A Timeline Of Taylor Swift's GRAMMYs History, From Skipping Senior Prom To Setting A Record With 'Midnights' | GRAMMY.com (2025)

Editor's Note: This article was edited on Feb. 5, 2024 to reflect her win and nominations at the 2024 GRAMMYs.

Throughout her illustrious career, Taylor Swift has won 11 GRAMMYs and has received 42 GRAMMY nominations overall, earning her first nod at just 17 years old.

Now 33, she's part of GRAMMY history: When Swift's folklore won Album Of The Year in 2021, she became the first female artist to win the award three times. Along the way, Swift has delivered countless memorable performances and moving speeches on the GRAMMY stage — and this year, she furthered her GRAMMY legacy with another first.

Swift's powerful video for her beloved song "All Too Well" — the 15-minute epic "All Too Well: The Short Film" — won the singer her 12th golden gramophone at the 2023 GRAMMYs, and another one that made history. She became the first artist to win Best Music Video for a clip solely directed by the artist, further cementing her place as a GRAMMY legend.

As Swift celebrates another GRAMMY win, take a look at the country-turned-pop superstar's legendary journey and history at the GRAMMYs.

2008 — 50th GRAMMY Awards

Nomination: Best New Artist

Seventeen-year-old Swift was up early on the morning of Dec. 6, 2007 to announce the nominations for the 50th GRAMMY Awards. Little did she know, she would also be receiving her first nomination, for Best New Artist.

The singer attended her first GRAMMY Awards at 18, revealing in a red carpet interview with CBS that she opted to attend the ceremony over her senior prom. With it being her first GRAMMYs, she couldn't help but fangirl, telling the CBS reporters that she was excited to see Foo Fighters, Feist and Kanye West — the latter of which she met later that night, when she presented him and Estelle with the GRAMMY for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "American Boy."

2009 — 51st GRAMMY Awards

Performance:"Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus

Swift performed her raw, emotional single "Fifteen" as a duet with fellow teen star Miley Cyrus. They traded verses as Swift played guitar during the stripped-down performance, proving that they don't need theatrics to command a stage.

2010— 52nd GRAMMY Awards

Wins: Album Of The Year (Fearless), Best Female Country Vocal Performance (White Horse), Best Country Song ("White Horse"), Best Country Album (Fearless)Nominations: Record Of The Year ("You Belong With Me"), Song Of The Year ("You Belong With Me"), Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ("You Belong With Me"), Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals ("Breathe")Performances:"Today Was a Fairytale," "Rhiannon" and "You Belong With Me" (the latter two with Stevie Nicks)

"This is my first GRAMMY, you guys!" Taylor Swift exclaimed with charming exhilaration, showcasing her gramophone for "White Horse" at the pre-telecast of the 52nd GRAMMY Awards.

While accepting the award, Swift said that she "lived in awe" of those who were also nominated in the category, as well as her producer Nathan Chapman and all the talented musicians in Nashville. "Thank you to anyone who is a GRAMMY voter and decided it might be a good idea to vote for me for this, because I'm so happy."

Swift attended the award ceremony with her mom, Andrea, and excitedly embraced her mother when Fearless was announced as Album Of The Year. With that award, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the category. She took home four awards overall that night.

"My dad and my little brother are losing their minds in the living room right now," Swift said in her Album Of The Year speech. "This is the story all of us, when we are 80 years old, and we are telling the same stories over and over again to our grandkids, and they're so annoyed with us — this is the story we're gonna be telling over and over again, in 2010, that we got to win Album Of The Year at the GRAMMYs."

To top off her memorable night, Taylor also performed alongsideStevie Nicks, who joined her for a duet of "Rhiannon" and "You Belong With Me." Nicks later told TIME that Taylor Swift's face just lights up like a star, and she couldn't say no to performing with her.

"Taylor is writing for the universal woman and for the man who wants to know her," Knicks said. "The female rock 'n' roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."

2012 — 54th GRAMMY Awards

Wins: Best Country Solo Performance ("Mean"), Best Country Song ("Mean")Nomination: Best Country Album (Speak Now) Performance:"Mean"

When Swift took to the stage to perform "Mean," she substituted some lyrics to fit the occasion: "But someday I'll be singing this at the GRAMMYs, and all you're ever gonna be is mean."

She received a standing ovation, and the fun lyrical nod would become something Swift repeated in other GRAMMY performances.

"Mean" won Swift two more GRAMMYs that night. "It's always going to mean the world to me, the idea of getting to go to the GRAMMYs, and the idea of getting to, possibly, have a chance at winning a GRAMMY," she said after winning Best Country Solo Performance in the pre-telecast. "But this one really means a lot to me… There's really no feeling quite like writing a song about someone who's really mean to you, and someone who completely hates you, and makes your life miserable, and then winning a GRAMMY for it."

2013 — 55th GRAMMY Awards

Wins: Best Song Written For Visual Media ("Safe & Sound," from The Hunger Games)

Nominations:

Swift opened the 55th GRAMMY Awards with her Red hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," creating a human circus with the performance. Swift took to the stage in a glittering white ringmaster costume, complete with a glamorized top hat and baton.

In the pre-telecast ceremony, Swift and the Civil Wars' "Safe & Sound" won the GRAMMY for Best Song Written For Visual Media, from The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond's official soundtrack. After Swift thanked her collaborators — as well as Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins and the film's star Jennifer Lawrence — The Civil Wars' John Paul White quipped, "I think it's appropriate that Taylor thanks us, because we've been carrying her for a while, and it's getting a little tiring."

2014 — 56th GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Album Of The Year (Red), Best Country Album (Red) Best Country Duo/Group Performance ("Highway Don't Care"), Best Country Song ("Begin Again")Performance:"All Too Well"

Swifties have long held "All Too Well" as the star's unofficial signature song, and her performance of it at the GRAMMYs is demonstrative of why it is so beloved.

Swift seemed to leave it all on the stage in the soul-baring performance, giving life to the deep, emotional lyrics as she both sings and plays the piano. One can't help but wonder what it would be like if Swift had performed her original 10-minute version, which she later released in her 2021 re-recorded Red (Taylor's Version).

2015— 57th GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Record Of The Year ("Shake It Off"), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Shake It Off"), Song Of The Year ("Shake It Off")

Though Swift didn't have any wins to celebrate at the 2015 GRAMMYs, she made headlines for her endearing dance moves during the performances — staying true to the name of her nominated single, "Shake It Off."

2016 — 58th GRAMMY Awards

Wins: Album Of The Year (1989), Best Pop Vocal Album (1989), Best Music Video ("Bad Blood")Nominations: Record Of The Year ("Blank Space"), Song Of The Year ("Blank Space"), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Blank Space"), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("Bad Blood")Performance:"Out of the Woods"

Serving as the GRAMMY opener once again, Swift delivered a stunning, high-energy performance of "Out of the Woods." Near the end of the song, she welcomed everyone to the 2016 GRAMMY Awards then playfully continued her performance after saying, "right now it's 1989" — a nod to her album that would win big.

Swift won three of her seven nominations, including Album Of The Year for 1989, and became the first woman to win the award twice. In a memorable and moving speech, Swift sent an important message to her young female fans.

"There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame," she declared. "But if you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world."

Earlier, 1989 won Best Pop Vocal Album at the Premiere Ceremony. Though she couldn't be in attendance, her producer Jack Antonoff made sure she was still involved, calling her on stage as he accepted the award. After screaming in excitement, Swift had a serious question for Antonoff: "Is James Taylor there? Can you tell James Taylor I love him?"

2018 — 60th GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Best Country Song ("Better Man"), Best Song Written For Visual Media ("I Don't Wanna Live Forever," fromFifty Shades Darker)

This GRAMMY year was a unique one for Swift, as she was honored with two nominations for contributions she made to albums other than her own. Her Zayn collaboration for Fifty Shades Darker, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," was nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media, and Little Big Town's "Better Man" — which Swift wrote by herself — was up for Best Country Song. (Taylor would later release her own recording of the ballad on Red (Taylor's Version) in 2021.)

2019 — 61st GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Best Pop Vocal Album (Reputation)

After taking a longer break than usual between albums, Swift thrilled fans of her pop music with the innovative Reputation. The album received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.

2020 — 62nd GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Song Of The Year ("Lover"), Best Pop Vocal Album (Lover), Best Pop Solo Performance ("You Need To Calm Down")

After kicking off a new career chapter with 2019's Lover — Swift's first release on Republic Records — she was honored with three more GRAMMY nominations. The album's romantic title track gave Swift her fourth Song Of The Year nod.

2021 — 63rd GRAMMY Awards

Win: Album Of The Year (folklore)

Nominations: Song Of The Year ("Cardigan"), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Cardigan"), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("Exile"), Best Pop Vocal Album (folklore), Best Song Written For Visual Media ("Beautiful Ghosts," from Cats)

Performance: "Cardigan," "August" and "Willow" medley

Swift delighted pandemic-weary fans with the surprise album, folklore. The album was wholeheartedly embraced by music lovers and critics, and took home a GRAMMY for Album of the Year — making Swift the first female artist in history to win the honor three times.

Swift's acceptance speech included an affectionate nod to her partner, actor Joe Alwyn, who is credited as a producer and songwriter on both folklore and its follow-up, evermore. "I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine," she said.The singer also performed a lush medley of songs from folklore and evermore, bringing a combination of glitz and whimsy to the night. From a Mother Nature-inspired set of a cottage in the woods, she performed acoustic versions of "Cardigan," "August" and "Willow" alongside collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner.

Taylor was still embracing the joy of the night a few days later, posting photos with the caption "Oh, my, what a marvelous time!" Swifties know that as part of the opening to Taylor's song "Starlight," a fan-favorite from Red.

2022 — 64th GRAMMY Awards

Nominations: Album Of The Year (evermore)

To celebrate her fifth Album Of The Year nomination, Swift shared a video of an impromptu performance of evermore cut "Champagne Problems." "SO stoked evermore has been honored like this," she captioned the post, also congratulating her fellow nominees.

Though Swift already made GRAMMY history with her Album Of The Year win for folklore, winning for evermore would further solidify her place as a GRAMMY legend. But even without a win, Swift has already created quite the GRAMMY legacy — and has plenty of stories to tell her grandchildren.

2023 — 65th GRAMMY Awards

Wins:Best Music Video, Short Form ("All Too Well: The Short Film")

Nominations:Song Of The Year ("All Too Well"(10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)), Best Country Song ("I Bet You Think About Me” (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)), Best Song Written For Visual Media (Carolina [From Where The Crawdads Sing])

Swift made GRAMMY history yet again at the 2023 GRAMMYs, this time thanks to one of her all-time fan favorites. "All Too Well: The Short Film" won the golden gramophone for Best Music Video, helping Swift become the first artist to win the category with a sole directing credit for their own music video.

Although "All Too Well" couldn’t prove victorious in the Song Of The Year category, Swift seemed to still have quite the night, between having an instantly viral conversation with her former flame Harry Styles and jamming out to Lizzo and Bad Bunny.

2024 — 66th GRAMMY Awards

Wins: Album Of The Year (Midnights), Best Pop Vocal Album (Midnights)

Nominations: Record Of The Year ("Anti-Hero"), Song Of The Year ("Anti-Hero"), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("Karma"), Best Pop Solo Performance ("Anti-Hero")

Another GRAMMYs, another record for Taylor Swift. At the 2024 GRAMMYs, Swift was awarded Album Of The Year for a fourth time, becoming the first artist in history to win the Category four times. (She had been tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon.)

"I would love to tell you that this is the best moment of my life, but I feel this happy when I finish a song, or when I crack to code to a bridge I love, or when I'm shortlisting a music video, or when I'm rehearsing with my dancers or my band, or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show," she said in her acceptance speech. "For me the award is the work."

Her other win for Midnights marked another big moment for the singer and her Swifties — not only was it her 13th GRAMMY (13 is her lucky number), but it was also an album reveal.

Swift announced that her 11th studio album, titled The Tortured Poets Department, will arrive April 19 — something she said she's been keeping a secret for two years. As she promised at the end of her speech, she immediately shared the project's kittenish cover art, which features a black-and-white image of Swift lying on a bed with her arms wrapped around her body.

Before leaving the stage after her Album Of The Year win, Swift said that she is "unbelievably blown away" that her music makes others as happy as it makes her. "All I wanna do is keep doing this," she declared. "So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much."

Editor's note: This article was updated to include the latest information about Kendrick Lamar's 2024 album release 'GNX,' and up-to-date GRAMMY wins and nominations with additional reporting by Nina Frazier.

When the world crowns you the king of a genre as competitive as rap, your presence — and lack thereof — is palpable. After a five-year hiatus, Kendrick Lamar declaratively stomped back on stage with his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, to explain why the crown no longer fits him.

Two years later, Lamar circles back to celebrate the west on 2024's GNX, a 12-track release that revels in the root of his love for hip-hop and California culture, from the lowriders to the rappers that laid claim to the golden state.

“My baby boo, you either heal n—s or you kill n—s/ Both is true, it take some tough skin just to deal with you” Lamar raps on "gloria" featuring SZA, a track that opines on his relationship with the genre.

The Compton-born rapper (who was born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth) wasn't always championed as King Kendrick. In hip-hop, artists have to earn that moniker, and Lamar's enthroning occurred in 2013 when he delivered a now-infamous verse on Big Sean's "Control."

"I'm Makaveli's offspring, I'm the King of New York, King of the Coast; one hand I juggle 'em both," Lamar raps before name-dropping some of the top rappers of the time, from Drake to J.Cole.

Whether you've been a fan of Lamar since before his crown-snatching verse or you find yourself in need of a crash course on the 37-year-old rapper's illustrious career, GRAMMY.com answers nine questions that will paint the picture of Lamar's more than decade-long reign.

Who Discovered Kendrick Lamar?

Due to the breakthrough success of his Aftermath Entertainment debut (good kid, m.A.A.d city), most people attribute Kendrick Lamar's discovery to fellow Compton legend Dr. Dre. But seven years before Dre's label came calling, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith saw potential in a 16-year-old rapper by the name of K.Dot.

Lamar's first mixtape in 2004 was enough for Tiffith's Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) to offer the aspiring rapper a deal with the label in 2005. However, Lamar would later learn that Tiffith's impact on his life dates back to multiple encounters between his father and the TDE founder, which Lamar raps about in his 2017 track "DUCKWORTH."

How Many Albums Has Kendrick Lamar Released?

Kendrick Lamar has released six studio albums: Section.80 (2011), Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City (2012), To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) DAMN. (2017),Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022), and GNX (2024). Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. received both Rap Album Of The Year and Album Of The Year GRAMMY nominations.

What Is Kendrick Lamar's Most Popular Song?

Across the board, it's "HUMBLE." The 2017 track is Lamar's only solo No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (he also reached No. 1 status with Taylor Swift on their remix of her 1989 hit "Bad Blood"), and as of press time, "HUMBLE." is also his most-streamed song on Spotify and YouTube.

How Many GRAMMYs Has Kendrick Lamar Won?

As of November 2024, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 57 GRAMMY nominations overall, solidifying his place as one of the most nominated artists in GRAMMY history and the second-most nominated rapper of all time, behind Jay-Z. Five of Lamar's 17 GRAMMY wins are tied to DAMN., which also earned Lamar the status of becoming the first rapper ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.

His most recent wins include three awards at the 2023 GRAMMYs, which included two for his album , and Best Rap Performance for "The Hillbillies" with Baby Keem.

Does Kendrick Lamar Have Any Famous Relatives?

He has two: Rapper Baby Keem and former Los Angeles Lakers star Nick Young are both cousins of his.

Lamar appeared on three tracks — "family ties," "range brothers" and "vent" — from Keem's debut album, The Melodic Blue. Keem then returned the favor for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, featuring on "Savior (Interlude)" and "Savior" as well as receiving production and writing credits on "N95" and "Die Hard."

Read More:

Why Did Kendrick Lamar Wear A Crown Of Thorns?

Lamar can be seen sporting a crown of thorns on the Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album cover. He has sported the look for multiple performances since the project's release.

Dave Free described the striking headgear as, "a godly representation of hood philosophies told from a digestible youthful lens."

Holy symbolism and the blurred line between kings and gods are themes Lamar revisits often on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. He uses lines like "Kendrick made you think about it, but he is not your savior" and songs like "Mirror" to reject the unforeseen, God-like expectations that came with his King of Hip-Hop status.

According to Vogue, the Tiffany & Co. designed crown features 8,000 cobblestone micro pave diamonds and took over 1,300 hours of work by four craftsmen to construct.

Why Did Kendrick Lamar Leave TDE?

After five albums, four mixtapes, one compilation project, an EP, and a GRAMMY-nominated Black Panther: The Album, Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) confirmed that Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers was the Compton rapper's last project under the iconic West Coast label.

According to Lamar, his departure was about growth as opposed to any internal troubles. "May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life's calling," Lamar wrote on his website in August 2021. "There's beauty in completion."

TDE president Punch expressed a similar sentiment in an interview with Mic. "We watched him grow from a teenager up into an established grown man, a businessman, and one of the greatest artists of all time," he said. "So it's time to move on and try new things and venture out."

Before Lamar's official exit from TDE, he launched a new venture called pgLang — a multi-disciplinary service company for creators, co-founded with longtime collaborator Dave Free — in 2020. The young company has already collaborated with Cash App, Converse and Louis Vuitton.

Has Kendrick Lamar Ever Performed at The Super Bowl?

Yes, Kendrick Lamar performed in the halftime show for Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles in 2022, alongside fellow rap legends Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem, as well as R&B icon Mary J. Blige. Anderson .Paak and 50 Cent also made special appearances during the star-studded performance. As if performing at the Super Bowl in your home city wasn't enough, the Compton rapper also got to watch his home team, the Los Angeles Rams, hoist the Lombardi trophy at the end of the night.

Three years after his first Super Bowl halftime performance, Lamar will return to headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Feb. 9, 2025 — just one week after the 2025 GRAMMYs — at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

Is Kendrick Lamar On Tour?

Kendrick Lamar recently concluded The Big Steppers Tour, where he was joined by pgLang artists Baby Keem and Tanna Leone. The tour included a four-show homecoming at L.A.'s Crypto.com Arena in September 2022, followed by performances in Europe,Australia, and New Zealand through late 2022.

Currently, there are no upcoming tour dates scheduled, but fans should check back for updates following the release of GNX.

"I think collaboration boils down to the core belief that something can work," Jack Antonoff recently told GRAMMY.com. "When I make an album with someone, I'm filled with faith that much more in my life or the universe can work, which is definitely a reason why I do this."

The 11-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter and producer has worked with many of the biggest modern pop stars — from Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and Lorde, to St. Vincent and Sabrina Carpenter — but his core focus has never changed. Antonoff simply wants to make music he loves with people he loves, and perform it live.

Antonoff not only holds many peoples' dream job of being Swift's go-to collaborator, but he's been having a banner year filled with notable creative projects and big wins. At the 2024 GRAMMYs, he won Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for the third year in a row. He also earned two more GRAMMYs that night, sharing Best Pop Vocal Album and Album Of The Year with Swift for his extensive production work, co-writing and instrumentation on Midnights. In March, he released his fourth album as Bleachers and launched a lengthy world tour with the band, which will wrap with their biggest-ever (sold-out) gig at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 4.

His 2024 production credits include Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, four of breakout star Carpenter's Short n' Sweet tracks including No. 1 hit "Please Please Please," and even one of Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss tracks, "6:16 in LA." He also curated and produced the soundtrack for Apple TV's WWII couture period drama "The New Look," featuring modern renditions of classics by Lana Del Rey, Florence Welch, Nick Cave and others. He was also tapped by Tony-winning director Sam Gold to create the soundtrack for a modern reimagining of "Romeo and Juliet," debuting on Broadway later this month.

Before Antonoff became one of the most in-demand producers in pop, he spent his time in bands. As a high school senior in 2002, he formed indie rock outfit Steel Train with several classmates, who'd have a decade-long run playing big festivals including Bonnaroo, SXSW, Warped Tour and Lollapalooza. Afterwards, he played guitar in the power pop trio fun. with whom he earned his first six GRAMMY nods and won his first two in 2013, for Best New Artist and Song of the Year for their anthemic hit "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monáe.

2013 was a pivotal year for the "Tiny Moves" artist, as it also marked his first time he worked with Swift, who then enlisted him to support her transition away from country music on Album Of The Year winner 1989. Antonoff has said that she was the first artist to trust him as a producer, and that their work together, understandably, opened many other doors for him.

GRAMMY.com recently caught up with the prolific producer and artist for a dive deep into his collaborative magic, the latest Bleachers album, and why he thinks pop is whatever you want it to be.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

There's a lot to talk about just from this year, it's pretty crazy.

When the Bleachers album came out and I was starting to do interviews, I had this really weird experience. Interviews recap things that have happened, so [they make me] realize how little I think about the past. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

I think it's a symptom of how much my life is future-focused — which is something I really like and fear about my life at the same time. The studio is such a forward place. You're thinking about the next thing, how to find this next feeling in literal and esoteric ways. [Being on] the road is one of the most literally forward places — every day you're somewhere new and you're thinking about the next day and the tour.

I feel like I'm trapped in the future. It's nice and I've designed it that way. But sometimes I get a little scattered or emotional when I talk about things that have happened because I'm thinking about them for the first time. I don't have canned answers.

You're often called a super-producer, which is valid; you've worked with so many big artists and on so much music that everyone hears. But what are you desiring as an artist and a producer lately?

The grand desire that I have has never changed, because it's so much bigger than any amount of success. That desire is to write and produce things and play live. That's a big part of why I love this work so much is because nothing can really help you with that besides your soul. You could be in the most expensive studio in the world with all the best engineers, but there's no proof that [that setting] equals a better song than just sitting in your room.

That fleeting feeling of knowing that it comes and it goes, and you just have to be there to grab it, is such a deep connected-to-the-cosmos feeling.

When you're working on music, at what point do you get excited about a song or know that it's going in the right direction?

When it does happen is when I start to push it forward in a real way. There's an amazing amount of f—king around in search of that feeling, and you never know where you're going to get it. It's sometimes just moving around instruments or lyrics or thoughts with no direction until one thing feels exciting, and then you follow that thing.

It's a really fun process, and it can be anxiety-producing. It's a different kind of fun when you do it with someone else, because you're on this weird adventure together. When you're in a room with other people and everyone has that feeling off of one idea or one sound, it's a very connecting feeling.

When you're working on your own music, particularly with Bleachers, it's mostly just you in the studio, right?

Yes. But the Bleachers process is oddly similar [to my producing], just sort of flipped. I work with producers on Bleachers because I need it sometimes. I've always had these two sides of writing my music and having my own band and needing help with that in various ways. I've learned so much on either side.

Being on the road with Bleachers, remarkably, keeps me connected to everything that matters the most when I'm making records with other artists because I can very easily visualize real fans, the people who live and die by this music. To be acquainted with them every night is a very powerful experience. It always just reminds me who I'm in conversation with, because I think it's easier than ever to get lost.

You've had a busy summer on the road with the Bleachers. How has it felt performing this album live?

It's really my favorite ever. It's the first album I've made with Bleachers that feels like a response to this thing that happens at the shows. Somewhere during the Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night [tour in 2021], the shows got really crazy and loose and kind of off the wall. There was something about it where I was kinda like, Okay, you want to play chicken? [Laughs.] I went into the studio and I tried to one up them. I never felt that before. This time I was talking right at [my fans], which is a luxury of being known by them.**

The first song we ever released was "I Wanna Get Better," which is almost a Wikipedia page of my life, it rattles through everything I'm going to be talking about [forever]. It feels like now I can wax on about something, and they know what I'm talking about.

Is that why you decided to self-title this album?

The actual decision to self-title is a gut feeling. But the real reason is it felt like an earned moment, like we had arrived somewhere where everything had completely formed.

Every reference point [while] making this album became about our own history and our own mythology. In the past, I would have said, Make it like a Mick Fleetwood or Ringo kind of feel. Now the reference point would be Play it like you do at this point in the set when the wheels have blown out for you. You tour and spend enough time with people where it becomes almost like conversations with your best friends, the reference points become your own shared history.

What called you back into the studio to make your own music?

I never know. My life is a lot less structured than people would think. The way I make Bleachers records — and even in everything I make with other people — there's a real looseness to it because I like to be [in the studio] when I feel incredibly excited to be there. I schedule things, just not terribly far out.

For example, Lana and I or Taylor and I have never once been like, "Let's book out a month here." It's sort of like, "What are you doing today? I got this idea, come over." And then if that's feeling good, it's like, "What are you doing tomorrow? Let's keep this going." It's very [much] catching it when it's happening. Some days I'm in the studio for an hour, some days for 16 hours; it's all based on how I feel.

Are you always working on music or ideas — is there always something that's coming out of you?

Lately — the past couple years — I've been feeling the need to create a lot. I feel connected to something, and I feel a lot of joy and that good buzzy anxiety of having these ideas and wanting to hear them, which reminds me of my earliest memories of writing and producing music. When you hear the thing in reality — you can press play on a thing that was a thought — it's the most incredible experience.

"Alma Mater" is such a poetic way to refer to an ex. How did that track come together? Did you have Lana del Rey in mind for it?

No, we were just f—ing around. I think a lot about where you put people [when listening to a song]. On that song, I wanted to put you in a room with me and her, so I left a lot of the elements of us being in the room writing it, messing around. We kept singing back and forth like, "She's my alma mater, f— Balenciaga." [Chuckles.] The lyrics were just making us smile.

As it started to come together, this idea of referring to an old relationship as an alma mater, that excited me and made me want to write that story. That's kind of what an old relationship is: a school that you go to where there's a whole set of friends, and a whole culture, and when it's over, poof, it's gone.

Obviously, you worked with Sabrina Carpenter on some of her new music…

How brilliant is she?

Read more: How Sabrina Carpenter Became A Pop Queen: Tracing Her Journey To 'Short N' Sweet'

She's around the same age Taylor Swift was when you started working with her. Do you see any parallels with Sabrina where Taylor was at then? Sabrina has said it was a really big deal to get to work with you. What was it like working with her?

It was a big deal for me to get to work with her. The great parallel is brilliant writing and being able to write about one's life in the most vulnerable and powerful way. It sounds so simple, but it's the rarest thing to be able to write about your life and to be able to make it so specific and also so poetic. You know it as soon as you hear it.

Can you talk a little bit about the sonic landscape on "Please Please Please"?

We were thinking a lot about joy and the kind of fantastical nature of ABBA, Dolly [Parton] and ELO that I felt would fit her voice and lyrics so well. She [does] this quick vacillation between really cheeky then really emotional, back to really sarcastic, and then she smacks you over the head with something so serious and real that you're stunned. It's my favorite kind of music.

One of the reasons it's so thrilling to me that so many people have responded to it is because it doesn't sound like anything that's going on at all, it almost sounds like the opposite of everything going on. Those are my favorite moments; when something out of left field grabs everyone's attention.

Those bubbly sounds right when "Please Please Please" comes in are not in time. You have a LinnDrum ['80s drum machine] and a live drum playing this tight beat and these country-picking acoustic guitars. Then you have these wobbling synths that, in my head, I'm playing the same way someone would play it when it was first invented because you're just playing along to the track, you're not locking it to any MIDI or anything. I was thinking a lot about that time period — I think about [it] all the time — when I was with Sabrina.

How has your creative partnership with Taylor Swift and your trust in each other evolved in the decade-plus you've been working together? And what has been the coolest thing for you to see in your ongoing work?

As far as evolution, we just have our own language. I saw her play last night [at Wembley Stadium in London], and actually played some songs there too. Most of the time when we work it's just her and I in a room, usually my apartment or Electric Lady [Studios]. To see [the songs] in literally the biggest spaces and retain all of [their] importance and soul and feeling like it's that for every single person in that crowd, it's like the absolute coolest.

She's the absolute greatest of all time, with a never-ending hunger to push forward.

You and Taylor both have such an affinity for witty, nerdy, literary references, and poetic phrasing. How do you pull that out in a way that makes sense in a pop song structure?

I think that tendency is just inherent in both of us. But I think the concept of pop structure is whatever the hell we want it to be. The worst of pop music is ambulance-chasing. The real inspiration is to be your own loud light-up machine shooting down the street. The things I've loved about pop music have just invigorated me to believe that pop music is whatever the hell the person making it says it is, and then everyone else gets to argue if it is or isn't.

I don't sit around and think about genre, placement, or who they're going to satisfy. All those thoughts are not just the death of making things. It's pretty easy for me to only consider that gut feeling. I'm just fascinated by how people hear things. There's no genre of music that I think is better or worse than any other one.

What can you tell us about the upcoming Romeo + Juliet Broadway show you soundtracked? Was it a different creative exercise for you to score such a well-known text; how so?

It was a very different process which is exactly why I wanted to do it. Credit to [director] Sam Gold who really let me fly out to left field and back. I'm about 50 percent through it and I'm going to finish it when I'm home from this tour. It's been something that has opened my world in many ways, to a whole new side of scoring and writing for a musical.

You have a lot of GRAMMYs, 11 of them —

People always ask me if it gets normal. No, it doesn't get normal! It's crazy.

One, where do you keep them?

That's one thing I've never really figured out, they kind of move around. Everything in my life moves around a lot, so I don't have a satisfying answer for that one.

And going back to 2013 when you won your first GRAMMYs with fun., how did you feel that day?

F—ing shocked. As I was saying, I don't really sit around thinking about the past because it's the opposite of the job. What's so shocking about those moments is you're surrounded by family and the people you love and work with, and it's this huge moment to think about how you got to that point.

My biggest takeaway of these experiences that force you to stop and think about the road behind is just how heavy they are. All of us are held up by really special people, whether it's partners or parents or siblings, fans, engineers, managers, loved ones. If you have amazing people around you, it's the best feeling in the world. That's my favorite part about any award, it feels like it's for everyone that got you there.

Sabrina Carpenter is the first to admit that it's taken her a bit of time to find her way to the top of the music industry. She even likens herself to the tortoise in the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare" — even if she didn't want to believe the metaphor growing up.

"Something that my mom always said to me as a little girl that really annoyed me was that I am the tortoise… throughout my life, [I was] being told, 'Sabrina, you're the tortoise, just chill,'" Carpenter recalled while accepting the Variety Hitmakers Rising Artist Award in December 2023. "In moments of frustration and confusion it can feel like a letdown, but it turns out it's actually a very good thing."

It's been a very good thing for Carpenter, indeed. A decade since the release of her debut single, the singer/songwriter isn't just breaking through — she's one of pop's new reigning queens. Over the last year, Carpenter has nabbed her first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, made a stellar debut at Coachella, and performed on "Saturday Night Live," all the while racking up billions of streams on her music new and old. It's all built excitement for one of the most anticipated pop albums of the summer: Short n' Sweet.

As Carpenter unveils her new album, take a deep dive into her decade-long journey to pop stardom.

Getting Started: Disney Breakthrough

Growing up, Carpenter filled the sounds of her family home in Pennsylvania with covers of songs like Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain" and "Picture to Burn" by future Eras Tour companion Taylor Swift (more on that later). After submitting videos for a singing contest spearheaded by Miley Cyrus, Carpenter would get her first taste of success. Placing third, she caught the eye of Hollywood Records, who signed her following the competition.

Simultaneously, Carpenter also began pursuing acting, landing guest spots on series like "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" in 2011 and joining "The Goodwin Games" in 2012. In 2014, she landed a lead role in the Disney Channel series "Girl Meets World," a spin-off of the beloved '90s series "Boy Meets World," which served as a breakthrough moment for the burgeoning star — and a catalyst for her music career.

Just before the show debuted, Carpenter released her debut single, "Can't Blame A Girl for Trying," the title track to her debut EP that arrived a month later. While the four-track EP was the typical output of a teenage Disney star — bubblegum pop sounds with digestible, family-friendly lyricism — it showed off her youthful timbre and offered themes that would become prevalent later in Carpenter's songwriting: love, heartache, and navigating life.

A year later, she released her debut album, Eyes Wide Open. A mix of pop with folk and country influences — a soundscape that remains on Short n' Sweet — Carpenter's debut showed maturity and growth following Can't Blame A Girl For Trying; songs like "Eyes Wide Open" and "We'll Be the Stars" showed a more introspective side, reflecting on the pressures of being in the spotlight and the journey of finding her identity. Eyes Wide Open also hinted that Carpenter was beginning to hone her songwriting skills, penning four of the 12 tracks.

It would be on her 2016 sophomore album, EVOLution, where Carpenter would find confidence as a songwriter, co-writing all but one song on the 10-track project. In turn, the lyrics reflected her growing sense of self and a new perspective on past themes, like embracing non-romantic forms of love in "All We Have is Love," being there for a struggling friend in "Shadows," and learning to assert boundaries in "Space."

EVOLution transitioned Carpenter out of the teen pop aesthetic into a more sophisticated sound, experimenting with dance-pop and techno sonics. Genre versatility would become a throughline of sorts for Carpenter, and EVOLution foreshadowed the multifaceted musicality that was to come.

Shedding Disney: From Child Actor To Pop Star

After "Girl Meets World" came to an end at the beginning of 2017, Carpenter was ready for reinvention. Much like Britney Spears' Britney and Cyrus' Can't Be Tamed before her, as Carpenter grew into an adult, she felt like she needed to shed the Disney-fied image that has become a rite of passage for teen stars. Thus began the Singular era.

Released in 2018 and 2019, respectively, Singular: Act I and Singular: Act II featured songs that were more risqué and mature in nature. A far cry from her tamer work of the past, the R&B track "Hold Tight" is equal parts sultry and evocative with Carpenter singing, "Wanna keep you in, wanna keep you in right/ Wanna feel your skin, wanna feel it on mine."

As she noted in an interview with Billboard, Singular: Act I was a natural progression for a girl now in her late teens — even if it was against the squeaky-clean image of her beginnings.

"I was known as a fictional character on television with lines that were written for her with an attitude that was portrayed in a way by other people. So for a lot of people, their first impression of me was as a 13-year-old girl [singing] the kinds of songs that she should be singing," she said. "Then, flash forward to 19, and people are asking why I am not singing about the same things that I did when I was 13, as if that's normal."

One of the more notable Singular tracks is from Act I, "Sue Me." Sneakily disguised as a story about a romantic relationship, the song is Carpenter's response to being sued by her ex music managers: "That's my shape, I made the shadow/ That's my name, don't wear it out though/ Feelin' myself can't be illegal." Its tongue-in-cheek and snarky nature would inevitably embolden Carpenter to continue writing more confessional songs with attitude, whether she's responding to media scrutiny in "because i liked a boy" from 2022's emails i can't send, or warning a suitor to be careful in Short n' Sweet's "Please, Please, Please."

Singular: Act I and Act II further helped demonstrate different facets of Carpenter's musicality, with the former leaning into pop tendencies and the latter embracing an R&B flair. And as her final albums with Hollywood Records, she used Singular: Act I and Act II to indicate that she wasn't going to let any sort of previous perceptions hold her back. Their coming-of-age themes showcased Carpenter as an artist coming into her own — regardless of whether listeners wanted to keep her in the Disney box or not.

Reintroducing Herself: Artistic Authenticity & The "Nonsense" Effect

While the world was going through a period of change amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so was Carpenter. She signed with Universal Music Group's Island Records in 2021, and soon she would be able to fully introduce the world to who Sabrina Carpenter is as an artist.

As she noted herself to Variety earlier this year, her 2022 LP, emails i can't send, "marked the beginning of a really freeing and artistic time for me." Once again, she co-wrote every song on the album; this time, though, she only had one co-writer for each track, and even wrote two songs solo ("emails i can't send" and "how many things") — proving that she was more assured as a songwriter than ever.

As a result, Carpenter's knack for confessional songwriting is on full display. emails i can't send represents a reflective time capsule of sorts; one that brings the curiosity of her earlier work with the perspective and wisdom of a young adult. Her growing fame meant there was more attention on her personal life, and emails i can't send allowed her to reclaim her narrative and express her side of the story.

Carpenter's candidness struck a chord with listeners, and upon the release of emails i can't send in July 2022, it was clear Carpenter was on a new trajectory. The album debuted at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, which marked her highest entry on the chart to date (as of press time); the 2022 stretch of her Emails I Can't Send Tour sold out in less than a day. And once "Nonsense" was released as a single that November, her place as a rapidly rising star was solidified.

"Nonsense" was initially written as a means to an end after Carpenter was writing a sad song and had writer's block. Now, the track is the epitome of Carpenter's lyricism, weaving together her wit and humor with an infectious hook. First gaining traction on TikTok because of its catchiness, it's become a beloved part of Carpenter's canon thanks to her inventive and bespoke outros during her live shows. It's since become a tradition for fans to check to see what outro she created for each performance, adding to the fan fervor.

Carpenter further satiated fans' taste for her cheeky lyricism in March 2023, when she released emails i can't send fwd:, the deluxe version of her album, which featured a new track called "Feather." She took the playful, flirting energy of "Nonsense" and infused "Feather" with buoyant, airy production that mimics the feeling of self-liberation after moving on from a relationship. Earning Carpenter her first pop radio No. 1, "Feather" proved that the singer's audacious style was taking hold — and it set the stage for an even bigger 2024.

Becoming A Superstar: Eras Tour, "Espresso" & Beyond

After her own extensive — and very sold out — tour in support of Emails I Can't Send, Carpenter's rising star status was further confirmed by pop's current queen, Taylor Swift. The singer earned a coveted opening slot on Swift's monumental Eras Tour in Mexico, South America, Australia, and Asia.

Just after her last Eras Tour show in March 2024, Carpenter hinted that her own new era was beginning. "I'm starting to feel like I've outgrown the songs I'm singing," she admitted to Cosmopolitan, "which is always an exciting feeling because I think that means the next chapter is right around the corner."

That chapter began with "Espresso," which dropped a day before her debut Coachella performance. Doubling down on the playful, self-assured vibe of "Nonsense," the song immediately hinted that big things were coming for Carpenter, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 3.

Upon announcing her sixth album, Short n' Sweet, Carpenter released "Please Please Please." Combining her now-signature playful, carefree lyricism with an airy, disco-tinged sound, "Please Please Please" didn't just present Carpenter as a confident superstar — it became her first Hot 100-topping smash.

Carpenter has referred to Short n' Sweet as the "hot older sister" of emails i can't send. "It's my second 'big girl' album; it's a companion but it's not the same," she explained to Variety, to whom she also admitted she feels a "sense of separation" from her work prior to emails. "When it comes to having full creative control and being a full-fledged adult, I would consider this a sophomore album."

It's apt, then, that her Short n' Sweet collaborators — including songwriters Julia Michaels, Amy Allen and Steph Jones — are largely the same as the team from emails i can't send. "I've really honed in on the people that I love making music with," she told Rolling Stone in June.

Even more telling of the direction she's heading is her work with one of pop's hottest producers — and Swift's right-hand man — Jack Antonoff, for the first time. At a GRAMMY Museum event with Antonoff himself, Carpenter debuted the country-infused "Slim Pickins," presenting yet another pop style from Short n' Sweet. And as "Slim Pickins," "Espresso" and "Please Please Please" indicate, Carpenter's knack for infectious and edgy lyrics isn't just the throughline across Short n' Sweet — it's become the epitome of both her artistry and her stardom.

Just like her metaphorical friend the tortoise, Carpenter's long but steady journey has clearly paid off. As she's figured out who she is on her own terms, she's manifested the bonafide superstardom she's always imagined.

"I never had the plan B, and it wasn't even a thought in my mind that it wouldn't work out," she told Rolling Stone. "I just always knew it was about not if it would happen but when it would happen."

For Carpenter, every chapter of her artistry has built on the last; she's refused to rest on her laurels and continuously pursued new directions. She's creating work that wholeheartedly reflects her, and growing a loyal fan base because of it. Her next album might be named Short n' Sweet, but her time as a pop superstar will be anything but.

It’s officially awards season! Today, the nominees for the 2024 Emmys dropped — and, happily, the 2024 GRAMMYs telecast received a whopping five nominations.

At the 2024 Emmys, the 2024 GRAMMYs telecast is currently nominated for Outstanding Variety Special (Live), Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special, Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special, and Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Special.

Across these categories, this puts Music’s Biggest Night in a friendly head-to-head with other prestigious awards shows and live variety specials, including the Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show starring Usher as well as fellow awards shows the Oscars and the Tonys.

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2024 was a banner year for the GRAMMYs. Music heroes returned to the spotlight; across Categories, so many new stars were minted. New GRAMMY Categories received their inaugural winners: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording. Culture-shaking performances and acceptance speeches went down. Those we lost received a loving farewell via the In Memoriam segment.

The 2025 GRAMMYs will take placeSunday, Feb. 2, live at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on demand on Paramount+. Nominations for the 2025 GRAMMYs will be announcedFriday, Nov. 8, 2024.

For more information about the 2025 GRAMMY Awards season, learn more about theannual GRAMMY Awards process,read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section, view theofficial GRAMMY Awards Rules and Guidelines, and visit theGRAMMY Award Update Centerfor a list of real-time changes to the GRAMMY Awards process.