R&B mainstay Babyface began the year nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 65th Grammy Awards for “Keeps On Fallin’,” a chart-topping collaboration with Ella Mai. The single was the lead single from Girls Night Out, an album released on Capitol Records that featured collaborations with women in R&B and hip-hop.
Girls Night Out just earned Babyface another Best R&B Album nomination at the 66th Grammy Awards, set to air in February 2024.
This new nomination marks the third time Babyface has been recognized in this category, which was introduced almost 30 years ago.
He was previously nominated in 1998 for his fourth album, The Day, and won the award in 2015 for Love, Marriage & Divorce, a duet album with Toni Braxton.
Rated R&B featured Girls Night Out among its 30 Best R&B Albums of 2022 list. The LP was released in October 2022 and contained additional guest appearances from Kehlani, Queen Naija, Muni Long, Ari Lennox, Sevyn Streeter and more.
All in all, Babyface was nominated for three awards in 2024, bringing his total career nominations to 53. One of his other new nods is his Best R&B Song nomination for co-writing SZA’s hit single “Snooze,” which is featured on her Grammy-nominated album SOS.
The song, which he co-wrote and co-produced with Leon Thomas, reached No. 1 on Mainstream Top 40 radio in October, marking her third chart-topper on this format.
With this latest nomination, Babyface extends his record for the most nominations for a songwriter in this category, with a total of 14. He has a track record of three wins dating back to 1993 when he won for Boyz II Men’s mega-hit “End of the Road.”
It is Babyface’s first Best R&B Song nomination since 2013 when he was nominated for his contribution to Anthony Hamilton’s single “Pray For Me.”
The song, which appears on Hamilton’s Back to Love album, topped Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart for three weeks, beginning Sept. 1, 2012.
Here’s a breakdown of Babyface’s wins and nominations in the Best R&B Songs category:
- Bobby Brown, “Don’t Be Cruel” (1989)
- Bobby Brown, “Every Little Step” (1990)
- Karyn White, “Superwoman,” (1990)
- Johnny Gill, “My, My, My” (1991)
- Boyz II Men, “End of the Road” (1993) [WIN]
- Tevin Campbell, “Can We Talk” (1994)
- Toni Braxton, “You Mean The World To Me” ( 1995)
- Babyface, “When Can I See You” (1995)
- Babyface, “I’ll Make Love To You” (!995) [WIN]
- TLC, “Red Light Special” (1996)
- Vanessa Williams, “You Can’t Run”(1996)
- Whitney Houston, “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” (1997) [WIN]
- Brandy, “Sittin’ Up In My Room” (1997)
- Toni Braxton, “You’re Makin’ Me High” (1997)
- Anthony Hamilton, “Pray For Me” (2013)
Also, Babyface returns to the Best Traditional R&B Performance category for the second consecutive year with “Simple,” another track from Girls Night Out, which features Coco Jones. This song is also a part of Jones’ Grammy-nominated album, What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe).
Additionally, Babyface is part of another newly Grammy-nominated project, Diddy’s The Love Album: Off The Grid. The song “Kim Porter” featured him along with John Legend.
Earlier this year, Babyface scored his sixth No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart with “As a Matter of Fact,” which was released in February.
After a 26-year wait, he finally achieved his first solo No. 1 hit with his latest release, his first for P Music Group.
“As a Matter of Fact,” which he wrote and co-produced with Tommy Brown, reigned for five weeks, making it one of the longest-running songs among male artists this year. It’s worth noting that his previous solo No. 1 hit was “Every Time I Close My Eyes” back in 1997.
The 2024 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Find out who else received nominations for the annual ceremony here.
Revisit Babyface’s Girls Night Out below.
