Five Trojans took home a coveted gold statue at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. According to USC, 27 alumni, faculty and Creative Vanguard artists for the USC Thornton School of Music were nominated at the award show, which was held at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.
Alexander Lloyd Blake ’19 won a Grammy with his group Tonality, which was featured on the album “Nomadica” by Carla Patullo. “Nomadica” received “Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album.”
“It’s just an amazing feeling to be acknowledged by the Academy, and just to think about all the dreams that you have. Ten years ago, when I was at USC, thinking about winning a Grammy was such a far-off dream,” Blake said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “When you’re sitting in a room, and the album’s name is called, and you get to go up there with friends, it’s unbelievable.”
Blake, who received his first Grammy Award in 2024, encouraged USC students to find projects that inspired them to keep working.
“No dream is too big. I am living proof of that. Lean into the thing that gives you joy because that’s the fuel when life gets hard, when the life of making art gets hard,” Blake said. “If there’s something that calls to you, whether it’s defined or not, trust that there’s a reason why that passion is there, lean into that, and then I think it will take you places maybe that you might not have thought.”
Other USC awardees included Sara Gazarek ’04, who won her third Grammy with her quartet Säje, which was featured on the song “BIG FISH” by Nate Smith. “BIG FISH” received the Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.
USC alum Ludwig Göransson ’08 — who already received a Critics’ Choice Award & Golden Globe for his work on the film “Sinners” — continued his awards season sweep, taking home the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media and the Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. These were Göransson’s fifth and sixth Grammy wins.
Göransson met “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler while the two were students at USC. According to the Los Angeles Times, Göransson scored Coogler’s student film in 2009, and every Coogler film since.
Joe Poindexter, an adjunct professor of music industry at Thornton, said the opportunity for students to make these industry connections is what makes Thornton unique.
“We want to, first and foremost, make sure that everyone has a chance to determine what they do well, and then make sure that they know that that should be their focus in the time that they’re here,” Poindexter said. “They’ve used their time here at Thornton as a way of cultivating the relationships that you need and experiences that you need in order to continue to pursue that after you graduate.”
Raphael Saadiq, one of two inaugural Creative Vanguard artists who mentored students at Thornton with his musical expertise, performed “I Lied to You” from “Sinners” at the award ceremony.
Nate Sloan, professor of musicology at Thornton School of Music, said Thornton’s encouragement of diverse roles in music contributes to the school’s success in the music industry.
“A lot of these are behind-the-scenes awards: producer, songwriter, engineer, composer, arranger,” Sloan said. “And at Thornton, we recognize that some of the most important roles in the music industry are the ones that don’t get the headlines, but are the ones that lead to lasting careers.”
“And at Thornton, we recognize that some of the most important roles in the music industry are the ones that don’t get the headlines, but are the ones that lead to lasting careers.”
— Nate Sloan
Grant Gershon ’85 received the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for the album “Ortiz: Yanga.” Gershon worked as the chorus master. This was his second Grammy Award.
Additionally, Austin Wintory ’07 won Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for “Sword of the Sea,” for which he served as composer.
Three Thornton alumni also contributed to award-winning projects. Peter Lee Johnson ’13 wrote songs for “MUTT,” which won Best R&B Album, Noah Ehler ’22 worked as a producer on “GNX,” which won Best Rap Album, and Aron Forbes ’07 was a mixing engineer on “WILDFLOWER,” which won Song of the Year.
“There’s 100,000 songs a day that are released. So to be one of five or seven or eight songs that is nominated, you’ve already attached your name to something that is super meaningful,” Poindexter said. “But to win is a sense that never goes away. You can always say ‘I’m a Grammy Award winner,’ and there is meaning to that.”