Nominations for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were announced during a live special that aired on CBS last night, and include several nods for LGBT artists, allies and inclusive programs.
Out musician Frank Ocean was one of several acts to score six nominations. Ocean was nominated for Best New Artist, with his debut album Channel Orange picking up nods for Album of the Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album and the single “Thinking About You” was nominated for Record of the Year. The track “No Church in the Wild” by Jay-Z and Kanye West, featuring Ocean and The-Dream, scored nominations for Best Short Form Music Video and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
Fun., who appeared at the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco and have since founded The Ally Coalition to inspire people to take action in the movement for LGBT equality, was honored with a Best New Artist nod, as well as Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for their sophomore effort, Some Nights. Their single “We Are Young,” featuring Janelle Monáe, received nods for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, bringing their nominations to six as well. Tegan & Sara’s “Get Along” was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video. Joan Osborne received a nod in Best Blues Album for Bring It On Home, and Sia picked up a nomination for the hit single “Wild Ones” in Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Dave Koz picked up a nomination in Best Pop Instrumental Album for Live At The Blue Note Tokyo. Eighth Blackbird are nominated in Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for their album Meanwhile, and composer Stephen Hartke is up for Best Contemporary Classical Music Composition for the Meanwhile track "Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays." Eighth Blackbird has won two Grammy awards previously.
Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres scored nominations in Best Spoken Word Album for Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power and Seriously…I’m Kidding respectively. Out musician Janis Ian is also nominated in this category for her audio version of her autobiography, Society’s Child, which uses relevant lines from her songs to describe each chapter of her life. The title comes from her Grammy-nominated song of the same name written when she was only 15. This is Ian's ninth nomination in various categories, from jazz to folk, best vocal, best record, with two Grammy wins. Margaret Cho’s Cho Dependendent: Live in Concert picked up a nod for Best Comedy Album, as did Kathy Griffin’s Kathy Griffin: Seaman 1st Class.
“Let Me Be Your Star,” sung by Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee in the first season of NBC’s Broadway drama Smash, was nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media. The Adam Shankman-directed musical film Rock of Ages received a nod in Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10, 2013 at 8:00pm, only on CBS.