The Best New Artists

There is something exciting about the best new artist award at the Grammys.It is, by its nature, celebrating the fresh and, sometimes, the novel.

Some of the nominees are sweetly green, while others have toiled for years without piercing the mainstream.All seem thrilled to be nominated.The award can be a kind of musical crystal ball, a hint at musicians who will come to flourish in the industry.

(Past winners include Sade, Alicia Keys and Adele.) And it is also a way for audiences to discover newer artists, like the jazz singer Samara Joy, whose 2023 win gave her career a boost.Each nominee tells us a story — about the past year in music and the direction of music more generally.So, here are three things to know about the category ahead of the ceremony tonight.BreakthroughsWhen, in years to come, people are asked about pop music in the 2020s, the names Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter are likely to come to mind.

So rapid was Roan’s rise that the venues her team booked the year before her tour could not accommodate her fans.And so ubiquitous was Sabrina Carpenter’s criminally catchy “Espresso” that it prompted conspiracy theories about the Spotify algorithm.Their successes were a long time coming: Carpenter, a former Disney child star, released her sixth album last year.

And Atlantic Records first signed Roan, 26, when she was just 17.There are many such cases in the best new artist category.

At least three other nominees — the British singer Raye, the country artist Shaboozey and the band Khruangbin — have been releasing music for a decade or more.A “breakthrough in public consciousness,” as the Recording Academy puts it in the eligibility requirements, appears to have little to do with how long someone has been making music.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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