Seven LGBTQ+ artists who could make Grammy Award history this year
Five queer artists including Victoria Monet, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus could make Grammy award history. (Getty)
The 2024 Grammys could be a historic moment for a number of LGBTQ+ artists, including Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus.
Though R&B star SZA is the main artist to watch on Sunday night (4 February) as she’s up for an astounding nine awards, this year’s Grammys could also mark an impressive turning point for LGBTQ+ representation in the music industry.
Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Boygenius, Brandy Clark, Victoria Monét, Shane McAnally, and Justin Tranter could all score wins that would break or match Grammy records, much like queer icons Sam Smith and Kim Petras did last year, after they became the first trans and non-binary artists to win in the Best Pop Duo category.
This is how seven LGBTQ+ superstars – and mostly women – might just make music history.
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish came out as LGBTQ+ last year, after revealing that she is “attracted to” but “intimidated by” women. She later clarified that she thought it was “obvious” that she is queer.
Besides discussing her sexuality, 2023 was also a big year for Eilish thanks to a little film called Barbie, and her tear-jerker hit “What Was I Made For?” that was released alongside it.
As well as hitting number one in the UK and being nominated for a “Best Original Song” Oscar, the track is also up for an impressive five Grammy awards.
“What Was I Made For” is nominated for a Record of the Year gong, and if she were to win it, Eilish would become the first ever female artist and solo artist to do so three times, having previously won for “Bad Guy” in 2020 and “Everything I Wanted” in 2021.
She’d also be one of just three artists in history overall to bag three Record of the Year trophies, alongside Paul Simon and Bruno Mars.
The singer, who has only just turned 22, also has the potential to join Beyoncé in the record for the most wins in one night by a female solo artist; if she wins all five of her “What Was I Made For?” nominations, and her Best Pop Duo nomination for her song “Never Felt So Alone” with Labyrinth, both her and Queen Bey would have won six awards in one night.
She could also become the only artist other than Taylor Swift to win a “Best Music Video” award as the sole director of her own music video.
The 2024 Grammys could be an astonishing night for our Gen-Z alt-pop princess.
Boygenius
Indie-folk supergroup Boygenius, made up of queer music powerhouses Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, is the music act with the second highest number of nominations, as they’re up for a mind-blowing seven awards.
That includes the coveted Album of the Year accolade and Record of the Year for “Not Strong Enough”.
With “Not Strong Enough”, which ended atop many “Best Songs of 2023” lists in December, Boygenius could become just the second group of women to ever win the Record of the Year accolade. Meanwhile, with their debut album the record, Boygenius could be the second ever group of women to win Album of the Year.
In 2007, The Chicks won both categories with song “Not Ready To Make Nice” and album Taking The Long Way.
Plus, as a little bonus, Phoebe Bridgers could technically win eight Grammys in one night: all seven of her Boygenius awards, and the Best Pop Duo award for “Ghost In The Machine”, her collaboration with SZA.
Miley Cyrus
Much like Billie Eilish, queer star Miley Cyrus has the potential to walk away from this year’s Grammys with an impressive six awards, which would put her in line with Beyoncé as the female artist with the most awards won in one night.
The 31-year-old star had a huge 2023, considering her single “Flowers” spent a whopping ten weeks at number in the UK, and also hit number one in the US. The song is nominated in the Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo categories, while her album Endless Summer Vacation is up for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
It’s the next award she’s up for – Best Pop Duo, for her song “Thousand Miles” with lesbian singer Brandi Carlile – that could also bag her a historic win.
If she took the accolade home, she and her father Billy Ray Cyrus would become the only ever father and daughter duo to win in the category separately.
Victoria Monét
Bisexual R&B star Victoria Monét could potentially take home a staggering seven awards at the Grammys 2024, beating Beyoncé as the female artist with the most wins in one night.
Monét, 34, is nominated for Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B song, Best Engineered Album, and Best R&B Album for Jaguar II.
Plus, a little bonus: her daughter Hazel Monét could become the youngest ever Grammy award winner, as she’s nominated alongside her mother in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category, for their collaboration with Earth, Wind & Fire, “Hollywood”. Hazel is just three-years-old.
Brandy Clark
Out and proud lesbian country singer has always been been the bridesmaid, but never the bride when it comes to the Grammy awards. Before this year, she was nominated for 11 Grammys, yet never won once. This year, she’s up for a further six: making that 17 nominations, zero wins as of now.
It’s time she got her flowers. This year, she’s up for awards including Best Country Song and Best Americana Album, as well as Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song for “Dear Insecurity” (a collaboration with fellow queer singer, Brandi Carlile).
Like Eilish and Cyrus, Brandy Clark has the chance to bag six awards in one night, meaning she’d also tie with Beyoncé to become the most awarded female solo artist in one night. It seems unlikely, given her track record at the Grammys, but never say never.
Last year truly was a brilliant year for queer women in music.
Shane McAnally
Gay country singer and songwriter Shane McAnally already has three Grammy awards under his belt, for his work on Kacey Musgraves’ tracks “Merry Go ‘Round” and “Space Cowboy”. This year, he’s up for his work on country musical Shucked, written in collaboration with lesbian singer and fellow potential history marker, Brandy Clark.
For the Grammys 2024 he’s nominated for Best Musical Theatre Album for Shucked, and also for Non-Classical Songwriter of the Year – and it’s the latter accolade that could see him make LGBTQ+ history.
The award was created in 2023, and was won last year by Tobias Jesso Jr. If McAnally wins the gong this year, he will be the first ever LGBTQ+ person to get it.
Justin Tranter
Much like Shane McAnally, songwriter Justin Tranter – who has worked with the likes of Selena Gomez, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande – is nominated in the Non-Classical Songwriter of the Year category for their work last year with Reneé Rapp, Miley Cyrus and Måneskin.
If they were to win the award, they would be also be the first LGBTQ+ person to take it home, as Tranter identifies as bisexual and non-binary.
The 66th Grammys take place on Sunday 4 February 2024.
This data was compiled by VegasInsider.com.
