Precursor: 64th Grammy Award Nominations (2021)

With the oddly formed eligibility window, the Grammy Awards often have little bearing on Oscar considerations, since they mostly go with prior year winners rather than future contenders. Still, compared to last year’s slate, this year’s is surprisingly heavy with 2021 Oscar-eligible films. There are four of six in the compilation soundtrack category, which has no Oscar bearing at all, but is included for completeness’ sake. For original score, there’s one 2021 release and the rest are either 2020 releases or TV programs. For the Grammy-equivalent of the Original Song category, the list is 50% TV selections with two of the remaining three from 2020, one of which was last year’s Best Original Song Oscar winner. Finally, the Music Film Category, which could best align with the Documentary Feature category, if the Academy nominated very many music-related productions. This is a little harder to reference since documentaries have different eligibility rules than other films, so even if I have it listed as 2020, it might qualify for this year (I’m thinking specifically of David Byrne’s American Utopia).

Nominations Tallies

(2) Inside, One Night in Miami, Respect

The Nominations

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

Cruella (2021)
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
In the Heights (2021)
One Night in Miami (2020)
Respect (2021)
Schimgadoon! Episode 1 (2021, TV)
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020)

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Bridgerton (2020, TV)
Dune (2021)
The Mandalorian Season 2 – Vol. 2 (Chapters 13-16) (2020, TV)
The Queen’s Gambit (2020, TV)
Soul (2020)

Best Song Written for Visual Media

Agatha All Along – WandaVision: Episode 7 (2021, TV)
All Eyes on Me (Inside) (2021, TV)
All I Know So Far – P!NK: All I Know So Far) (2021, TV)
Fight for You – Judas and the Black Messiah (2020)
Here I Am (Singing My Way Home – Respect (2021)
Speak Now – One Night in Miami (2020)

Best Music Film

Inside (2021, TV)
David Byrne’s American Utopia (2020)
Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (2021)
Music, Money, Madness…Jimi Hendrix in Maui (2020)
Summer of Soul (2021)