The Grammy nominations were announced earlier this week, which means we’re officially in awards season. As usual, the gay artists turned in a great performance, coming in and picking up a ton of nominations, even in the biggest categories. This year’s top nominee was queer icon Beyonce, who scored nine of hers, bringing her to a total of 88 nominations, tying her husband Jay-Z for the most nominations in Grammy history. .
But beyond legends followed by the LGBTQI+ community, this year paid off very well for queer artists: Three of the Best New Artist nominees are LGBTQI+, and Kim Petras also earned her first Grammy nomination for her surprising performance. song with Sam Smith, Unholy, in the category of Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. “Omg I might be a tranny with a grammy,” he tweeted on nominations day. So if you want to know who we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for on February 5, 2023 when the 65th Grammy Awards take place in Los Angeles, read on for some of the most notable queer artists this year.
Omar Apollo
Starting our list of LGBTQI+ nominees we have one of the finalists in the Best New Artist category: Omar Apollo . Apollo sings his songs in English and Spanish and is still relatively new with only one officially released album. In an interview with Variety, Apollo addressed his membership in LGBTQ+ Generation Z, stating that “this generation of queer kids doesn’t want to label themselves, and I think that’s for the best… There’s no need for labels… Queer is, A good tag, in my opinion, if we’re going to tag it at all.”
Sam Smith and Kim Petras
The two LGBTQI+ singers have been rocking the world with their #1 hit Unholy , and now they’re set to make history at the 2023 Grammys. Their song will be up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. This will be Smith’s seventh Grammy nomination, while Petras will celebrate his first Grammy nomination at the ceremony. Even before that, Smith and Petras, who are non-binary and trans respectively, earned the accolade of being the first NB and trans artists to have a number one song in America.
In Kaytrana
Kaytranada, who has already won the Grammy twice, has another chance to win an award. The Canadian producer, who is openly gay, is up for Best Dance/Electronic Recording alongside HER for their joint cut Intimidated , though the trophy will likely go to Beyonce ‘s Break My Soul . Kaytranada already opted for three Grammys in 2021, including Best New Artist, and managed to sweep the dance/electronic fields.
Moonlight
Queer band Maneskin will bring Italian rock to the award show stage. They’ve won a handful of music awards in recent years, but this is their first Grammy nomination. They’re in the running for Best New Artist alongside a handful of other incredible emerging talents. For those keeping an eye out, bassist Victoria De Angelis identifies as bisexual and drummer Ethan Torchio calls himself “sexually free,” according to Attitude magazine .
The Bad Habit singer and former member of the music collective The Internet is openly bisexual and has earned four nominations this year. That hit single was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance; the album it is a part of, Gemini Rights, was also nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album.
Anitta
Although the Brazilian singer has had a decade of career in Brazil and around the world and has been nominated for the Latin Grammys, this year she is opting for the Best New Artist category. Plus, she’s loud and proudly bisexual, having graced the cover of Gay Times.
