Nicki Minaj and Latto out into the open after Minaj said she felt the Recording Academy was showing a bias toward Latto in the way their work was being categorized. As the Twitter war between the two went full-bore Thursday night and Friday morning, Minaj called the newcomer “an entitled Karen,” while Latto returned fire by saying that Minaj was “a 40-year-old bully” acting in a way unbecoming of her age and stature. The younger artist even referred to Minaj as “my idol-turned-rival” as the conversation went nuclear. “Super freaky grandma is married AND related to fucking rapists. You ain’t gone bully me BITCH! My idol turned rival now u hating!”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Nicki Minaj is protesting the Recording Academy shifting her “Super Freaky Girl” from consideration in the Grammys’ rap division to a pop category, saying that she would be OK with the shift if it were applied consistently to other artists that straddle the crossover line, which she believes is not the case. “I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY,” Minaj tweeted late Thursday, in response to reports that her submission had been moved out of her chosen category. “If SFG (‘Super Freaky Girl’) has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy!” she added, referring to the Latto hit of that name. “ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll.”

Joshua Bassett just dropped a new song, and it's all about this «complicated» love life. «SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID» is an upbeat departure from the singer and actor's recent run of ballads.Telling the story of a toxic relationship, Bassett sings, "You starting rumors, it's nothing new, yeah. We're on this sh*t again.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor This past spring, as the omicron wave subsided and the world began a ready-or-not return to something resembling normal, the floodgates opened and thousands of musicians returned to the road. Audiences flocked to arenas and big theaters see Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Elton John and many others. Coachella launched the festival season with a bang, and smaller clubs began to cautiously figure out how to put on shows in tight spaces. It was a bumpy start — many acts (even Sir Elton and Bon Jovi) had to cancel or postpone shows because of positive Covid tests — but a start, nonetheless. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino says ticket sales are on their way to a record year.

Bruno Mars announced today that he and Anderson .Paak, known by the duo name Silk Sonic, will not submit their album An Evening With Silk Sonic for Grammy Award consideration.

Bruno Mars has confirmed that Silk Sonic will not be submitting their debut album for consideration at next year’s Grammys.Mars and Anderson .Paak released ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ in November 2021, featuring the singles ‘Leave The Door Open’, ‘Skate’ and ‘Smokin Out The Window’.While Silk Sonic picked up four Grammys – with ‘Leave The Door Open’ winning in the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song categories – at the 2022 ceremony back in April, Mars has now confirmed that the duo will not be submitting ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ for consideration at the 2023 Grammys.“We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and, most importantly, sexually bow out of submitting our album this year,” Mars told Rolling Stone in a statement.“We hope we can celebrate with everyone on a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic thrive.”Mars added: “Andy and I, and everyone that worked on this project, won the moment the world responded to ‘Leave The Door Open’.

The nominations for the MTV EMAs 2022 have been unveiled and Harry Styles was the most mentioned artist with seven nods including Best Artist, Best Song and Best Video.

Not letting it die down. Joshua Bassett shaded Olivia Rodrigo on TikTok. The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star posted a TikTok about who his soulmate is, and spoiler alert…it’s not Olivia.

The 2022 MTV EMA nominations have arrived, and the star-studded selection is sure to make it a can't-miss event! Harry Styles leads the pack with seven nods, including for Best Artist, Best Song and Best Video. Taylor Swift follows closely with six nominations including for Best Artist, Best Pop, and the new EMA category, Best Longform Video.Fan favorites Nicki Minaj and ROSALÍA each earned five nominations, which include Best Song and Best Artist.Voting for the awards is now open at mtvema.com until Nov. 9. The 2022 MTV EMAswill take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, at the PSD Bank Dome, marking the annual global music celebration’s sixth time in the country. The MTV EMAs are set to take place on Nov. 13 and will broadcast live on MTV in more than 170 countries, as well as Pluto TV and Comedy Central.

Charlie Puth doesn’t think that Harry Styles is one of his biggest fans. During an interview on the on Tuesday, the “Light Switch” singer recalled the reason why Styles may not be too fond of him.  Puth shared that during the “2014 One Direction era” right after he signed his record deal, he went into a high-profile sushi restaurant, and that’s where he accidentally blew the star’s cover after he walked into the place with his manager.

Europe really loves Harry Styles.

Harry Styles‘ latest album ‘Harry’s House’ has been confirmed as the biggest-selling vinyl LP of the year so far.The former One Direction singer’s third solo record was released in May, and features the record-breaking Number One single ‘As It Was’.According to the Official Charts Company, Styles has shifted 60,000 copies of ‘Harry’s House’ on vinyl since it came out – more than any other LP year-to-date.Additionally, Styles second album ‘Fine Line’ (2019) landed at Number 27 on the list of the biggest full-length vinyl of 2022, while his 2017 self-titled debut came in at Number 37.The rest of the Top Five is made up of Liam Gallagher‘s ‘C’mon You Know’ (Number Two), Wet Leg‘s self-titled debut (Number Three), Muse‘s ‘Will Of The People’ (Number Four) and Fontaines D.C.‘s ‘Skinty Fia’ (Number Five).You can check out the Top 10 below, and find the full Top 40 run-down here.1. ‘Harry’s House’ – Harry Styles2. ‘C’mon You Know’ – Liam Gallagher3. ‘Wet Leg’ – Wet Leg4. ‘Will Of The People’ – Muse5. ‘Skinty Fia’ – Fontaines D.C. 6. ‘Rumours’ – Fleetwood Mac7. ‘The Overload’ – Yard Act8. ‘Last Night In The Bittersweet’ – Paolo Nutini9. ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ – Pink Floyd10. ‘AM’ – Arctic MonkeysLast month, Styles became the longest-reigning British artist to top the chart with a single track, usurping Elton John‘s 1997 hit ‘Candle In The Wind’ (which spent 14 weeks at Number One).‘As It Was’ also became the longest-running Number One by a solo artist, overtaking Whitney Houston‘s ‘I Will Always Love You’ (1992) and Mariah Carey‘s ‘We Belong Together’ (2005), as well as the aforementioned ‘Candle In The Wind’.In May, Styles achieved the rare feat of simultaneously holding the Number One album and Number One track

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic California is in the house, and will be for the next three years, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. A major exhibition, “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock,” has just opened and will run through 2025. The must-see walk-through traces a history of roots music in L.A. rock that expands to include the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Michael Nesmith in the 1960s; the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in the ’70s; and Dwight Yoakam, Lone Justice and Los Lobos in the ’80s, among many other influential and sometimes commercially impactful figures. Variety recently visited the museum and spoke with co-curators Michael Gray, the facility’s executive senior director of editorial and interpretation, and Michael McCall, the museum’s senior editor, about why the ’60s through ’80s were a golden age for country-inflected rock in Los Angeles. The two curators also spoke about a number of the artifacts on display, from numerous Nudie’s-tailored jackets that set the visual tone for the era to key musical instruments to handwritten scores and setlists and even band flyers — see the gallery of photos below.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Right Said Fred has officially stirred not just the Beyhive but the Bey. Beyoncé herself, who rarely comments on such matters publicly, has issued a statement vehemently taking issue with the duo’s reported claim that her camp never sought permission to use “I’m Too Sexy” as a part of her recent “Alien Superstar” track. Right Said Fred’s allegations, as reported in the U.K. newspaper the Sun, are “erroneous and incredibly disparaging,” Beyoncé said in a statement issued to E! Entertainment News. Beyoncé pointed out that her track technically does not actually sample theirs, as the duo was quoted as contending, but is an interpolation in which “I’m Too Sexy” is essentially paraphrased through a re-recording of the elements used. Thus, she says, permission only needed to be sought from the songwriting publisher, not the holders of the original “Sexy” recording — and it was asked for and granted.