Black Pumas‘ “More Than a Love Song” is nominated for Best Rock Performance at Sunday’s Grammys. It’s a fitting category for the track to be up for, since it was heavily influenced by the duo’s live show.
Speaking with ABC Audio, guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada shares that he and bandmate Eric Burton got to experiment with “More Than a Love Song” in concert before they recorded it for their 2023 sophomore album, Chronicles of a Diamond.
“When we start playing a song live, they kinda morph and take on another form,” Quesada explains. “They kinda have a life of their own and really just take off.”
“Every night, things just change a little bit, and it’s based on the reaction of an audience,” he adds. “If we feel like, ‘Oh, they’re liking that part,’ then that part suddenly becomes more of a focal point.”
Black Pumas have been nominated for several Grammys previously, including Record of the Year for their breakout single “Colors” and Album of the Year for the deluxe edition of their 2019 self-titled debut. All of that success was certainly “a little bit of a surprise” for Quesada.
“I knew [‘Colors’] was a special song, but, I mean, a lot like everything else with the album, it just exceeded our expectations,” Quesada says. “I didn’t realize it would be so universally acclaimed like that. I didn’t realize it would work across so many different styles of music and genres and parts of the world and everything.”
The 2024 Best Rock Performance nominees also include Foo Fighters‘ “Rescued,” Arctic Monkey‘s “Sculptures of Anything Goes,” boygenius‘ “Not Strong Enough” and Metallica‘s “Lux Æterna.”
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