{"id":254968,"date":"2026-01-28T00:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:19:12","slug":"grammy-nominations-exclude-interpolated-songwriters-should-it-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254968\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy Nominations Exclude Interpolated Songwriters. Should It Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor about two weeks, Mike Chapman thought he had a Grammy nomination. A 1982 hit he co-wrote, Toni Basil<\/a>\u2019s \u201cMickey,\u201d landed in song of the year hopeful \u201cAPT.,\u201d a hit last year for Bruno Mars<\/a> and BLACKPINK<\/a>\u2019s Ros\u00e9<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was very happy, of course,\u201d says the prolific British songwriter. \u201cI love the record. It\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo days later, Chapman\u2019s publisher informed him that, while \u201cAPT.\u201d may have been up for a Grammy, he was not.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Led<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make me angry. It doesn\u2019t bother me,\u201d Chapman says from his London home. \u201cI gave up on the Grammys 40 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1979, Chapman and his collaborator, Nicky Chinn, wrote a song, \u201cKitty,\u201d for British power-pop band Racey. The duo then reworked it into \u201cMickey\u201d for Basil, a young singer who made it into an enduring smash. More than 40 years later, \u201cAPT.\u201d interpolated its nursery-rhyme chorus to the point that you can\u2019t hear the new song without getting \u201cMickey\u201d stuck in your head. \u201cI knew it was a huge hit the minute I heard it,\u201d Chinn recalls.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Chinn and Chapman authorized the use and are listed as two of the 12 songwriters in the \u201cAPT.\u201d credits, they are casualties of a strict Recording Academy rule. Because the \u201cMickey\u201d portion of \u201cAPT.\u201d is not, technically speaking, new, Chinn and Chapman are not eligible for the Grammy, despite receiving royalty payments as the creators of the song\u2019s central hook and feel.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe issue of songwriter credit doesn\u2019t come up much, as almost all Grammy categories reward the performer as opposed to the writer. When it does, the Recording Academy\u2019s rule about interpolating \u2014and sampling \u2014 is nuanced. Songs that contain interpolations and samples have been eligible in Grammy songwriting categories since a 2014 rule change<\/a>. Because song of the year is a songwriter category, the interpolation rule kicks in and leads to quirks like Mars and collaborators such as Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown <\/a>being listed as nominees, but not Chinn and Chapman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Shaboozey<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe issue may seem obscure, but it has come up more frequently in recent years, as interpolations have become more prominent in pop music. In addition to \u201cAPT.,\u201d Lady Gaga<\/a>\u2018s song of the year-nominated \u201cAbracadabra\u201d interpolates Siouxsie and the Banshees<\/a>\u2018 1981 hit \u201cSpellbound,\u201d and Doechii<\/a>\u2018s nominated \u201cAnxiety\u201d does the same with Gotye<\/a>\u2018s 2011 smash \u201cSomebody That I Used to Know,\u201d which itself sampled Brazilian composer Luis Bonf\u00e1\u2019s \u201960s instrumental \u201cSeville.\u201d Last year, Shaboozey<\/a>\u2018s song of the year nominee \u201cA Bar Song (Tipsy)\u201d interpolated J-Kwon<\/a>\u2018s 2004 hip-hop single \u201cTipsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJustin Shukat, partner and president of music publishing at Primary Wave Music, suggests the reason for the sudden prominence of interpolations has to do with TikTok and Instagram emphasizing familiar and easy-to-remember melodies. \u201cPeople consume content for under three seconds. What are you hitting, usually, in that time? The hook,\u201d he says. \u201cTo gain attention, you need to grab a consumer right away. What better way to do that [than] by putting James Brown<\/a>\u2018s \u2018I Feel Good\u2019 right in your face? People know that from the second they hear it. If you write a brand-new song, they don\u2019t know that. That is the change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDeborah Mance-Gardner, president of DMG Clearances, adds that sampling and interpolating have become a \u201chomage,\u201d and the kinds of artists who might be eligible for Grammy song of the year nominations are \u201crespectfully\u201d clearing source material and paying the original artists. Regarding the Grammys, she says, \u201cIt\u2019s sad they don\u2019t get the acknowledgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kendrick<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe Recording Academy\u2019s position on crediting interpolated works comes down to a simple argument: Song of the year is for new songs from this year, not older songs of yesteryear. \u201cHad I been a Grammy voter back then, I might have campaigned for \u2018Mickey,\u2019 because I love that song,\u201d says Evan Bogart, a songwriter and publisher who is co-chair of the academy\u2019s songwriters and composers wing. \u201cBut I\u2019m more sympathetic to the fact that \u2018Mickey\u2019 hasn\u2019t won a Grammy in its heyday, when that song came out as an original song in the first place.\u201d He adds: \u201cThe people creating those new works, the ones making those creative decisions in the studio, are what these awards are intended to honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Recording Academy could conceivably update the rule, according to Bogart, just as the Grammys once allowed samples and interpolations solely in the best rap song category before changing its policy in 2014. \u201cThere\u2019s an involved process,\u201d says Bogart, who serves as CEO of Seeker Music, a publisher and music-rights company that owns a stake in J-Kwon\u2019s original \u201cTipsy.\u201d \u201cThese things are diligently discussed by people all over the industry, who have many different points of view, debated ad nauseam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Amy Birnbaum, senior A&R and artist relations director for publisher Round Hill Music, the debate over Grammys and interpolations comes down to one name: Luis Bonf\u00e1. She says that by including Bonf\u00e1 \u2014 a bossa-nova pioneer who was born in Santa Cruz, Brazil, in 1922, and became an accomplished classical guitarist and composer of film soundtrack classics such as 1959\u2019s \u201cManh\u00e3 de Carnaval\u201d \u2014 as a song of the year nominee for \u201cAnxiety\u201d could help educate Doechii fans about his legacy. \u201cHe should be posthumously awarded a Grammy, and his family should be recognized with that honor,\u201d says Birnbaum, whose company represents Bonf\u00e1\u2019s catalog outside the U.S. \u201cThere is no reason Luis Bonf\u00e1 should not be recognized the way Doechii should. We want people to celebrate and honor the original copyright holders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Chapman, losing out on the nomination is more personal. \u201cIt\u2019s odd, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he says. \u201cThe people who gave you the inspiration in the first place are just struck off after the record is made.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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