Eight artists were nominated for Record of the Year at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4, but only Miley Cyrus walked away a winner – and apparently snubbed a family member during her speech.
Miley, 31, thanked her “mom” Tish Cyrusher sister Brandi Cryus and her “love” Maxx Morando, as she took home the award for her song “Flowers.” Fans quickly noticed that her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was not mentioned. Over the past year, Miley has seemed to become more supportive of her mother's relationship with her Dominic Purcell instead of Billy Ray's marriage to Fire rose, who is 27 years younger than him. While Miley, Brandi and Trace Cyrus were at the wedding of Tish and Purcell, their siblings Noah Cyrus And Braison Cyrus was not present.
“Thank you all so much. This award is amazing. But I really hope it doesn't change anything. Because my life was beautiful yesterday,” she said while standing on stage, giving special shout-outs to the co-writers and producers of the number: Thomas “Kid Harpoon” Hull, Michael Pollack, Brian Rajaratnam And Highlight the “Spike” stent.
“Not everyone in the world gets a Grammy, but everyone in this world is spectacular. So please don't think this is important – even though it is very important, right guys? she added. “We are very excited. I want to thank everyone who is on stage.”
Miley concluded with, “I don't think I forgot anyone, but maybe I forgot underwear. Bye.”
The singer – who won Best Pop Solo Performance earlier in the evening – competed against Jon Batiste's 'Worship', Boygenius' 'Not Strong Enough', Billie Eilish's 'What Was I Made For?', Victoria Monét's 'On My Mama,” Olivia Rodrigo's “Vampire,” Taylor Swift's “Anti-Hero” and SZA's “Kill Bill” in the category.
The singer competed against Jon Batiste'Worship', Boygenius' 'Not Strong Enough', Billie Eilish'What was I made for?', Victoria Monet'On My Mama', Olivia Rodrigo'Vampire', Taylor Swift'Anti-hero' and SZA'Kill Bill' in the category.
Some of the songs nominated for Record of the Year were also nominated for Song of the Year, including Miley's “Flowers,” Eilish's “What Was I Made For?”, Rodrigo's “Vampire,” Swift's “Anti-Hero” and SZA's “Kill Account.” Although the two categories often overlap, they recognize different achievements: Record of the Year honors the artists, producers and engineers who contribute to a specific recording, while Song of the Year honors the songwriters who compose a song.
Overall, SZA earned the most nods for the 66th annual ceremony, with nine. Phoebe Bridgers (one third of the Boygenius group) and Monét followed with seven nominations each. Swift, Eilish, Rodrigo, Miley and Batiste were each at the back with six.
After the nominations were announced in November 2023, Recording Academy became CEO Harvey Mason Jr. weighed on the artists who were recognized.
“It's really spectacular,” Mason Jr. said Billboard of SZA's nods. “She clearly had a great year. Extremely hypercreative project. She is extremely talented. The music really resonated with our voters. I'm excited for her.”
Mason Jr. also pointed out that Monét broke into the top categories as a relatively unknown artist.
“She is extremely talented. She will be someone who will come out of this with a whole new audience. That's the fun of it,” he says. “Sometimes the Academy celebrates these artists that no one knows about. I think that's a really cool feature of these awards and this process. People are going to meet a great new artist and maybe even discover their favorite new artist.”
For the 2024 awards ceremony, the Recording Academy has reduced the number of nominees for Record of the Year from 10 to eight. Mason Jr. “supported” the move as the organization tried to find the right number of nominees, but he hesitated to discover which songs finished at number 9 and number 10 in the voting process, eliminating them from the category.
“I don't want to torture myself,” he noted with a laugh. “I would be so frustrated [if they were records that would have been good to have.]”