the boston music awards The 2022 ballot is up and it’s awesome. But first, a few details: This year’s BMA party takes place on December 14 at Big Night Live, making the jump to North Station’s biggest venue after a few years at the more intimate Brighton Music Hall in Allston. There, the winners will be announced along with a large number of invited artists, which we assume will be announced in the coming weeks. While we wait, here’s who got a nomination on this year’s ballot – we think the biggest in BMA history, with a whopping 10 nominees across 41 categories, including some new Reggae/Ska Artist of the Year and Spoken Word Artist of the Year.
In the top categories, BIA, Boy Harsher (pictured), Millyz, Token, and Van Buren earned multiple nominations, and that Alternative/Indie Artist of the Year category is absolutely stacked from top to bottom. Hell, every category feels appropriately full this year.
On the home front, we are honored that vanyaland garnered a tenth consecutive nomination for Music Publication of the Year, and our editor-in-chief, Michael O’Connor Marotta, and music editor, Boston Victoria Wasylak, were nominated for Music Writer of the Year for the fifth time in a row, since the inception of the category (past contributors Candace McDuffie and Rob Duguay also earned nominations).
It’s always important to note: Since 2015, the BMAs have been owned and operated by our parent company Redefined, but nominees are brought together through an independent Nominating Committee of several hundred members within the Boston music community (writers , bookers, trendsetters, etc.), and the winners are decided by public voting. So don’t @ us.
Voting is now open at bostonmusicawards.com/vote.
2022 Boston Music Awards Ticket
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
BIA
toughest guy
charlotte sands
Converge
Cousin Stizz
Ezra Furman
Diving in the fairway of the lake
millyz
Symbolic
Van Buren Records
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
smooth amateur
LITTLE BOY
dino gala
ef see
going222 to jail
HAAWWS
where
little fuss
STEFAN THEV
Winkler
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR (over 1 million streams)
Boy Harsher – “The Runner (Original Soundtrack)”
Collapse – “Heavy Pendulum”
Charlotte Sands – “Love and Other Lies”
Converge: “Blood Moon: I”
Cousin Stizz – “Just For You”
Ezra Furman – “All of Us Calls”
Lake Street Drive – “Fun Machine: The Sequel”
Millyz – “White 5”
High Heights – “Juniors”
Token – “Pink is better”
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
CHYLD – “Be patient”
Eph See – “girl”
GA-20 – “Repression”
Hush Club – “Fingerprints and Smudges”
Kal Marks – “My Name Is Hell”
Lady Pills – “What I Want”
Mint green – “All girls go to heaven”
Rat Tally – “In My Car”
The Q-Tip Bandits – “Gloomy Flowers”
Van Buren Records – “DSM”
SONG OF THE YEAR (over 1 million views)
BIA – “LONDON with J. Cole”
Charlotte Sands – “Dress”
Cousin Stizz – “Blessings”
Joyner Lucas – “You are not crazy”
Lake Street Diving – “Nick Of Time”
Millyz – “Love/Hate with Gio Dee”
PVRIS – “My way”
Mature – “Settlement”
The Rare Occasions – “Notion”
Vundabar – “Time”
THE SONG OF THE YEAR
Dino Gala – “British”
Layzi- “Ego”
Rat Tally – “Spinning Wheel”
Rilla Force – “Feel”
shallow pools – “everything is fine”
Squirell Flower – “your love is a mess”
The Elovaters – “Gimme Love”
The Q-Tip Bandits – “Daisy”
Van Buren Records – “MISSING”
Winkler-“Mona”
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
BIA – “LONDON ft. J.Cole”
Boy Harsher – “Machina ft. Ms. BOAN – Mariana Saldaña”
Cousin Stizz – “Blessings”
Ezra Furman – “Forever in the twilight”
House of Harm – “Feel my heartbeat”
Maeko – “Looks good. 1″
Millyz – “Closure”
Padma – “I’m So Cool”
Token – “Boom with JID”
Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys – “GOTH BEACH”
LIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Sure
Cousin Stizz
Dalton and the bailiffs
dinosaur jr.
Diving in the fairway of the lake
oompa
Ripe
squirrel flower
The Q-Tip Bandits
Van Buren Records
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
born without bones
divine sweater
Ezra Furman
Future Teens
lady pills
squirrel flower
the rare occasions
heart of the valley
Vundabar
weakened friends
AMERICAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Amanda Adams
ash and eric
autumn hollow
erica shawl
Jake Swamp and Pine
Jesse deSilva
Lenny Lashley’s gang of one
American Session
the wolff sisters
town meeting
BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR
ali mcguirk
antonio geraci
Danielle Miraglia
GA-20
julie rhodes
Peter Parck
sonia rae-taylor
Tedeschi Truck Band
tokyo bums
Veronica Lewis
COUNTRY ARTIST OF THE YEAR
annie brobst
Chris Moreno
chris rodiger
Dalton and the bailiffs
Elizabeth Smith
Lauren Weintraub
matt york
Monica Rizzo
scarlet drive
Ward Hayden and the outliers
DANCE/ELECTRONIC ARTIST OF THE YEAR
amadeezy
toughest guy
casey desmond
to freeze
damage house
light foot
rilla strength
cheeky lady
Snow
Steve Darko
DJ OF THE YEAR
indigo baby
knife
DJ Papadon
DJ Royal P
dj siko
DJ Slick Vick
DJ Snax
DJ Stamz
DJ Towfu
SuperSmashBroz
FOLK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
smooth amateur
anjimile
Darlingside
heather maloney
Honeysuckle
silence club
Izzy Heltai
jesus the dinosaur
tall heights
The Ballroom Thieves
HIP-HOP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
BIA
Cousin Stizz
gio dee
lucas joyner
millyz
Neemz
oompa
termanology
Symbolic
Van Buren Records
JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR
elf club
Sofa
Grace Kelly
jerry bergonzi
Diving in the fairway of the lake
McCraven can handle it
really from
Terri Lyne Carrington
tim carman threesome
we broke the weather
LATIN ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Carlos Odria
virtuous elion
Fabiola Mendez
Manolo Mairena
child francis
partyconrami
son of my land
veronica oaks
Yelena Rodriguez
Zaira Pola
METAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
drink up
blood ray
surrender to
Converge
Higher
karate steve
Officer X
Revocation
SEA
Vaulted
POP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
charlotte sands
Sure
Justin Clancy
Layzi
PLRIS
Ripe
shallow pools
The Q-Tip Bandits
Yavin
zola simone
PUNK/HARDCORE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Actor|Observer
is already dead
you drink
Big D and the children’s table
Crescent Crest
duck and cover
Landowner
Linna’s garden
rebuilder
the chelsea curve
R&B ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Cyrus Deshields
Destiny Claymore
ef see
Eva Rawlings
khamari
Luke
My Compiled Thoughts
Notebook P
root
shy or
REGGAE/SKA ARTIST OF THE YEAR
buddha fly
crooked coast
dubbed apocalypse
greg roy
long arm rex
mighty mystic
naya rockers
Roots of creation
Soul Rebel Project
the elovateros
ROCK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Aaron and the Lord
dutch tulips
Kal Brands
creepy purple flowers
Green mint
paper tigers
Lot
Salem Wolves
the devil twins
we demand parachutes
SINGER-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
anjimile
Chris Walton
Grace Givertz
Jill McCracken
Liz bills and change
maeko
Naomi Westwater
mindless optimism
Susana Cattaneo
Tory Silver
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST OF THE YEAR
amanda shea
ashley rose
D Ruff
durane west
Education
Directed by Gibson
Porsha Olayiwola
tim room
toni bee
tony brown
VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Aaron Perrino (Aaron and the Lord)
ali mcguirk
smooth amateur
erica shawl
Gray Bouchard (Wolves of Salem)
Rachael Price (Lake Street Diving)
Robbie Wulfsohn (mature)
Theme stamp (sofa)
Tyler Gaccione (Gatch)
Ward Hayden (Ward Hayden and the Outliers)
SESSION MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Chris Anzalone
chuck ferreira
cody nilson
david brophy
Ed Valauskas
joe mc mahon
jonathan ulman
magen tracy
sam checkoway
tim room
LIVE MUSIC VENUE OF THE YEAR (1000+)
great night live
Boch Center Wang Theater
fenway park
house of the blues
Leading Bank Pavilion
MGM music room
roadrunner
real
Garden TD
palladium
LIVE MUSIC VENUE OF THE YEAR (over 250)
Brighton Music Theater
Boston City Winery
crystal ballroom
Middle East Down
ONCE at Boynton Yards
paradise rock club
Shalin Liu
sonia
sound check studios
the sinclair
LIVE MUSIC VENUE OF THE YEAR (LESS THAN 250)
atwoods tavern
passim club
faces
water lily
midway cafe
O’Brien’s Pub
the burren
The jungle
the rockwell
Toad
MUSIC PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
24 hour concerts
great nightly entertainment
Bowery Boston Presents
crossroads gifts
Get2TheGig Boston
gray skull reserve
illegally blind
Leedz Educational Entertainment
brag marketing
Vasjan presents
TALENT BUYER OF THE YEAR
aaron gray
Alex Pickert
Alex Rossiter
Blake Pantalena
Dustin Labbe
heather timmons
jose bhatti
joseph smith
justine faucher
ryan agate
PRODUCTION MANAGER / LIVE ENGINEER OF THE YEAR
brittany syrois
Chris Johnson
Filloon background
jared knows
jesse vengrove
johnny dalton
joseph sessler
joyce in
mike green
Reid Calkin
RECORDING STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Productions 37′
cybersound
God City Studio
Henley Row Studios
mad oak studios
New Alliance Audio
Phoenix Down Recording
The sound and stage bridge
the record company
woolly mammoth sound
STUDIO PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
benny grotto
Dan Nicklin
David Minham
Ethan Haze (Haze)
Janos Fulop (The Architype)
Jarvis Adams Jr. (Yah Yes God)
jon glass
Nick Papz
Sean McLaughlin
Tashim Zene Jr. (IamTash)
MUSIC PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
allston pudding
boston compass
boston problems
DigBoston
If it’s too strong
MusicBoxPete
boston sound
ARTery WBUR
The TV of the MUSEUM
vanyaland
MUSIC JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Amelia Mason
Candace McDuffie
Dillon Riley
harry gustafson
Jed Gottlieb
Michael O’Connor Marotta
Noah Shaffer
Rob Duguay
Victoria Wasylak
Victor Infante
LIVE MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Adam Parshall
Angel “Hal” Ocasio
well you are
Brent Goldman
brittany pink queen
Corwin Wickersham
emily garner
Greg Wong
Marika Belamarich
omari spears
MUSIC VIDEOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
ben proulx
Caroline Bailey
Colin Pagnoni
Connor Lenihan
Dom “Tanj” Bruno
jay hunt
Jimmy Del Ponte
reko lauren
Scott Sandonato
Yazi Ferrufino
MUSIC PODCAST/RADIO SHOW OF THE YEAR
Allston Pudding presents the Puddcast
Boston Broadcasts with Angelle Wood
Radio CWTFB
Everything you know is wrong in the state of Salem WMWM
radio
lust for life: boston
In town with Mikey Dee at WMFO
Original Music Showcase at Mark Skin Radio
Boston show and tell podcast
The Struggling Artist Podcast with Trev Allen