The 61st Annual GRAMMY awards are less than a month away. Need to catch up on the biggest hits of the year? Your Oakland Public Library is here to help, with nominated music available on hoopla and at the library.

hoopla is OPL's streaming music service. It also offers streaming video, ebooks, comics, and more — all with no holds ever. To sign up, you just need an email address, your library card number and library PIN. Patrons can check out eight items per month.

This crop of nominees is larger than in previous years: each of the "big four" general categories (Album, Record, and Song of the Year, along with Best New Artist) has expanded from five to eight nominees.

 

Kendrick Lamar / Black Panther: The Album (on hoopla and CD)

most nominations for an artist with eight

 

 

Brandi Carlile / By the Way, I Forgive You (on hoopla and CD)

most nominations for a female artist with six

 

A Star is Born / Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (on hoopla and CD)

Though this soundtrack came out too late to make the award cutoff, the single "Shallow" was released in time to earn four nominations.

 

For the first time since 1984, there are entries in the Album of the Year category that were never released on CD and are only available digitally (i.e. streaming or for download)... but don't worry, hoopla has it covered.

 

Cardi B / Invasion of Privacy

(on hoopla)

 

 

Last year, gender disparities at the Grammys were highlighted on Twitter by the hashtag #GrammysSoMale. Recording Academy President Neil Portnow then fanned the flames by suggesting that women need to "step up" to be better represented. Will he address gender directly in his final speech before leaving the position? Hard to predict, but the landscape has certainly shifted: five of the eight Album of the Year nominees are female, compared to just one last year.

Rounding out the rest of the nominations in the New Artist and Album/Record/Song of the Year categories:

 

Janelle Monae / Dirty Computer

(on hoopla and CD)

 

 

 

Kacey Musgraves / Golden Hour

(on hoopla and CD)

 

 

 

Drake / Scorpion

(on hoopla and CD)

 

 

 

Post Malone / Beerbongs and Bentleys

(on hoopla)

 

 

 

Bebe Rexha / Expectations

(on hoopla)

 

 

 

Dua Lipa / Dua Lipa

(on hoopla)

 

 

 

Ella Mai / Ella Mai

(on hoopla)

 

 

 

Greta Van Fleet / From the Fires

(on hoopla and CD)

 

 

 

Margo Price / All American Made

(on hoopla and CD)

  

  

 

Shawn Mendes / Illuminate

(on hoopla and CD)

 

 

Check out the full list of nominations, then look them up in our catalog or browse those available on hoopla. If you are new to hoopla, take a look at their Help page or call your friendly local librarian for assistance.

Happy listening, and may you discover something wonderful.