Shaboozey Reacts to Five 2025 Grammy Nominations: ‘Now I Can Really Talk My Sh–!’
The 2024 breakout star reaped Grammy nominations across multiple genre fields. Read the Billboard interview.
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On Friday morning (Nov. 8), the Recording Academy unveiled their nominations for the 2025 Grammys — and Shaboozey, one of 2024’s biggest breakout stars, snagged five nods to add to his record-breaking year.
Shaboozey’s five nominations are across several genre fields, including three nods (best country song, best country solo performance and song of the year) for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” his historic, 16-week Billboard Hot 100-topping smash. The Virginia-bred star also earned a nod for best new artist, while “Spaghettii,” his genre-fusing collaboration with Beyoncé and Linda Martell, reaped a bid for best melodic rap performance. A David Guetta-helmed remix of “A Bar Song” also received a nomination for best remixed recording, though that category only honors the remixer, not the artist behind the original track.
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Over the course of 2024, Shaboozey has soared to staggering heights with his Americana-steeped, hip-hop-infused take on outlaw country. With “A Bar Song,” he became the first Black male artist to top the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts at the same time. “A Bar Song,” which cheekily interpolates J-Kwon‘s 2004 single “Tipsy,” has spent a whopping 16 weeks at the Hot 100’s apex, just three weeks shy of tying Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus‘ “Old Town Road” as the longest-running Hot 100 chart-topper of all time. In addition to “A Bar Song,” Shaboozey also earned two 2024 Hot 100 hits alongside Beyoncé: “Spaghettii” (No. 31, with Linda Martell) and “Sweet * Honey * Buckiin'” (No. 61). Early in its run, “A Bar Song” usurped Queen Bey’s “Texas Hold ’Em” atop Hot Country Songs, making the collaborators the first Black artists to earn back-to-back No. 1s in the chart’s nearly 70-year history.
With a boatload of Grammy nominations to cap off a life-changing year, Shaboozey — who’s currently in Lexington, Ky., assisting Jelly Roll on his Beautifully Broken tour — took a few minutes to speak with Billboard about his latest honors, how he’s celebrating and how this all impacts his approach to making music going forward.
Where were you when you first saw the nominations?
I was on the tour bus. I’m on the road with Jelly Roll right now. I was supposed to be playing basketball with him, but I think he was sleeping on another bus.
Who did you call first?
I probably FaceTimed Mike Trotter Jr. [from The War and Treaty] because he texted me first. He was congratulating me as a friend and mentor, he’s always been the best. Then I called my manager. I tried to call Jelly, but, like I said, I think he was sleeping. Then I called my mom and my brother. And then Abas [Pauti], my other manager. And then Teddy Swims called me! He was crying. I feel like he definitely got snubbed [for more nominations]. He’s just got one of the greatest voices, such a classic, timeless voice. Honestly, if he got nominated [more], it would’ve been the “Teddy Swims Appreciation Show”! [Laughs].
What do you normally do to celebrate with family and friends?
The last time I actually went to my house was probably in March, a couple of days before Cowboy Carter came out. It’s funny because I was at Tommy Richman’s birthday party. The [Cowboy Carter] announcement hadn’t even come out and I was just hanging. I haven’t really gotten the opportunity to slow down and celebrate. My mom has a birthday coming up early next year, so we’ll probably do a big birthday party for her.
Were there any surprises for you looking at the nominations?
I mean, The Beatles AI song. I was like, “OK… We’re doing this?” [Laughs] I felt like [record of the year] would have been a cool one to grab, but I’m super grateful for the six I did get. And that’s not even counting the ones we kind of have our name attached to, like Beyoncé’s [Cowboy Carter] record. It’s a big year for both of us, honestly.
You’re nominated across the general field, country and rap – what does it mean to see your name and work welcomed across genre lines?
It’s bittersweet for sure. There’s a tremendous amount of talent in the country space and there are so many well-written songs that I felt also deserved that look. Country music is not yearning for talent. The beautiful thing about country music — especially some of the people who have been doing it for such a long time – is that so many people could have been out in that category. I heard a song by Sam Barber and Avery Anna that’s so beautiful, Zach Bryan put out an amazing record, Zach Top too. I wish there was a way to showcase everybody, but that’s the nature of awards shows.
You and Beyoncé are now one step closer to potentially being the fifth and sixth Black artists to win a country Grammy. How do you begin to wrap your head around that?
It’s insane, especially to be doing it with someone like Beyoncé who’s such a legacy artist. It feels like I’m on the right track to do the same. I can finally cross this off my bucket list. I can say that I’m Grammy-nominated for the rest of my life. I really believe this is only the beginning.
I’ve learned so much just from doing the tour and doing these shows. Now, with more resources from the label, I feel like I can really get out there and start making music without pressure. A lot of people work to get a No. 1 song. Being able to knock that out at this point in my career, I can start focusing on making the music that really matters to me. Not to say the music I have done doesn’t matter, but I can really get into my artist bag. It’s gonna be really fun.
As you dig deeper into that “artist bag,” what does that look like for you?
Being able to collaborate more, the phone book just gets a little bigger as far as writers, producers and session players you can work with. And the time you can take. My whole project was mostly recorded in producers’ rooms. Some of it was done in Nashville, but most of it was done in my producer’s house in Van Nuys [California] – not the most scenic country landscape! Because of budget restrictions, we didn’t want to make something that would kill our pockets. Now, I have the opportunity to be like, “Do I want to go out to Montana for a couple of weeks? Or Nashville? Or Electric Lady?” Those things seem like more of a possibility, whereas before they were kind of just a dream or afterthought.
Have you gotten a chance to speak with your “Tipsy” co-writers and co-producers?
I talk to them every day. Sean Cook, one of my new producers, did most of the songs on my last project, Cowboys Live Forever, and Nevin [Sastry] did most of the stuff on the one before that, Lady Wrangler. They were the two producers on “A Bar Song,” so it was cool that I was able to connect one of my earliest friends with one of my recent collaborators and they hit it off so well. We all got this together. For them both to believe in me and see past the immediate gain and exposure and remain loyal and put in hours – and I’m really particular, so I be over-tweaking. For me, [I continue working on] albums for a while after they’re supposed to be turned in. Sometimes, producers can suffer from producer fatigue – but in those moments, we made “A Bar Song.”
I hope people learn from that. Don’t stop being creative, don’t stop believing in your ideas, and have people around you who are going to help and encourage you to explore your ideas and not kill them.
“A Bar Song” is two weeks away from tying the all-time record for most weeks atop the Hot 100. Are you guys gunning for it or just letting the song do what it does?
This is kind of crazy how much the song carried on its own. We don’t even do anything and it’s like, “Hey, you’re aiming for a 17th week now!” [Laughs] Some people will do a couple of different remixes or they’ll do the instrumental and the a cappella and all these different versions. We reached out to a lot of people trying to do a remix early on, but we couldn’t find something that made sense. For “A Bar Song” to still be doing what it’s doing is insane.
Other than “A Bar Song,” what song would you most want to perform at the Grammy telecast?
There’s the “Good News” record we’ve been teasing, that would be a cool one to perform at the Grammys – especially if it performs the way we expect it to and if it really resonates with people. But everybody wants to get tipsy right now! I got asked to come out at the World Series, and I had just did the Boston Celtics. We’re doing CMAs too. We’ve been telling people that we want to showcase and highlight other songs as well, and everyone’s been very receptive.
What do these Grammy nominations mean to the Shaboozey who first moved out to LA a decade ago to pursue music?
It’s just amazing. A dream come true. The Grammys are the pinnacle of music. It’s something you watch from the outside. There are songs about the Grammys, people talk about them all the time. I’m pretty sure I’ve been mentioning going to the Grammys or winning a Grammy since I was 17 years old. To now have another thing ticked off my bucket list is a blessing. The most exciting part about all this is being able to listen to your music and be like, “Damn, I’m not capping anymore. I really got that Grammy that I talked about in that song I made in 2014!” Manifestation, man. Now I can really talk my sh–!
It’s cool to see that there’s still hope out there for new artists. A lot of the nominated artists, we see those names every year. It’s cool to have new names there. I want to make sure this isn’t the last time my name is there.
How many shots are you taking to celebrate these nominations?
Oh man, we’ll see! When I see Jelly Roll tonight, it’s gonna be all love. We’ll get out there and have a great time. I be taking shots every day now, this whole tour has been one big party.
