The three members of Boygenius are not having to stretch to figure out a time and a place to celebrate the six Grammy nominations that came in for the band Friday morning. They’re booked for “Saturday Night Live” this weekend — and, live from New York, they shared their thoughts via Zoom about the big love that has come their way from the Recording Academy, even as they rehearse for a key TV appearance.
“I don’t know how to respond to it,” says Julien Baker. “It’s just happened. I’m overwhelmed”… but “stoked,” she finally affirms.
Phoebe Bridgers had a prep course in navigating the Grammys when, as a solo artist, she picked up four nods three years ago. She’s pleased about the increased numbers this year — not just in the higher amount of nominations, although there is that, but in that she gets to share the acknowledgement with bandmates Baker and Lucy Dacus.
“It’s triple the joy, right?” Bridgers asks aloud. “Yeah, much easier to feel happy for them. Much easier to feel, kind of,” she adds.
Bridgers can elaborate on that, looking back to the Grammys’ 2020-21 election cycle: “It was fucking COVID when I was nominated, and this is so much more celebratory. I was pretty traumatized last time, and the only way I felt it was on the phone. So it’s already way more fun, to find out in a room full of people and be celebrating.
“We play ‘SNL’ tomorrow, which I’m kind of nervous about. So it’s like, talk to us after the show,” Bridgers continues. “If it went fine, we’re happy.” Not that there could be a more affirmative moment. “It’s definitely like, ‘Yeah, ‘Oh, people like our band. We should go play and rock the way that people like. Yeah — ‘Do that thing people like.’ ‘Thank you! We will.’”
Did the “SNL” talent team show amazing foresight in signing the group up for the episode coming the day after Grammy nominations, knowing it’d feel like a “ripped from today’s headlines” booking? “I think they booked us because they think we’re great,” Dacus responds, dryly. (Good answer.)
Although they do wonder aloud about possible themes to the booking. “We filmed those promos yesterday with Timothée Chalamet,” Bridgers says, “and he was like, ‘I feel like the fourth Boygenius member,’ which is like… I feel like that’s a bisexual joke — like, that he would be in Boygenius?”
The group doesn’t want to tease too heavily what they might do on “SNL,” apart from be great, which will be good enough. “You should be excited,” says Bridgers. “I want you to write about it as someone surprised by it, because I’m curious what your take is. It’s not that crazy, but I think you’ll like it.”
In any case, it might not be smart to place any bets on anything as repetitive as, like, the members collectively smashing their guitars, in an echo of Bridgers’ famous 2021 solo performance on the show. “Hey, I tried,” she points out, alluding to the guitar’s own fighting spirit that night.
Boygenius is up for Grammys in six categories: album of the year and best alternative album, for “The Record”; record of the year, best rock performance and best rock song, for “Not Strong Enough”; and best alternative performance, for the ballad “Cool About It.” The “Record” album itself has a seventh nomination, for best engineered album. And Bridgers has a seventh nomination for her featured appearance on SZA’s “Ghost in the Machine,” in the pop duo/group performance category.
The Grammys will be telecast by CBS from L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 4. To read the full list of 2024 nominations, click here.
