To celebrate the 2021 American Music Awards on Nov. 21, Wonderwall.com is taking a look at the supportive significant others of this year’s crop of nominees, starting with this icon’s love… Ariana Grande — who’s nominated for artist of the year, favorite female pop artist, favorite pop album and favorite pop song — is a newlywed! In May 2021, the “positions” singer married luxury real estate agent Dalton Gomez, to whom she was first romantically linked in February 2020.
Keep reading to learn more about other 2021 American Music Awards nominees’ significant others…
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If 2021 has proven anything, it’s that Olivia Rodrigo has become an unstoppable force in the music industry. At just 18, the “Sour” singer-songwriter has earned herself seven AMA nominations — the most for any artist this year. The “traitor” hitmaker is reportedly dating upcoming film and TV producer producer Adam Faze, whom she brought to the “Space Jam 2” premiere in July 2021. Their romance seemed to be confirmed after they were spotted kissing in Los Angeles a few days later (see the smooch here).
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It’s believed that Taylor Swift met her love, actor Joe Alwyn, at the 2016 Met Gala, and that they started dating later that year in the fall. Though deeply private, they’ve taken their romance a little more public over the last few years (like when they hit a BAFTAs afterparty hand-in-hand in 2019, seen here). In her 2020 documentary, “Miss Americana,” Taylor revealed she fell for Joe following the famous Kimye fiasco. “I felt alone, I felt really bitter,” she began. “I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything. I had to reconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life.” Joe — who’s starred in films like “The Favorite” and will next star on the series adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel “Conversations With Friends” — not only inspired tracks on Taylor’s two 2020 quarantine albums; he co-wrote the songs (under the pseudonym William Bowery) “betty” and “exile” on “folklore” too! At the 2021 AMAs, Taylor is up for three awards: artist of the year, favorite female pop artist and favorite pop album.
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Favorite female country artist nominee Kacey Musgraves — who split from husband Ruston Kelly in 2020 — has been in a relationship with poet and writer Cole Schafer since at least 2021. “He did not know who I was, which I loved,” Kacey revealed in an August profile in The New York Times. Cole took to Instagram just days before the article was published to celebrate Kacey’s 33rd birthday. “Here’s to you writing me back. Here’s to your jawline that chaps my lips and your hair I can’t keep my hands out of. Here’s to your aesthetic and your art being a close second to your heart. Here’s to you making it through thirty-two and here’s to you making history in thirty-three,” read part of his caption. “It’s been so damn pretty falling for you, Kacey.”
Dua Lipa and Anwar Hadid were first romantically linked in June 2019. “I’m very comfortable in the relationship, more so than any others,” Dua — who’s up for three AMAs in 2021 — told Rolling Stone in January 2021. “[We] wake up around 9:00, 9:30, shower, get dressed, have a bit of breakfast, take the dog out on a really nice long walk, maybe do some yoga, make some lunch, hang out, watch a movie, play with the animals.” Anwar has worked as a model like his supermodel sisters, Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid.
“Cold As You” crooner Luke Combs — who was named entertainer of the year at the 2021 CMA Awards in November — earned 2021 AMA nominations for favorite male country artist and favorite country song. He got to know Nicole Hocking during a singer-songwriter festival in Key West, Florida, in 2016, back when he was a struggling musician, and soon, they were in love. Luke married Nicole — a recruiting coordinator for the music publisher company BMI — in August 2020.
In January 2019, Ed Sheeran married Cherry Seaborn, whom he’s known since their school days in England! But the pair’s relationship didn’t turn romantic until many years later when they were adults. After earning a degree in cell biology at the U.K.’s Durham University, Cherry went to graduate school at Duke University, where she played field hockey and earned a master’s in management and business before moving to New York City, where she was working on Wall Street for accounting firm Deloitte (she’s a technology and digital risk manager). They reconnected in 2015 when Ed had a tour stop there and got together romantically when he invited her to pal Taylor Swift’s annual Fourth of July party in Rhode Island. Cherry has since become a major inspiration (and muse!) for Ed’s music. “Our actual wedding was a tiny, tiny event with basically no one there,” Ed said on the “Table Manners with Jessie Ware” podcast in 2021. “We did it at night on a random day in the middle of January in the middle of nowhere… No one knew, no one came to it. We lit candles, we got married, we went back [and] had a curry.” In September 2020, Ed and Cherry welcomed their first child, daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.
Bad Bunny, who earned five nominations at the 2021 AMAs including favorite male Latin artist and favorite Latin album, has long been off the market. The Puerto Rican rapper (real name: Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) has been romancing jewelry designer Gabriela Berlingeri — whom he met in Puerto Rico — since 2017. “Do people really think I’m spending quarantine alone?” Bad Bunny asked during a Rolling Stone interview in May 2020. “No! I am with someone, she is very special in my life. This quarantine has made me understand that she is the best companion I could have.” The pair made their red carpet debut at the 2021 Billboard Latin Music Awards (pictured).
We’re all pretty well-versed on Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox’s 2020 romance that’s continued to make headlines into 2021, right? Since the actress — who revealed her split from husband Brian Austin Green in 2020 — appeared in MGK’s “Bloody Valentine” music video in May that year, their relationship has only gotten more serious. “I knew right away that he was what I call a twin flame,” Megan revealed on the “Give Them Lala… With Randall” podcast. “Instead of a soul mate, a twin flame is actually where a soul has ascended into a high enough level that it can be split into two different bodies at the same time. So we’re actually two halves of the same soul, I think. And I said that to him almost immediately, because I felt it right away.” MGK (real name: Colson Baker) is up for favorite rock artist at the 2021 AMAs.
New artist of the year and favorite pop album nominee The Kid LAROI has been in a relationship with TiKTok sensation Katarina Deme since July 2020 after meeting her through mutual friends. “One year with you and I’m happier than ever, time flies kid,” he wrote on Instagram in celebration of their one-year anniversary.
Drake and Johanna Leia — a model and former reality TV star who appeared alongside her basketball prodigy child on the Chicago-based series “Bringing Up Ballers” — first made headlines when they were photographed together at one of her son Amari Bailey’s games in June 2021. In July, the “Certified Lover Boy” rapper — who’s up for artist of the year, favorite male pop artist, favorite male hip-hop artist and favorite hip-hop album — orchestrated an extravagant date night that saw them dining on the field at Dodger Stadium. There have been whispers, however, that she and the rapper are already over.
Anderson .Paak met wife Jaylyn Chang while she was a music student in South Korea. Anderson and Jaylyn, he explained in a 2016 interview on “The Breakfast Club,” have weathered difficulties together — including homelessness. “She’s the one who came from Korea, didn’t speak [any] English, she’s [the one who has] the [courage],” he said of his wife’s resilience. While Jaylyn prefers to keep a low profile, their son, Soul, appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2017 with his dad and in his 2018 music video for the track “Tints.” The family of three is seen here during a rare public outing at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Rosalía, who earned 2021 AMA nods for favorite female Latin artist and favorite Latin song, announced her relationship with boyfriend Rauw Alejandro on Instagram in September 2021. The “Linda” hitmaker posted a series of photos celebrating her birthday, including this one in which she’s seen lying on Rauw’s lap while he plays a video game. The Grammy nominee isn’t the only musically gifted one in their relationship — Rauw is a rapper, singer-songwriter and composer whose debut album, “Afrodisíasco,” dropped in 2020.
Maren Morris, who earned a 2021 AMA nod for favorite female country artist, married fellow singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd — whom she met during a songwriting session back in 2013 — in 2018. The couple became first-time parents when they welcomed son Hayes Andrew in 2020. “We definitely like being a part of each other’s projects, but at the end of the day, it’s not the most important thing anymore,” Ryan told People magazine in October 2021. “The most important thing is what happens when you hit the garage-door button and send the nanny home and get to hang out with your kid for three hours. That’s the fun part now.”
Jhené Aiko and Big Sean have been one of music’s most adorable couples since they first got together in 2016. Despite being on-again, off-again in the past, they seem to be doing better than ever these days. “When I first met Sean, the one thing I can say is he immediately felt familiar, like I knew him already and I was comfortable with him immediately because he just came into my session at No I.D.’s studio and I had never felt that feeling of like, I’ve met you before,” Jhené told DJ Khaled of their connection in 2021. “Our friendship is really strong so that has made our relationship what it is, just that foundation of real friends who really know each other on that level.” At the 2021 American Music Awards, Jhené is up for favorite female R&B artist.
In February 2021, Megan Thee Stallion confirmed her romance with boyfriend Pardison Fontaine (real name: Jorden Thorpe), a rapper and songwriting who’s worked on music for artists including Kanye West, Cardi B and Megan. “My boyfriend does make me very happy. He definitely takes care of me emotionally,” she gushed on an episode of the Facebook Watch series “Peace of Mind with Taraji.” The “Body” rapper, who’s nominated for favorite female hip-hop artist, favorite trending song and favorite hip-hop album, continued, “That’s a big thing for me, because I used to be so into the physical, right, like… but he moves me, he inspires me, and we just feel like a real team,” she said. “He feels like a partner.”
“Down To One” singer-songwriter Luke Bryan scored two AMA nominations this year — for favorite male country artist and favorite country album. Country music fans know that the crooner has been married to Caroline Boyer since 2006. The pair met in 1998 at a bar in Statesboro, Georgia, while attending Georgia Southern University and dated for a time, then broke up for more than five years before getting back together. They now share sons Thomas and Tatum. “Luke has a God-given talent to entertain — it’s so natural to him,” Caroline told People magazine in July 2021. “He’s the guy that walks into a room and everyone wants to hang out with him. We’ll be at an event, and I’ll be ready to head home and go to bed. Meanwhile, Luke will have made his way into a DJ booth and taken over. He is always there to make people smile and have a good time.”
While Bruno Mars has remained mum about his private life, we know that he’s been in a relationship with Puerto Rican actress-model Jessica Caban since 2011. They took their romance public when they posed for photos during the 2018 Grammy Awards (pictured), where Bruno also mentioned his love in an acceptance speech. Alongside his Silk Sonic collaborator Anderson .Paak, Bruno is up for three AMAs in 2021: favorite music video, favorite pop duo or group and favorite R&B song.
Country music newcomer Gabby Barrett — who earned three AMA nods in 2021 including favorite female country artist — met husband Cade Foehner, a fellow singer and musician, when they both competed on season 16 of “American Idol,” which aired in 2018. They wed in 2019 and welcomed daughter Baylah May into the world in January 2021.
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