Left-field Grammy contenders for Album of the Year: 3 dark horses to watch for

Many think that you need huge commercial success in order to get a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, with most of the contenders historically being chart-toppers with big hits. However, most years we get one or two left-field choices that, despite not necessarily being the biggest albums of the year, get in due to critical acclaim, industry passion, or pure name recognition. This year we have a little bit of everything contending for a nomination in the prestigious category, with some respected industry players giving the big pop stars a run for their money.

Arooj Aftab
If the name rings a bell to you, it’s probably due to her unexpected Best New Artist nomination at the 2022 Grammys. Aftab’s surprise success also came with a win: Best Global Music Performance for her track “Mohabbat.” Her nomination for Best New Artist was quite an impressive get for the Pakistani-American singer, considering that her music is mostly Sufi and perhaps not as accessible to most voting blocs. But given how she was able to attract voters then, it might be possible for her to do so again, but this time with an Album of the Year nom.

Aftab’s latest album, “Night Reign,” is one of the year’s most acclaimed, scoring an 89 on Metacritic. And with way more hype this year due to her continued audience-building, there may be more voters interested in her music than ever before. That could especially be true of alternative and jazz voters, who might appreciate Aftab’s style, as well as her base in the global field. It also helps that Aftab will be one of the first names on the alphabetical ballot, so she’s easily visible to voters.

Charli XCX
This year’s most acclaimed album is Charli XCX’s “Brat,” a fun yet introspective piece of electronica and dance that has captivated both critics and audiences. The album scored a 95 on Metacritic, becoming one of the top 20 highest-scoring albums ever on the aggregator. It has a few factors on its side at the Grammys. First and foremost, voters seem to be highly aware of acclaimed albums, with previous nominees like Boygenius’s “The Record” and Haim’s “Women in Music, Pt. III” getting a boost due to their substantial praise. Also important, Charli has been building a niche audience for years, and it seems like that audience might’ve exploded. “Brat” even debuted in the top three of the Billboard 200, with sales not that far off from the latest Dua Lipa and Doja Cat records.

Charli will also be helped by her likely appeal to academy members representing different genres. While “Brat” is undoubtedly a dance record, it is pop enough to likely captivate some of those voters too, and also avant garde enough to be consumed by alternative audiences. So it might be poised to finally give the star her big break at the Grammys after years of being ignored. To this day, her only career nominations were for a feature on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” almost a decade ago.

Gary Clark Jr.
Clark is one of the leading voices in the blues community right now, an eclectic singer-songwriter who delves into American roots, rock, and even some R&B. He is a four-time Grammy winner already, and someone the academy has quietly supported for years. His 2019 release “This Land” won him three trophies including Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, despite being up against that year’s Album of the Year nominees Vampire Weekend and Grammy favorite Brittany Howard. That shows that voters really, really like Clark, and that perhaps he would’ve surprised us with a general field nomination if there hadn’t been nomination review committees. This year, though, with no panels involved in the top categories, his new album “Jpeg Raw” might be his redemption story.

Clark has two factors on his side. First is his ample industry support; he’s a Grammy winner in the R&B, rock, and American roots fields. So this new album could also garner support from those constituencies, especially in a year when rock and R&B aren’t that crowded. Besides that, “Jpeg Raw” is acclaimed, earning an 82 on Metacritic. This means that a lot of voters who gravitate towards acclaimed records might be fans of this one, especially if they already know Clark’s work in general, which they probably do looking at his Grammy history.

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