18 surprising facts about the 2018 Grammy nominees

Rapper Cardi B was signed to her first major label debut in February 2017 and just earned her first Grammy nods for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Bodak Yellow.” Even if she doesn’t end up winning, she has already made history. Last fall, Cardi B broke Lauryn Hill’s record for the longest running No. 1 from a solo female rapper in Billboard Hot 100 history. And yes, music buffs, the previous record was set by Hill’s iconic song “Doo Wop (That Thing).”

Even wonder how Donald Glover, a.k.a. multi-Grammy-nominated rapper Childish Gambino, got his namesake? Believe it or not, he simply used the Wu-Tang Name Generator, which can be found here. Plug in your name to reveal your alter ego... or, if you’re in disbelief about the previous fact, type in “Donald Glover” and see that we speak the truth.

Remember #OscarsSoWhite and the related boycott of the 2016 Academy Awards due to its lack of diversity? The 2018 Grammys don’t have that problem. In the top four categories (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist), the only white nominees are Justin Bieber, Lorde and Julia Michaels. Instead, the nominations went to the likes of Jay-Z, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B, and SZA, among others.

On the heels of his two Emmy wins in 2017 for FX’s “Atlanta,” actor/director/musician Donald Glover could be halfway to an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) if he can capitalize on any of his five nominations at the 2018 Grammys for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best R&B Song, or Best Traditional R&B Performance. The 34-year-old implied after New York City’s Governor’s Ball that the next Childish Gambino album would be his last, so pursuing an EGOT definitely isn’t out of the question. In fact, Glover is already set to voice Simba in Jon Favreau’s 2019 reboot of “The Lion King.”

It’s not rare to hear a song in Spanish on mainstream radio, but it’s unheard of for one to win Song of the Year. If “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee wins the award in 2018, it will be the first Spanish song to ever do so, and will become only the second non-English song in Grammy history. Previously, at the very first Grammys in 1959, Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci won for the Italian tune “Volare.” 

In addition to making Justin Bieber the first artist to ever notch two different Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s in consecutive weeks, when “Despacito” topped the charts over the summer, it also became the first Spanish-language song to reach No. 1 in 21 years! Any guesses as to the last one? 

If you weren’t living under a rock in the early-’90s, you’ll probably remember that song was Los Del Rio’s “La Macarena.” You’ll probably also remember that song’s dance, despite repeated attempts to forget about it.

Oh, and one record "Despacito" already has: Nielsen reports it was the most streamed song of 2017. 

Artists of color might be getting fairer treatment at the 2018 Grammys, but women are still underrepresented. Although three of the five Best New Artist nominees are women, only two of the 15 nods in the other top three categories went to female musicians. In fact, not a single woman received a Record of the Year nomination... for the first time in 34 years!

Artists who sadly passed away in the last year or so won’t only be honored during the “In Memoriam” part of the show, many even have nominations! Gregg Allman’s “Southern Blood” is nominated for Best Americana Album, Carrie Fisher received a Best Spoken Word Album nod for her memoir “The Princess Diarist,” and Leonard Cohen’s has two shots with “You Want It Darker” for Best Rock Performance and “Steer Your Way” for Best American Roots Performance. Also appearing in the former category is the late Chris Cornell’s “The Promise,” and the latter category also includes Glen Campbell for his song “Arkansas Farmboy.”

Katy Perry’s fifth studio album, “Witness,” was released in June 2017, but unlike her previous four albums, the underperforming record didn’t receive a single Grammy nomination. Misery loves company, and Katy can seek sympathy from fellow snubbed musicians like Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and Paramore, among others.

Although the band was formed in 1962, the Rolling Stones have only won a total of two Grammys! (They capitalized on a 1995 Best Rock Album nomination for “Voodoo Lounge” and were previously given a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986.) The Stones could nab a third Grammy in 2018, as “Blue & Lonesome” is up for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Surprisingly, neither of Kesha’s first two studio albums or EPs (which yielded hits like “Tik Tok,” “You Love is My Drug,” and “We R Who We R”) earned any Grammy nods. The third time's the charm for the singer, however, as “Rainbow” received a nod for Best Pop Vocal Album and “Praying” is up for Best Pop Solo Performance.

No, we’re not talking about Queen Bey (who only has a single nomination in 2018), we’re talking about the real queen of the Grammys: Alison Krauss. Not only does she have two nods this year (Best Country Solo Performance and Best American Roots Performance), but she already owns 27 Grammys, making her the most awarded living recipient. If she can win both, she’ll only be two honors shy of the all-time mark set by classical conductor Georg Solti. Not bad for an artist who’s still only 46 years old.

You may have heard of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 book “Our Revolution,” but did you know it earned Sanders and actor Mark Ruffalo a shared nomination for Best Spoken Word Album? The duo may seem like an unlikely match-up, but perhaps the Sanders/Ruffalo pairing could win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Just a thought.

Miranda Lambert’s “The Weight of These Wings” was expected to make into into at least one of the four major categories, but was snubbed... along with every other country artist. In a shocking statistic, this is only the second time in 24 years that no country musician cracked the top four.

Pharrell Williams hasn’t released a solo album since 2014’s “Girl,” but the rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer still managed to amass three nominations for the 2018 Grammys. As a writer, he’ll get a trophy if SZA’s “Supermodel” takes home Best R&B Song, or if the “Hidden Figures” soundtrack picks up either of its two nods, as Pharrell was a producer and composer on the record. He already owns 10 previous trophies.

It should come as no surprise that superstar Taylor Swift has two nods at the 2018 Grammys, until you consider the fact that her sixth studio album, “Reputation,” won’t qualify for the award show until 2019. Instead, you have to dig a little deeper to find Swift. “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” her duet with Zayn from “Fifty Shade Darker,” appears in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category, and she also has a shot at Best Country Song honors, but not as a performer. If Little Big Town cashes in for their song “Better Man,” Swift will receive an award as the songwriter.

Never heard of Pasek and Paul? The songwriting team (comprised of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) have been together for more than a decade and recently burst into the mainstream in a big way. Their song “City of Stars” from the hit musical film “La La Land” already won a Golden Globe and Oscar in 2017, and it has a shot at the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Thinking EGOT already? You should be, as the pair also nabbed a Best Original Score Tony Award for the stage musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” also in 2017.

In a rare feat, the country duo Brothers Osborne managed to stretch a single album across three Grammy Award shows. Their song “Stay a Little Longer” first qualified as a single in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category at the 58th Annual Grammys in 2016. The song later appeared on the bros’ debut studio album, “Pawn Shop,” which also yielded the single “21 Summer,” which qualified for the same category at the 59th Annual Grammys in 2017. In 2018, they’ll do it again with “It Ain’t My Fault,” the fourth and final single from “Pawn Shop.”