The nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards got announced today. Leading the field is Kendrick Lamar, and Lady Gaga and producers Jack Antonoff and Cirkut trail closely behind. There are newcomers—such as Best New Artist nominees Addison Rae and Leon Thomas—and familiar faces, like Tyler, the Creator and Turnstile. Below, see a handful of takeaways from the nominations.
What Genres Are Tyler, the Creator and Turnstile?
When he won Best Rap Album, for Igor, at the 2020 Grammy Awards, Tyler, the Creator had some choice words for the Recording Academy. “It sucks that whenever we—and I mean guys that look like me—do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category,” he told a Rolling Stone reporter after accepting the trophy. ““When I hear that, I think ‘why can’t we just be in pop?’ Half of me feels like the rap nomination was a backhanded compliment.”
Five years later and Tyler’s wish has finally come true—kind of. In addition to several nods—including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album—for 2024’s Chromakopia, he’s up for Best Alternative Music Album, for Don’t Tap the Glass, his homage to the dance styles of the 1980s. It’s an odd fit for a record that has far more in common with Beyoncé’s Renaissance than it does, say, Wet Leg, and does seem to reflect a limited imagination on the part of Grammy voters. The implication is that a career rapper cannot make a dance album, only an album that is alternative to the other music he has made in his career, are thereby still defined by it.
Turnstile are another act stuck in genre purgatory. The Baltimore hardcore outfit has three songs from Never Enough nominated in three separate categories: Best Rock Performance (“Never Enough”), Best Alternative Music Performance (“Seein’ Stars”), and Best Metal Performance (“Birds”). (The full-length is also up for Best Rock Album!) In Turnstile’s case, though, the spread cements a popular embrace, even by the most entrenched establishment types, that began in earnest with 2021’s Glow On. The only question left is when the Police will be able to claim their retroactive Best Metal Album Grammy for Zenyatta Mondatta.
