Sam Smith is just the 10th artist in the GRAMMY Awards' 57-year history to receive nominations in all four of the General Field categories in the same year. His gospel-tinged ballad "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" is nominated for Record and Song Of The Year. (He co-wrote it with James Napier and William Phillips.) His debut album In The Lonely Hour is a finalist for Album Of The Year. And he's in the running for Best New Artist.

At 22, Smith is the second-youngest artist to achieve this feat. Only Mariah Carey, who was 20 at the time, was younger.

What's more, he's just the second male solo artist (following Christopher Cross) and just the second foreign-born artist (following fellow Brit Amy Winehouse) to be recognized in all four categories in the same year.

As you will see, seven of the 10 artists on this list are female solo artists; strong women who have exerted appreciable control over their music and image.

Here are the nine artists who previously achieved the feat. All won as Best New Artist unless otherwise noted.

Bobbie Gentry, 1967. Gentry, who was 23, was nominated for Album, Record and Song Of The Year, thanks to Ode To Billie Joe and its moody title track.

Christopher Cross, 1980. Cross, who was 29, took Record and Song Of The Year for "Sailing" and Album Of The Year for Christopher Cross. He's the only artist in GRAMMY history to win all four of these awards in one night. (Will Smith match that achievement? We'll find out on Feb. 8.)

Cyndi Lauper, 1984. Lauper, who was 31, was nominated for Album Of The Year for She's So Unusual, Record Of The Year for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and Song Of The Year for "Time After Time" (which she co-wrote with Rob Hyman).

Tracy Chapman, 1988. Chapman, who was 24, was nominated for Record and Song Of The Year for "Fast Car" and Album Of The Year for Tracy Chapman.

Mariah Carey, 1990. Carey was nominated for Album Of The Year for Mariah Carey and Record and Song Of The Year for "Vision Of Love" (which she co-wrote with Ben Margulies).

Paula Cole, 1997. Cole is the only artist to receive nominations in each the big four categories who was also nominated for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical. Cole, who was 29, was nominated for Record and Song Of The Year for "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" and Album Of The Year for This Fire.

India.Arie, 2001. India.Arie is the only artist to receive nominations in each of the big four categories who didn't win as Best New Artist. (She lost to Alicia Keys.) India.Arie, who was 26, was nominated for Album Of The Year for Acoustic Soul and Record and Song Of The Year for "Video" (which she co-wrote with Carlos "Six July" Broady, Reginald Harris and Shannon Sanders).

Amy Winehouse, 2007. Winehouse, who was 24, won Record and Song Of The Year for "Rehab" and was nominated for Album Of The Year for Back To Black.

Fun., 2012. The pop trio is the only group or duo to receive nominations in each of the big four categories. The members of Fun. (Jack Antonoff, Andrew Dost and Nate Ruess) won Song Of The Year for "We Are Young" (which they co-wrote with Jeff Bhasker). They were nominated for Record Of The Year for that smash (which featured Janelle Monáe) and Album Of The Year for Some Nights.

Here are five artists who just missed receiving nominations in all of the big four categories.

Carpenters, 1970. Karen and Richard Carpenter were nominated for Album and Record Of The Year for Close To You and its title track, but Paul Williams and Roger Nichols wrote their Song Of The Year contender, "We've Only Just Begun."

Sheryl Crow, 1994. Crow won Record Of The Year and was nominated for Song Of The Year for "All I Wanna Do" (which she co-wrote with David Baerwald, Bill Bottrell, Wyn Cooper, and Kevin Gilbert), but her album, Tuesday Night Music Club, wasn't eligible. It had been released in the previous eligibility year.

Alanis Morissette, 1995. Morissette won Album Of The Year for Jagged Little Pill and was nominated for Song Of The Year for "You Oughta Know" (which she co-wrote with Glen Ballard), but that album track wasn't eligible for Record Of The Year. Rules at the time barred tracks that weren't commercially available as singles from competing in that category.

Joan Osborne, 1995. Osborne was nominated for Album Of The Year for Relish and Record Of The Year for "One Of Us," but Eric Bazilian wrote that philosophical song, a Song Of The Year finalist. (Deep trivia: Bazilian is a member of the Hooters, as is Rob Hyman, the co-writer of Lauper's aforementioned hit.)

Norah Jones, 2002. Jones won Album Of The Year for Come Away With Me and Record Of The Year for "Don't Know Why," but Jesse Harris wrote that smoky ballad, which won Song Of The Year.

Paul Grein, a veteran music journalist and historian, is a regular contributor to Yahoo.com.

Before launching their own solo career, Sam Smith had already teased their pop prowess by guesting on two bonafide dance classics, Disclosure's deep house anthem "Latch" in 2012 and Naughty Boy's two-step garage throwback "La La La" in 2013. And upon debuting their own work in 2014 with In The Lonely Hour, Smith instantly cemented themselves as the master of the heartbreak ballad — and one of pop's new pioneers.

Self-described as the "diary from a lonely 21-year-old," the record was inspired by the love Smith felt toward an unnamed man which, it seems fair to say, wasn't exactly reciprocated. "I don't have that many sad things going on in my life and it was the only thing that was really affecting me last year," they explained to Digital Spy ahead of In The Lonely Hour's release. "So, it's my way of defining what is love, and how unrequited love is just as painful, just as powerful, as what we call 'normal' love." And audiences both in their homeland and across the pond immediately latched on to its overarching theme.

Largely produced by hitmaking extraordinaire Jimmy Napes (Clean Bandit, Mary J. Blige), In The Lonely Hour reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 on the Billboard 200, spawned five hit singles, and, in an era when the album format was commercially struggling, sold a remarkable 8.5 million copies across the globe. And alongside the chart success, the sold-out tours, and the four GRAMMY wins on the same night, the blockbuster LP also became a force for good, and a force for change, within the LGBTQIA+ community.

A decade on from its stateside release (June 17), we take a look at why In The Lonely Hour was such a landmark album for the music industry as a whole, but especially for a new queer generation.

It Made GRAMMY History

Smith famously put their foot in their mouth while picking up Best Original Song at the 2016 Academy Awards for Bond theme "Writing's On the Wall," wrongly declaring — much to Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black's disdain — that they were the first ever openly gay Oscar winner. However, the Brit can lay claim to being an LGBTQIA+ trailblazer at the GRAMMYs.

The year before his acceptance speech faux pas, Smith became the first member of the LGBTQIA+ community to win Best New Artist. The singer also won Best Pop Vocal Album for In the Lonely Hour, while "Stay With Me" was crowned both Record and Song Of The Year. (Eight years later, Smith then made history again as the first ever non-binary GRAMMY winner when their Kim Petras collaboration "Unholy" scooped Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2023.)

The use of pronouns has played a big part in Smith's career. And though they officially announced their they/them change in 2019, the singer refused to commit to a particular gender on their debut album. While In The Lonely Hour was based on their infatuation with an uninterested man, the Brit purposely left things ambiguous, as they explained to Fader at the time of its release.

"[It's] important to me that my music reaches everybody. I've made [it] so that it could be about anything and everybody — whether it's a guy, a female or a goat — and everybody can relate to that." This inclusive approach has also been adapted by several other artists, including singer/songwriter Bruno Major, whonoted how Smith's material "can be listened to by anybody of any sexuality and gender and still apply."

While Smith kept all pronouns neutral on record, they were far more specific when it came to In The Lonely Hour's visuals. In the tearjerking video for "Lay Me Down," a flashback shows the Brit getting hitched to their boyfriend in the same church where the latter is later laid to rest. Although gay marriage had been made legal in the UK a year prior to the video's 2015 release, it was still illegal for same-sex couples to wed within the Church of England.

In a Facebook message posted to coincide with its premiere, Smith said, "This video shows my dreams that one day gay men and women and transgendered men and women all over the world, like all our straight families and friends, will be able to get married under any roof, in any city, in any town, in any village, in any country." Smith later performed the album's biggest hit, "Stay With Me," in front of President Joe Biden at the 2022 signing of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Before Smith came along, the modern heartbreak ballad — the kind of emotionally devastating anthem that can reduce an entire stadium crowd to a blubbering wreck — had typically been the domain of heterosexual/cis-identifying artists such as Adele and Ed Sheeran.

However, thanks to radio-friendly chart hits such as "Lay Me Down," "Stay With Me," and "I'm Not The Only One," In The Lonely Hour proved mainstream audiences, no matter their sexual orientation or gender, could be equally moved by candid tales of queer love. Smith's lyrical themes may have been specific to their own situation, but they could just as easily be interpreted on a universal level. Soon after, LGBTQIA+ singers such as "Britain's Got Talent" graduate Calum Scott and Eurovision Song Contest winner Duncan Laurence were mining a similar tragi-romantic path to hugely commercial effect.

The tactile way Smith addressed their unrequited love — not to mention, how much it was embraced by the mainstream — meant that In The Lonely Hour wasn't considered an explicitly LGBTQIA+ album at the time. Yet, the singer insists they were deliberately trying to challenge notions of gender, sexuality and masculinity.

Speaking to Out five years after the album's release, Smith revealed it was, in fact, partly influenced by one of the all-time gay icons. "I'm in a suit and in that suit, I was channeling Judy Garland. I look back on those videos of me when I was 20, and I see a feminine energy." They further explained they were surprised when the record wasn't initially interpreted as intended. But thanks to Smith's non-binary journey, the album's inherent queerness has unarguably now become more apparent.

Smith confirmed they were gay in the same week In The Lonely Hour hit the shelves, acknowledging the record was "about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn't love me back." And the matter-of-fact way they spoke about their sexuality inspired several other artists to follow suit.

In 2017, Troye Sivan cited Smith as a role model for coming out without making any grand gestures. Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander has also applauded his fellow Brit for refusing to hide their true identity. Even some of Smith's collaborators, including Petras and Cat Burns, have touted the singer's self-assurance.

Indeed, while artists in less enlightened times often felt compelled to keep their sexuality under wraps, Smith has been able to express their true self from the outset. As a result, a generation of artists have seen that queerness needn't be a barrier to commercial success — and that celebrating it can change culture in a powerful way.

Listen To GRAMMY.com's 2024 Pride Month Playlist Of Rising LGBTQIA+ Artists

Those pre-summer Fridays just keep rolling on. With each release day, the music community fills our hard drives, playlists and record shelves with more aural goodness.

Granted, to wrangle it all in one place is impossible — but GRAMMY.com can provide a healthy cross-section of what's out there. From here, venture forth into new releases by Luke Combs (Fathers & Sons), Normani (Dopamine), Moneybagg Yo (Speak Now), Jelly Roll ("I Am Not Okay"), and more.

For now, here are nine new songs or albums to explore.

After previously released single "Please Don't Fall in Love With Me," Khalid is back with another luminous ode to romantic disconnection, where he calls for healing amid broken ties.

"Thousand miles apart and you're still in my heart/ Can we take it back?" Khalid pleads in the hook. "I'm waiting at the start/ Fly me to the moon and now I'm seeing stars when we touch."

Khalid hasn't released a full-length album since 2019's Free Spirit. But he's been teasing a new project for a minute: two weeks ago, he shared an Instagram carousel with the caption "5 years later. Here we go again." And the yearning "Adore U" certainly sets the tone for what's to come in Khalid's world.

TWICE's NAYEON is shifting gears towards her highly anticipated solo comeback with the release of NA, a project that spans pop, dance, and more. The follow-up to her debut solo album, 2022's IM NAYEON, NA provides a glimpse into the TWICE member's transition from being daunted by a solo career to finding comfort in the act.

One highlight is the shimmering "Butterflies," which NAYEON described to Rolling Stone as "one of my favorite songs" yet "one of the harder ones to record, actually." Another is the brassy "Magic," which she calls "a very self-confident song." All in all, NA winningly cements NAYEON's identity — irrespective of her main gig.

In light of its 25-year anniversary, Mariah Carey revisits her iconic 1999 album, Rainbow, which featured collaborations with fellow household names like Jay-Z, USHER, and Missy Elliott. The new anniversary edition boasts a plethora of remastered and remixed tracks — a treasure trove for Carey acolytes.

One new track is "Rainbow's End," produced by David Morales; Carey described it as "a hopeful ending to an emotional roller-coaster ride." Elsewhere, there's "There For Me," a love letter to her fans that didn't make the album; a new remix of "How Much" by Jermaine Dupri, and some intriguing live recordings and a cappella tracks.

Since at least their debut album, 2018's I Want to Die in New Orleans, rap duo $UICIDEBOY$ have expertly cataloged the bugs beneath the rock of the human experience: addiction, depression, the whole nine yards. New World Depression is a further distillation of their beautifully filthy aesthetic and worldview.

In highlights like "Misery in Waking Hours" and "Transgressions," MCs $crim and Ruby da Cherry's chroniclings of misery are barer than ever: "Hurts too much to give a f— / Demoralized, always lying, telling people I'll be fine," they rap. Who hasn't felt like this, at one point or another?

At 82, Velvet Underground violist, multi-instrumentalist and co-founder John Cale is still a tinkerer, a ponderer, an artist in flux rather than stasis. In 2023, when GRAMMY.com asked when he felt he came into his own as an improviser, he immediately replied "Last year."

That interview was centered around that year's solo album, Mercy, another gem in a solo discography full of them. Now, he's already back with a follow-up, POPtical Illusion.

While POPtical Illusion maintains its predecessors' foreboding, topical nature — and then some — tracks like "Laughing in My Sleep" and "Funkball the Brewster" couch these morose topics in a more playful, irreverent aural palette.

The Twisters soundtrack continues to be a whirlwind of great tunes. The latest dispatch is Tanner Adell's "Too Easy," a country-pop dance floor banger — its video even featuring a performance by dance troupe the PBR Nashville Buckle Bunnies.

"Too Easy" is the fourth song to be released from the Twisters soundtrack, following Tucker Wetmore's "Already Had It," Megan Moroney's "Never Left Me," Bailey Zimmerman's "Hell or High Water," and Luke Combs' "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma." The full album — which features a hoard of country stars, including Lainey Wilson, Thomas Rhett, Tyler Childers and more — will be available on July 19 when the movie hits theaters.

We've clearly caught Ghanian Afropop star Stonebwoy in a jubilant mood. In a teaser for his new song, "Your Body," the singer born Livingstone Satekia undulates on a saturated, red-and-blue backdrop, foreshadowing the sticky summer days we'll spend jamming the tune.

And the full song certainly doesn't disappoint. Interweaving strains of pop, R&B and reggae, with Stonebwoy deftly switching between singing and rapping, "Your Body" will get your body moving.

Rapper Toosii last teased his upcoming eighth mixtape, JADED, with "Suffice," its lead single released back in November. In the interim, he's been "locked in perfecting a new look a new sound new everything!" as he shared in an Instagram reel. "I just hope you're ready," he added with star and smile emojis.

Said teaser pointed toward a melancholic, weighty ballad, which ended up being the next release from JADED, "Where You Been." Riding a multidimensional, brain-flipping beat, the song is an immersive, thoughtful banger not to be missed.

The latest Star Wars show on Disney+, "The Acolyte," is getting rave reviews — and three-time GRAMMY winner Victoria Monét is now part of its musical universe. She's contributed an original song, "Power of Two," to the end credits of the Lucasfilm series.

Over an ethereal, melancholic beat, the lyrics detail emotions ripe for either terra firma or a galaxy far, far away: "You thought your soul was a necklace/ That you could wear and take off/ That you could rip and break off/ That you could trade in the dark/ But you're mine."

Bring these killer tunes straight into your weekend — and keep checking GRAMMY.com for more brand-new New Music Friday lists!

Victoria Monét's Evolution: How The "On My Mama" Singer Transitioned From Hit Songwriter To Best New Artist Nominee

Years before she was dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" or became the recipient of the Recording Academy's Global Impact Award, Mariah Carey was making a name for herself with R&B earworms and impressive vocal range.

Released 34 years ago today, the New-York native's self-titled debut album featured a tasteful mix of slower, emotional ballads and upbeat anthems. Mariah Carey's lead single, "Vision of Love," offered listeners a first taste of her infamous whistle register and incredible range — it also caught the ear of Academy voters. 

Carey was nominated in five categories at the 1991 GRAMMYs, and took home golden gramophones for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The album broke chart records, established Carey as a household name, and ultimately paved the way for her illustrious career.

"It seems like everything I did in the first year that I came out with my first album is like a blur because everything happened so fast for me and I never had the chance to sit down and go 'Wow, this is actually happening,'" Carey recalled in an interview with MTV. "I just, like, went straight ahead." 

The success of Mariah Carey was a mix of fate, talent and perseverance. In 1988, a teenage Carey left her family home in Long Island to pursue a music career. She brought with her a four-song demo tape made during her high school years with songwriter/producer Ben Marguiles (who also co-wrote Mariah Carey with several other writers). She continued to shape up the demo tape as she worked multiple jobs, and eventually crossed paths with Latin GRAMMY winner Brenda K. Starr. 

Read more: Songbook: How Mariah Carey Became The Songbird Supreme, From Her Unmistakable Range To Genre-Melding Prowess 

Carey found herself singing back-up vocals for the artist at live performances, and caught Starr's attention with her astonishing voice. Recognizing her exceptional talent, Starr played a pivotal role in launching Carey's career to new heights.  

"I really didn't want to do it, but I said it's gotta be better than what I'm doing now," Carey confessed of the audition in Chris Nickson's book, Mariah Carey Revisited: Her Story. "So I went to the audition, and Brenda was such a great person." 

Eventually, Starr brought Carey along to an industry party, where she was able to get her demo tapes into the hands of Tommy Mottola, the then-president of Columbia Records. With stars in his eyes, Mottola listened to the tape and quickly signed Carey to the label. 

Upon the album's release, critics overwhelmingly praised 20-year-old Carey's vocal prowess, noting how her debut set a new standard that raised expectations for artists across various genres to follow. The New York Times noted that the release came with "more fanfare and promotional hoopla than [Columbia Records] has bestowed on a new young talent in years." The paper continued to lavish praise on Carey's "pop-gospel voice that is impressive in its power and range and that has elaborate vocal embellishments strikingly reminiscent of Whitney Houston's." 

The album featured a whopping four Hot 100 chart-toppers: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," and "I Don't Wanna Cry." The album itself spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 — Carey's lengthiest No. 1 to date. 

Read more: Here's What Happened At The Black Music Collective’s Recording Academy Honors 2024 GRAMMY Event Celebrating Mariah Carey & Lenny Kravitz

Twenty-four years and 15 studio albums later, Mariah Carey transcends time. The album not only serves as representation of Carey’s unwavering determination, but a formative piece of art that jump started a truly spectacular career. While the five-time GRAMMY winner is duly given her flowers for her complex and sprawling catalog, an equal sized bouquet should be laid at the feet of her debut album, which remains a timeless paragon for R&B artists to draw inspiration from. 

Black Sounds Beautiful: How Mariah Carey Went From Feeling Out Of Place To One Of The Bestselling Woman Artists Of All Time 

LGBTQ+ artists have long shaped the music industry and culture at large, offering audiences a glimpse into their unique lives, shared experiences and so much more.

Queer artists are foundational to American music; Released in 1935, Lucille Bogan’s “B.D. Woman’s Blues” was one of the first lesbian blues songs — and wouldn’t be the last. Fellow blues singers Gladys Bently, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith also sang about same-sex love (thinly veiled or otherwise). On opposite ends of the 1970s musical spectrum, disco (itself a queer artform) and punk musicians explored gender identity in song and performance —  defying conventional gender norms at the time. Gender fluidity became part of the culture during the '80s, with genre-bending artists such as David Bowie and Boy George leading the charge. 

In the decades since,  a spectrum of LGBTQIA+ artists is opening up —  and creating work about — their sexual and gender identities. Queer artists are also being recognized for their contributions to global culture. In 1999, six-time GRAMMY winner Elton John became the first gay man to receive the GRAMMY Legend Award. 

Read more: The Evolution Of The Queer Anthem: From Judy Garland To Lady Gaga & Lil Nas X

The GRAMMY Awards have become more inclusive of the queer community. In 2012, the Music's Biggest Night became the first major awards show to remove gendered categories. In 2014, Queen Latifah officiated a mass wedding of straight and gay couples during Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love” performance, which included gay icon Madonna performing her “Open Your Heart.” In 2022, Brazilian singer/songwriter Liniker became the first trans artist to win a Latin GRAMMY. Just three months later, Sam Smith and Kim Petras became the first nonbinary and trans artists, respectively, to win a GRAMMY Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performances for their collaboration, “Unholy.” The 2024 GRAMMYs marked a record high for queer women winning major awards: Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Victoria Monét, and boygenuis all took home golden gramophones in the Big Six Categories. 

As queer artists continue to command attention across genres and get their flowers on the global stage, a new class of LGBTQIA+ artists is emerging into the scene. These artists are both following in the steps of established acts by sharing their experiences through their music, and creating work that is unique to their lives and time. 

In celebration of Pride Month 2024, GRAMMY.com has put together a playlist of rising artists across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, whose sound commands you to live out loud.