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 seemingly snubbed a family member during her speech.
Miley, 31, thanked her “mommy” Tish Cyrus, her sister Brandi Cryus and her “love” Maxx Morando, while taking home the award for her song “Flowers.” Fans were quick to notice that her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was not mentioned. In the past year, Miley appeared to be more supportive of her mom’s relationship with Dominic Purcell rather than Billy Ray’s marriage to Firerose, who is 27 years his junior. While Miley, Brandi and Trace Cyrus were at Tish and Purcell’s nuptials, their siblings Noah Cyrus and Braison Cyrus did not attend.
“Thank you all so much. This award is amazing. But I really hope that it does not change anything. Because my life was beautiful yesterday,” she said while on stage, giving special shout-outs to the song’s cowriters and producers, Thomas “Kid Harpoon” Hull, Michael Pollack, Brian Rajaratnam and Mark “Spike” Stent.
“Not everyone in the world will get a Grammy, but everyone in this world is spectacular. So please don’t think that this is important — Even though it’s very important, right, guys?” she added. “We are very excited. I want to thank everyone who is standing on the stage.”
Miley concluded with: “I don’t think I forgot anyone, but I might have forgotten underwear. Bye.”
The singer — who won Best Pop Solo Performance earlier in the night — 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’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.
Some of the tracks nominated for Record of the Year were also up 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 Bill.” 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 celebrates 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 group Boygenius) and Monét followed with seven nominations each. Swift, Eilish, Rodrigo, Miley and Batiste trailed with six each.
After the nominations were announced in November 2023, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. weighed in on the artists who were recognized.
“It’s really spectacular,” Mason Jr. told Billboard of SZA’s nods. “She obviously had a banner year. Extremely, hyper-creative project. She’s extremely talented. The music really resonated with our voters. I’m excited for her.”
Mason Jr. also pointed to Monét breaking into the top categories as a relatively unknown artist.
“She’s extremely talented. She will be somebody who will come out of this with a whole new audience. That is what is cool about it,” he said. “Sometimes the Academy celebrates these artists that no one knows about. I believe that to be a really cool feature of these awards and this process. People are going to learn about a great new artist and maybe even discover their favorite new artist.”
For the 2024 awards show, the Recording Academy narrowed the field of Record of the Year nominees 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 No. 9 and No. 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.]”
