World

Taylor Swift has never won best song – and other Grammy moments to look out for

Published

3 months ago

February 4, 2024

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In 2023, the names of two women were on everyone’s lips: Barbie, and Taylor Swift.

Both are represented at the Grammy Awards tonight.

Swift‘s music needs no introduction of course, while Barbie makes the cut thanks to the contributions to the film’s soundtrack by Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa (Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken sadly didn’t make it a hat-trick, despite the Oscar nod).

After cementing herself firmly as the biggest pop star on the planet with the start of her Eras tour last year, this year’s Grammys ceremony could be a record-breaker for Swift.

If the star takes home the award for best album for Midnights she will become the first artist to win the prize for a fourth time, having previously won for Fearless (2010), 1989 (2016) and Folklore (2021).

Those three awards currently tie her with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, so a win this year would make Grammys history.

However, despite being the most-nominated songwriter ever, shortlisted for song of the year seven times over the years, Swift has never won in that category before.

Surprising, you might think, for a woman hailed as arguably the most influential songwriter of her generation. But then again, despite a record 32 Grammy wins – the most decorated artist ever – Beyonce has never won album of the year.

Could Anti-Hero win Swift the prize for the first time?

The lead single from Midnights was released in October 2022 and spent six weeks at the top of the charts in the UK, remaining in the top 100 songs for a year. In the US, it topped the Billboard chart on eight weeks, leading a top 10 entirely made up of Swift songs – making her the first artist to achieve the feat – when it initially charted.

At the Grammys, Anti-Hero faces competition in the category from the likes of Eilish’s What Was I Made For? and British star Lipa’s Dance The Night, their songs from the Barbie soundtrack, as well as Flowers by Miley Cyrus. Vampire, by Olivia Rodrigo, Kill Bill by SZA, Butterfly by Jon Batiste, and A&W by Lana Del Rey.

Swift is up for six awards in total, also including best pop vocal album, best pop solo performance, best duo or group performance for Karma featuring Ice Spice, and record of the year for Anti-Hero once again.

(If you’re wondering what the difference is: record of the year deals with a specific recording of a song and recognises the artists, producers and engineers who contribute, while song of the year celebrates the composition and recognises the songwriters.)

But Swift is not the top nominee

The honour of most-nominated artists goes to alternative pop and RnB singer SZA, who is up for nine awards.

As well as the big prizes already mentioned, these include (deep breath): best melodic rap performance; best traditional RnB performance; best progressive RnB album; best RnB performance; best RnB song; and best pop duo/ group performance.

The star, whose real name is Solana Rowe, garnered critical acclaim for her second album SOS, released at the end of 2022, and will likely win in a few of the genre categories at least.

However, with competition from the likes of pop force phenomenon Swift and Grammys favourite Eilish in the main groups, a clean sweep of nine could be unlikely.

Following closely behind SZA is Victoria Monet, with seven nods, and Eilish, Rodrigo and Cyrus all have six alongside Swift.

Who’s performing?

Alongside SZA, Burna Boy, Billie Eilish, Billy Joel, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo and Travis Scott are set to take to the stage.

Plus, Joni Mitchell will make her Grammys performing debut and U2 will deliver the first-ever broadcast performance from the multibillion-dollar Sphere venue in Las Vegas, where they began a residency in September.

Who won’t be performing? Swift, apparently. While she will attend, the fact the next leg of her Eras tour kicks off in Japan on Wednesday means she’s saving her energy, according to reports.

And don’t expect to see NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce there either – he’s busy preparing for something called the Super Bowl, apparently, but will no doubt be tuning in to “watch her win every single award that she’s nominated for”, as he said in a recent podcast interview.

The ceremony will be hosted by Trevor Noah, and stars presenting awards include Christina Aguilera, Samara Joy, Lenny Kravitz, Maluma, Lionel Richie, Mark Ronson, Meryl Streep, Taylor Tomlinson and Oprah Winfrey.

The striking thing about the big categories…

You might have realised that with the exception of Batiste, all the artists nominated for song of the year are women. The category recognises songwriters so all collaborators, male and female, are also in the running – Eilish’s brother Finneas O’Connell, for example, and Mark Ronson as a co-writer of Dance The Night, while Jack Antonoff is nominated twice.as a co-writer for both Anti-Hero and A&W.

But the artists fronting the songs are predominantly female. The same is true in the record of the year group, which sees female indie trio boygenius and Victoria Monet up against Swift, Cyrus, Rodrigo, Eilish and SZA. And Batiste once again representing the men.

For album of the year, the nominees are: Guts by Rodrigo; the record by boygenius; Midnights by Swift; SOS by SZA, The Age Of Pleasure by Janelle Monae; Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, by Lana Del Rey and Endless Summer Vacation by Cyrus. And – you’ve guessed it – World Music Radio by Batiste.

So unless there’s a major upset, the ceremony looks set to be a celebration of a year in which female artists have dominated the charts and our playlists – reflected to a lesser extent in the Brits nominations here in the UK, where more than half the nominees are women.

Best new artist

This award is one of the big ones, previously won by Eilish, Rodrigo, Sam Smith, Adele, John Legend, Amy Winehouse and plenty of other performers who went on to become huge stars.

In the running this year are:

• Jelly Roll
• The War And Treaty
• Victoria Monet
• Noah Kahan
• Coco Jones
• Ice Spice
• Fred Again
• Gracie Abrams

Noah Kahan’s Stick Season has been a huge hit, and rapper Ice Spice is also a favourite.

Grammys fact: should The War And Treaty win, they would become the first husband and wife duo to take home the prize.

And another one: if US rapper Jelly Roll, who is 39, takes the prize, he’ll be the oldest solo artist to do so – taking the title from Sheryl Crow, who was 33 when she won in 1995.

What other records could be broken?

Well, one that definitely won’t is Beyonce’s. With 12 wins under her belt heading into the ceremony, even if Swift wins all six she’s up for her tally will stand at 18 – still a fair way to go to match Queen Bey’s 32. And SZA has won one before, so a clean sweep for her would take her to 10.

If Eilish wins record of the year for What Was I Made For? she will become the only female artist to have won the prize three times – having won previously for Bad Guy and Everything I Wanted – and only the third artist in total, matching Paul Simon and Bruno Mars.

Then there’s eight-time winner Antonoff, who this year is up for five prizes in total – including record of the year as a producer on Anti-Hero (as almost all paths lead back to Swift, it seems). Should he win that one, he becomes part of the elite Grammys club for those who have won all of what are considered the four major awards – record, song, album and best new artist. Current members are Adele, Eilish and Christopher Cross, so it’s pretty exclusive.

The Grammys ceremony takes place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, with the red carpet starting at about 11pm UK time and the ceremony at 1am on Monday

World

Eurovision 2024: Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters march in Malmo ahead of semi-final

Published

8 hours ago

May 9, 2024

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Eurovision 2024: Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters march in Malmo ahead of semi-final

Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators protested in Malmo, Sweden on Thursday against Israel’s competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Protesters waving green, white, black and red Palestinian flags packed the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall before a planned march through the city for a rally in a park several miles from the Eurovision venue.

Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part. Among those in the crowd was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The march took place at the same time as Israel’s entrant – 20-year-old Eden Golan – was taking part in the final dress rehearsal for the second Eurovision semi-finals, in the Malmo arena.

During the march – which included families with young children, and people with dogs and bicycles – smoke canisters in the colours of the Palestinian flag were set off, with some protesters carrying signs displaying images of Gaza civilians who have been injured amid the Hamas-Israel conflict.

There was also a banner done in the style of Eurovision with the word “genocide” on it – an accusation vigorously denied by Israel amid the war with Hamas.

Security in Malmo is high, and extra police have been drafted in from neighbouring Denmark and Norway.

During an earlier rehearsal on Tuesday, Golan was met with boos and cries of “Free Palestine,” and an audience member appeared to have a Palestinian flag removed from them in the auditorium.

The EBU has said only flags that represent countries taking part, and the rainbow flag, can be brought to the event.

They have said they will remove any other “flags, symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalising the TV shows”.

The 20-year-old singer performed her song Hurricane while flanked by five backing dancers and centred around a large wheel-like prop in the centre of the stage.

Earlier lyric changes

The song has been tweaked three times, after an initial version titled October Rain was ruled too political by the EBU who believed some lyrics referred to the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.

Some still believe that some lyrics in the current song – including “Dancin’ in the storm… I’m still broken from this hurricane,” still refer to attacks which killed over 1,000 people and resulted in hundreds of hostages being taken.

In the run-up to the competition – which is the world’s largest live music event – there have been calls for Israel to be banned over their ongoing ground offensive in Gaza.

However, the EBU – which says it is an apolitical organisation – has ruled that Israel can take part as they say it has not broken any broadcasting rules.

The EBU has also condemned harassment and abuse of artists competing in the show and said they form no part of the decision-making process. As it stands no performer has withdrawn from the contest.

More than 34,000 people have been killed, and over 77,000 have been injured in Gaza since the conflict began, according to Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry.

The second-semi finals

The run-through came ahead of the second semi-final this evening, which will choose the final 10 acts to go into the Grand Final.

Other acts taking part in the semi-final tonight include Norway’s Gate, San Marino’s band Megara, Switzerland’s Nemo and Danish entrant Saba, – all of whom called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the “safe return” of Israeli hostages in a joint statement in March.

The UK’s act, Olly Alexander, and Ireland’s Bambie Thug were also part of the joint statement. Both performed in the first semi-final on Tuesday and will be performing in the final.

The artists rejected calls from Palestinian groups to boycott the music contest, saying they “firmly believe in the unifying power of music”.

Golan, who has been performing since she was nine years old, left Israel when she was six to live in Russia with her family, but returned when she was 18.

She told ITV News she could not have asked “for a better year to be representing my country” earlier this week.

The Grand Final will see 26 countries battle it out on Saturday night.

Sky News will be in Malmo with updates, a live blog, and all the biggest news from the contest as it happens.

World

Club World Cup: FIFA threatened with legal action by players and leagues over new men’s competition

Published

8 hours ago

May 9, 2024

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Club World Cup: FIFA threatened with legal action by players and leagues over new men's competition

FIFA has been warned of a threatened mass revolt and legal action by the world’s footballers and leagues over its new men’s Club World Cup amid welfare concerns.

A letter has been sent by global players’ union FIFPRO and the World Leagues Forum to FIFA president Gianni Infantino demanding the 32-team competition is not played as planned in June and July next year.

Chelsea and Manchester City have qualified for the event, lined up for the United States as part of Mr Infantino’s expansion of FIFA competitions. The union fears this has congested the calendar and endangered the health of players.

Sky News revealed in December concerns from players in England that they are being asked to play too many games with a threat of legal action against football authorities.

That has now been stepped up to the global level ahead of key FIFA meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, next week.

FIFPRO Acting General Secretary Stephane Burchkalter and WLA counterpart Jerome Perlemuter wrote to Mr Infantino last week to warn legal advice has been commissioned ahead of potential action against FIFA to force them to resolve concerns.

In a letter obtained by Sky News, they wrote: “We shall be compelled to advise our members on the options available to them, both individually and collectively, to proactively safeguard their interests.”

FIFA, the governing body for world football, has also expanded the World Cup for national teams – growing from 32 to 48 teams for the 2026 edition in North America.

The FIFPRO and WLF letter added: “FIFA has continually and consistently made unilateral decisions that benefit its own competitions and commercial interests, while negatively affecting national leagues and players.

“Over a significant period, FIFA has ignored repeated attempts by leagues and unions to engage on this issue.

They added: “As a result of FIFA’s recent strategy of expanding its own competitions, the calendar is now beyond saturation, to the point that national leagues are unable to properly organise their competitions, resulting in economic harm, whereas players are being pushed beyond their limits, with significant injury risks and impacts on their welfare and fundamental rights.

“Leagues and players cannot simply be expected to ‘adapt’ to FIFA’s decisions, which are driven by FIFA’s business strategy.

“We have reached the point where this situation must immediately be addressed both from a procedural and substantive perspective.”

The Club World Cup is set to be staged every four years, replacing the little-regarded annual seven-team event that City won the final version of in December.

After a three-team group stage, there will be another four matches up to the final.

The competition is taking the quadrennial slot used up to 2017 for the now-defunct, eight-country Confederations Cup that served as a World Cup test event.

Sky News has contacted FIFA for comment.

World

Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu vows his country will ‘stand alone’ if it has to after Biden’s weapons supply threat

Published

9 hours ago

May 9, 2024

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Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu vows his country will 'stand alone' if it has to after Biden's weapons supply threat

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel will “stand alone” if it has to, after the US threatened to stop sending some weapons to its ally.

The Israeli prime minister said “we shall fight with our fingernails” if needed “but we have much more than fingernails”.

“And with that strength of spirit, with God’s help, together we shall be victorious,” he added.

His remarks in a video statement came after US President Joe Biden vowed to halt offensive weapons supplies to Israel if it attacks the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Follow latest:
Updates on Israel-Hamas war

An unnamed Israeli operation earlier said Israel will press ahead with its operation in Rafah and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

And chief armed forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel’s military has the munitions it requires for the operations.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks and warplanes have bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, according to the same news agency.

Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad also said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks gathered on the eastern outskirts of the city.

Israel claims four battalions of Hamas fighters are hiding in Rafah, where the population has been swelled by hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge from bombardments elsewhere in the Palestinian territory.

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