LOS ANGELES — When the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced, one thing was immediately apparent: Women outpaced men in the major categories.

The leading artists — superstars like SZA, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo — reflect an incredible diversity of skill with acclaimed albums that mine all corners of the human experience.

An influx of new releases from Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus and Kelsea Ballerini reimagine the divorce album in all its complexity. While the music industry has long been youth-obsessed, there may be something to the fact that these musicians are all women in their 30s and 40s and consequently possess a kind of self-assuredness and rich, emotional maturity. In a culture where relatability is currency, relationship stories with the weight and wisdom of age register as fresh. If all pop stars are teenaged, where does that leave the rest of us? Perhaps the depth of a breakup ballad is felt more acutely when a public split plays out in tabloid headlines — and there’s a lot more to lose.

Cyrus’ malleable pop “Flowers,” one of AP’s picks for best songs of 2023, is a pep talk-turned-empowerment banger — the sound of a woman learning about herself again after a decadelong relationship ended in divorce. She’s raked in five nominations, including album of the year for “Endless Summer Vacation.”

Then there’s Clarkson’s “Chemistry” — a big-belter release she’s described as a “relationship album” that’s up for best pop vocal album.

And in the world of country, which has a long tradition of women performing songs about divorce and domesticity, Ballerini’s “Rolling Up the Welcome Mat” is up for the genre’s best album.

These records vary greatly but share a similar emotional core: They were written while grappling with marriages falling apart.

In 2020, Cyrus split from actor Liam Hemsworth and Kelly Clarkson ended her marriage to Brandon Blackstock. Two years later, Ballerini and her husband Morgan Evans divorced.

Musically, those endings opened up new realities. Clarkson pursued courageous ballads that stretched her elastic vocal range, Ballerini experimented with pop production and Cyrus wielded her weather-worn voice like a weapon. Their albums came out of painful periods in which each performer was redefining herself.

Ballerini is part of a long lineage of women in country making music about divorce and heartbreak — running the gamut in tone from vengeful to celebratory. Marissa R. Moss, author of “Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be,” points to Loretta Lynn’s groundbreaking 1973 hit “Rated X” as setting the precedent for future musicians.