How Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Tyler, the Creator Are Increasing Their Grammy Odds by Submitting in Rock, R&B and Pop Categories

The release of Beyoncé's eighth studio album, "Cowboy Carter," in February 2024, immediately sparked intense debate over its classification. Rather than a straightforward country project, the Houston-born superstar—whose 2016 visual album "Lemonade" is widely considered a landmark in popular culture—crafted a genre-spanning epic. This hybrid identity was formally acknowledged during the Grammy submission process, where eight tracks from the album were entered across a wide array of categories, including country, R&B, Americana, hip-hop, and pop.

This strategic blurring of musical lines is part of a larger transformation within the music industry, where rigid genre walls are being dismantled by increasingly eclectic listener tastes. Consequently, artists and their teams are adopting new, flexible approaches to awards season, treating category submissions like a game of musical chairs to maximize nomination potential. For instance, Tyler, the Creator released two albums this cycle—"Chromakopia" and "Don’t Tap the Glass"—which earned him submissions in both rap and pop. Similarly, Justin Bieber’s stylistically varied album "Swag" was entered in pop and R&B, refusing to be pigeonholed.

Even artists with firmly established genre identities are embracing this fluid strategy. Laufey, who earlier this year won a Grammy in a pop category, consistently defies easy classification. Her latest album, "A Matter of Time," was submitted in both jazz and pop, and she also appears in the American roots category for her collaboration on Role Model’s "The Longest Goodbye." Lady Gaga, renowned for her theatrical pop anthems, is similarly diversifying her bets, submitting songs from "Mayhem" across pop, dance, and rock categories. This reflects a deliberate and increasingly common response to an industry where genre boundaries have become highly porous.

Simon Tikhman, co-CEO and co-founder of The Core Entertainment, is a vocal proponent of this wide-net strategy. “Spread the net far and wide. Why not? It only helps the artists, it helps the DSPs,” he notes. He points to his client, country musician Bailey Zimmerman, whose hit “All the Way”—a duet with rapper BigXthaPlug—gained traction across pop, country, and rhythmic radio formats and was featured on influential Spotify playlists like Rap Caviar. Tikhman draws a compelling historical parallel: “I always say, are you Blockbuster or are you Netflix? Are you going to adapt to what’s going on and what’s in front of you? Or are you going to continue to tell people to come on a Friday night and rent a movie? You gotta adapt because I think the music industry is constantly changing and evolving, as it always has.”

A major catalyst for this shift is the powerful influence of streaming platforms and their algorithms, which can exponentially boost a song’s reach when it fits into multiple genre categories. Mikelle Schwartz, Executive VP of Marketing at Nice Life Recording Co.—home to artists like Lizzo, Tinashe, and the Marías—observes, “When you log into Spotify or Apple, there’s so many more genres that are just put in front of you at once. Ultimately, the algorithm is going to lead you towards discovering new artists because of what you’re listening to and because artists are involved in so many different genres. It’s almost like a choose-your-own-adventure.” Historically, genre classification has been a point of contention—Justin Bieber famously objected in 2020 when his album "Changes" was classified as pop rather than R&B—but such rigid distinctions are fading as the industry moves away from a one-size-fits-all mindset.

Beyond the obvious goal of accumulating more awards, what is the tangible benefit of multi-genre submissions? Schwartz argues it ultimately comes down to honoring artistic authenticity. “I think if it’s authentic to who you are as an artist, and those different genres are present in your music, you’d almost be remiss not to,” she explains. “Because it’s not acknowledging the work that you’ve put into your album and your baby.” This genre-fluid approach, therefore, is not merely about gaming the awards system; it is a genuine reflection of the complex, hybrid reality that defines contemporary music-making itself.