{"id":128339,"date":"2025-11-08T07:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/128339\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T07:48:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T07:48:14","slug":"leon-thomas-kehlani-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/128339\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Thomas, Kehlani & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter winning his first Grammy this year for best R&B song with SZA<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSnooze,\u201d Leon Thomas<\/a> could sweep almost every R&B category at the 68th annual Grammy Awards<\/a>, as the nominations were announced Friday morning (Nov. 7).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the continued success of his Billboard Hot 100<\/a> top 10 hit \u201cMutt\u201d has proven Thomas is no underdog anymore, its \u201cLive From NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk\u201d version is up for best R&B performance. (The original version was commercially released on Aug. 8, 2024, during the eligibility period for the 2025 Grammy Awards, and it was submitted for consideration then. Thomas released the 5-song Mutt (Live From NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk) EP on Aug. 15, 2025, which qualifies for next year\u2019s ceremony.) Its parent album, which shares the same title, is nominated for best R&B album, while its tracks \u201cVibes Don\u2019t Lie\u201d and \u201cYes It Is\u201d are up for best traditional R&B performance and best R&B song, respectively.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing Thomas, Durand Bernarr<\/a> has the second most nominations in the R&B field with three: best traditional R&B performance (\u201cHere We Are\u201d), best R&B song (\u201cOverqualified\u201d) and best progressive R&B album (Bloom). He only scored his first Grammy nod ever this year in the best progressive R&B album category. \u201cFolded,\u201d arguably the biggest song of Kehlani<\/a>\u2019s career to date, has earned her her first Hot 100 top 10 hit and No. 1 on Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs<\/a> and Hot R&B Songs<\/a> (charts dated Nov. 8), and now two Grammy nods for best R&B performance and best R&B song. While Kehlani has yet to win a Grammy, they\u2019re poised to take home the gold for the first time next year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not big [on letting] any award validate how great your art is. But it\u2019s nice when the system in place or the hierarchy of what you\u2019re doing in art recognizes that what you\u2019re doing is great,\u201d Kehlani told Billboard<\/a> earlier this year while reflecting on her debut commercial mixtape You Should Be Here, which earned the star her first Grammy nod 10 years ago for best urban contemporary album.<\/p>\n

\n\tLedisi<\/a> could snag her first best traditional R&B performance win in five years with \u201cLove You Too,\u201d the lead single from her 12th studio album The Crown, which is up for best R&B album. After the deluxe edition of 11:11 won best R&B album this year, Chris Brown<\/a> returns to the best R&B performance field one year later with \u201cIt Depends,\u201d featuring Bryson Tiller<\/a>, which is also up for best R&B song. This week, \u201cIt Depends\u201d rose to the No. 1 spot<\/a> on R&B\/Hip-Hop Airplay<\/a> and spends a fifth week atop Mainstream R&B\/Hip-Hop Airplay<\/a>. And one week before Summer Walker<\/a>\u2019s third studio album Finally Over It drops, its lead single \u201cHeart of a Woman\u201d earns two nomination for best R&B performance and best R&B song.<\/p>\n

\n\tFive years ago, Teyana Taylor<\/a> called out the Recording Academy<\/a> for the male-dominated best R&B album category after she dropped her third studio album The Album. \u201cY\u2019all was better off just saying best MALE R&B ALBUM cause all I see is d\u2013k in this category,\u201d she wrote on X<\/a>. Now, she\u2019s up for her first Grammy ever in this female-dominated category, with Escape Room coming alongside Ledisi with The Crown and Coco Jones<\/a> with her debut album Why Not More? Bilal<\/a>\u2019s first album in nine years, Adjust Brightness<\/a>, earns the dynamic singer\/songwriter\/musician his first Grammy in 10 years for best progressive R&B album. After their \u201cPeaches\u201d collaboration with Daniel Caesar scored Justin Bieber<\/a> and Giveon<\/a> a hefty sum of nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards, where both lost in every category they were up in, both could avenge themselves in the R&B field, as Bieber is up for best R&B performance (with \u201cYukon\u201d) for the first time since \u201cPeaches\u201d and Giveon is up for best R&B album (for Beloved) for the first time since Take Time scored a nod in 2021.<\/p>\n

\n\tU.K. R&B acts like kwn<\/a> and Odeal<\/a> have made a lot of noise from across the pond this year, but FLO<\/a> is the only one nominated for a Grammy next year, as the girl group earns its first nod for best progressive R&B album with its debut album Access All Areas. And after five songs from SZA<\/a>\u2019s blockbuster 2022 album SOS earned Grammy nods at the 2024 awards ceremony, where SZA was the most-nominated artist with nine total nods, one more is added to her collection: \u201cCrybaby,\u201d from the deluxe Lana edition of SOS, is up for best traditional R&B performance.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. welcomed The Weeknd<\/a> back with open arms during the ceremony earlier this year, where he performed<\/a> \u201cCry for Me\u201d and \u201cTimeless\u201d with Playboi Carti, Grammy voters did not. His repeat shut out includes \u201cBaptized in Fear\u201d from his sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow not being included in the best R&B song slate. Ravyn Lenae<\/a> also surprisingly received zero nominations despite her R&B\/pop crossover hit \u201cLove Me Not\u201d reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100 and, as Billboard\u2019s awards editor Paul Grein put it<\/a>, being \u201cplayed on every pop radio station in America every hour on the hour during the voting period.\u201d While \u201cLove Me Not\u201d competed in the pop field, \u201cLove Is Blind\u201d from the same Bird\u2019s Eye album was submitted for best R&B song, and received no love.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake<\/a> and PartyNextDoor<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSomebody Loves Me\u201d is nominated for best melodic rap performance, but its parent album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U isn\u2019t up for best progressive R&B album as some might\u2019ve expected. Mariah the Scientist<\/a>\u2019s breakthrough year isn\u2019t\u00a0captured by the 2026 nominations either, as \u201cBurning Blue,\u201d her first Hot 100 top 40 hit and first Rhythmic Airplay<\/a> chart-topper, is looked over for both best R&B performance and best R&B song, and its parent album Hearts Sold Separately, her highest-charting Billboard 200<\/a> album (No. 11), isn\u2019t up for best R&B album.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2026 Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, airing live on CBS and Paramount+ Premium at 8 p.m. ET\/5 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n


\n \"Billboard
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