by John Downey '23 on February 18, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Arts & Entertainment
Talia Rueda ’23
Nominations for the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards were released on Jan. 27. The nominees represent categories ranging from country music to dance music and constitute the most-listened-to artists and songs of the past year.
The awards ceremony itself will air live from the Shine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 22. Not only will the show highlight 2021’s iconic moments in music, but it will also offer music fans an exclusive look into what they can expect from their favorite artists in the coming year.
Notably, while the nominations have been released, many other details regarding the awards ceremony have yet to be announced, including the line-up of performers, which is one of the main reasons why fans tune into the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
This mystery surrounding the show’s production, however, effectively works to generate excitement about the ceremony among fans and in the media. Indeed, it prompts excited speculation about the possibilities of star-studded lineups and never-before-seen-collaborations.
Another fun aspect of the iHeartRadio Music Awards is that they allow music fans to focus on artists and projects that they may have forgotten about over the course of the previous year, given how many artists release new material throughout the 12 months since the last ceremony.
One category in which this is typically not the case, however, is song of the year. The artists nominated in this category are those whose tracks have consistently met with great critical and commercial success throughout the year and are certainly recognizable to any music fan. This year’s nominees are “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Easy On Me” by Adele, “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat featuring SZA, “Leave The Door Open” by Silk Sonic, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X, “Peaches” by Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon, “positions” by Ariana Grande, and “Stay” by The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber.
The iHeartRadio Music Awards are also exciting for music fans because of the wide range of categories in which artists can be nominated: no matter one’s taste in music, there is certain to be a category that they are excited for, especially since there are several categories whose winners are decided by viewers.
For example, one “socially voted category” recognizes America’s favorite TikTok song. This year’s nominations for the category are: “Beggin’” by Måneskin, “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Just For Me” by PinkPantheress, “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat featuring SZA, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X, “Stay” by The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber, “Thot Sh*t” by Megan Thee Stallion, “TWINNEM” by Coi Leray, “Up” by Cardi B, and “Woman” by Doja Cat.
Thus, while the iHeartRadio Music Awards recognize today’s most popular musicians and their moving works, they nominate and awards these musicians with the ordinary people listening to this music in mind, whether that be through the ceremony’s more traditional-style awards in which the organization itself recognizes the artists they believe best represented a certain musical genre to listeners or through the newer style of awards that allows listeners, themselves, to decide the best of the best.
For this reason, while the iHeartRadio Music Awards will only be holding its ninth award show this year, it is sure to solidify its place in the long tradition of music awards shows for years to come.