Jon Batiste leads nomination field for 64th Grammy Awards

Batiste's sophomore studio album We Are is up for album of the year and best R&B album. "Freedom," housed on the project's track list, is nominated for record of the year and best music video.

Batiste, 35, is also nominated under the following categories, showcasing his range as a musician: best traditional R&B performance ("I Need You"), best improvised jazz solo ("Bigger Than Us"), best jazz instrumental album (Jazz Selections: Music From And Inspired By Soul), best American roots performance ("Cry"), best American roots song ("Cry"), best score soundtrack for visual media (Soul) and best contemporary classical composition (Batiste: Movement 11').

"My goodness, I’m so over the moon," Batiste told The New York Times. "We made this album throughout the pandemic and we had so many things going on. We recorded the soundtrack and the score for Soul during the pandemic. It was so much. You always put your blood, sweat and tears into the craft of making an album, but it was doubly so during that time."

Batiste became a prominent face during the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and has endured as a poignant voice in activism for social and racial justice. That is represented in the song "We Are," as he described to the NYT:

"'We Are' is a song that features my grandfather, who is an incredible activist. He’s somebody who grew up during the Memphis sanitation strike. He was a protester, he was somebody who basically fought for the rights for me to be able to be where I am today. And he’s on the record. The lyrics in that record reference all of the things that we were fighting to maintain during the protest for Black lives. So it was really just one of those things where I made the song, not knowing that the moment would come for the song before the album was finished."

Behind Batiste, Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. are each nominated for eight Grammys. Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo are next with seven nods each.

The 64th Grammy Awards are scheduled to broadcast live from the Staples Center (changing to Crypto.com Arena as of Christmas Day) in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2022, beginning at 8 p.m. EST.