Lalah Hathaway has landed two nominations at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Her album Vantablack is up for Best R&B Album, while her Michael McDonald-assisted track “No Lie” is nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance.
“Listen, I got nominated again. I’m so thankful,” Hathaway exclusively tells Rated R&B in a video message. “I am honored to uphold the legacy of traditional rhythm and blues because, really, that’s what all of it is.”
Hathaway now has a total of 12 Grammy nominations, winning five awards thus far.
With Vantablack, Hathaway earns her third nod in the R&B Album category, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary at the next ceremony.
She previously won in 2017 for her Lalah Hathaway Live project, the first live album to achieve that honor. The album features her rendition of Anita Baker’s “Angel,” which was also awarded a Grammy.
Hathaway also received a nomination for her 2018 release, honestly, which included the top 20 R&B hit “i can’t wait.”
Noticeably, with “No Lie,” Hathaway tallies her fifth nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance. She now ties with Anthony Hamilton as the most-nominated artist in this category. She also extends her lead the most-nominated woman in this category.
Further, Hathaway and Beyoncé are the top winners for Best Traditional R&B, with Hathaway being the only one to be nominated and win consecutively.
Here is a listing of Lalah Hathaway’s Best Traditional R&B Performance nominations:
- “Jesus Children” with Robert Glasper Experiment with Malcolm-Jamal Warner (2015) — WINNER
- “Little Ghetto Boy” (2016) — WINNER
- “Angel” (2017) — WINNER
- “Made For Love,” with Charlie Wilson, (2019)
- “No Lie,” featuring Michael McDonald (2025)
Here is an overview of Anthony Hamilton’s Best Traditional R&B Performance nominations:
- “Comin’ From Where I’m From” (2004)
- “You’ve Got The Love I Need” (2009) — WINNER
- “Soul Music” (2010)
- “As” with Marsha Ambrosius (2014)
- “What I’m Feelin'” (2018)
Hathaway released Vantablack on June 14 via her Hathaway Entertainment imprint in partnership with SRG-ILS Group. The album consists of 16 tracks, including the singles “So In Love,” Mood For You” featuring MC Lyte and “I AM.”
About the album, Hathaway said, “Vantablack was always the name of the project. I started reframing how I saw color in terms of being the blackest I’ve ever been, and even though I’m steeped in who I am, it doesn’t exclude the other things that make up the sum of me. Similar to how all the music around me informs the Black music that I create. So it’s all a melting pot of all of me.”
The album’s lead single, “So In Love,” reached No. 11 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart.
Vantablack includes collaborations with WILLOW, Rapsody, Common, Gerald Albright, and Phonte, along with Michael McDonald and MC Lyte.
Hathaway supported the album with a nationwide tour from late August to late September.
In other news, Hathaway is featured on “Don’t Mean Much Anymore” from Louis York’s sophomore album, Songs With Friends. In an interview with Rated R&B, the duo discussed their collaboration with Hathaway.
“Lalah is brilliant,” Chuck Harmony said. “We’re not talking about toiling in the studio. We’re talking about an hour and a half of her just flat-foot singing. A lot of it is on the cutting room floor because the song could have been 20 minutes based on her ad-libs alone.”
Claude Kelly added, “As a singer, Lalah is the prototype.”
The 67th Grammy Awards airs live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, on CBS.
