Qatar Resident Gayathri Karunakar Menon Nominated For 2025 Grammy Awards (Image: Instagram/karunakar.menon)
Gayathri Karunakar Menon, a Qatar resident and cousin of actress Aparna Balamurali has made headlines with her Grammy nomination as a songwriter and composer for her work on Zedd’s 2024 album “Telos“.
The album is up for “Album of the Year” at the 67th Grammy Awards which will take place on February 2, 2025, at the Arena in Los Angeles.
Gayathri co-wrote two songs on the album, “Out of Time” and “Tangerine Rays” which are available on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
These nominations fall under the “dance/electronic music” category. “Out of Time” was written with Zedd, Ava Brignol, and Bea Miller, while “Tangerine Rays” was created with Zedd, Bea Miller, Ellis Robert McKay Lawrie, and George Ku.
Her father, Karunakar Menon who is a business manager, singer and sports analyst shared the news on Instagram. Her mother, Bindu Karunakar is an entrepreneur, drama artist and cultural activist, while her sister, Gauri Karunakar Menon is a Grade IX student at Peepal Grove School.
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Gayathri’s collaboration with Zedd who is a renowned German music producer and DJ has earned her this prestigious nomination.
Zedd rose to fame with his 2012 single “Clarity“, featuring Foxes, which reached the top 10 in several countries and won him a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
This isn’t Gayathri’s first Grammy nomination; she was also nominated last year as a vocal collaborator in the “Shuruaat” album by Berklee Indian Ensemble in the global music album category.
A former student of Birla Public School in Doha, Gayathri completed her Grade X in 2015-2016 before moving to Peepal Grove School in Andhra Pradesh, India.
She later graduated with honours from Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2020, Gayathri won the “Songs for Social Change” contest conducted by Berklee, competing against 120 international music students.
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Her talent caught the attention of Grammy-winning record producer Rodney Jerkins, who signed her to an exclusive co-publishing deal as a songwriter alongside Universal Music Publishing Group in 2022. Jerkins, also known as “Darkchild”, has worked with legendary singers like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.
The final round of voting for the Grammy Awards will take place from December 12 to January 3, 2025, with the winners being determined by the Recording Academy’s voting members, comprising music creators, artists, producers, songwriters and engineers. The awards ceremony will be broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and streamed on Paramount+.
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