For the 58th annual Grammy awards, several artists stood out, nabbing several award categories. Leading the pack is hip-hop artists/rapper, Kendrick Lamar.

Lamar topped all categories with 11 nominations. Pop singer Taylor Swift earned seven nominations, as did R&B artists The Weeknd.

Junior Anais Cabello said, “Lamar is one of my favorite rappers because his lyrics are deep and have meaning. I’m glad he is getting so much recognition.”

The nominees for album of the year are: “1989” (Swift), “Beauty Behind the Madness” (The Weeknd), “To Pimp a Butterfly” (Lamar), “Sound + Color” (Alabama Shakes) and “Traveller” (Chris Stapleton).

Cabello said, “Lamar has been around for a while and I have always been a big fan of his music and style.”

The nominees for record of the year are “Blank Space” (Swift), “Uptown Funk!” (Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars), “Thinking Out Loud” (Ed Sheeran), “Can’t Feel My Face” (the Weeknd) and “Really Love” (D’Angelo and the Vanguard).

The nominees for song of the year(the songwriter award) are “Thinking Out Loud,” “Blank Space,” “Alright” (performed by Lamar), “Girl Crush” (performed by Little Big Town) and “See You Again” (performed by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth).

Junior Sarah Sotropa said, “I am surprised that artists such as Drake have not been nominated because his music has been really popular this year.”
The nominees for best new artist are Sam Hunt, Meghan Trainor, James Bay, Tori Kelly and Courtney Barnett.

At last year’s Grammy awards, Lamar pulled in 7 nominations but ended up with no wins. He was critically praised back then and has made a even bigger splash with his album, “To Pimp a Butterfly.”