Before Spotify Wrapped drops, another highly anticipated list comes out: the Grammy nominees. Now, I am no Grammy’s fan. The awards are often formulaic, predictable and outright wrong. I do, however, love to make predictions and analyze what the Grammys have in store each year.
This year’s Grammy nominations come with historical milestones for a few artists. Beyonce leads the pack with 11 nominations, taking the record for most Grammy nominations in history with 99 total. The popstar is nominated for Song, Record and Album of the Year all from her country album “COWBOY CARTER,” and she appears in four genre categories.
The pop section is dominated by women. All five nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance are women. Men only appear as collaborating artists in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Female artists were highly nominated all around. Charli XCX and Billie Eilish both scored seven nominations after their successful years with “BRAT” and “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT.” Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan kept up with long-time Grammy-favorite Taylor Swift, securing six nominations each.
Unsurprisingly, Kendrick Lamar also received seven nominations for his feature on “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin and his summertime anthem “Not Like Us,” the Drake diss that shook the world.
Post Malone picked up seven nominations for his star-studded country album “F-1 Trillion” and his feature on Swift’s “Fortnight.” For the full list of nominees, visit the Grammys’ website.
Lamar absolutely deserves to win Record of the Year for “Not Like Us.” The hit took over the charts and broke long-standing sales and streaming records. “Not Like Us” was prolific in a way that the other songs in the category just cannot compete with.
Since Song of the Year focuses more on the songwriter, that category is more of a toss-up for me.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” takes a country spin on J-Kwon’s 2004 club classic “Tipsy.” The genre-twister topped the charts for weeks, bringing Shaboozey some well-deserved fame. I think the songwriting for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is one of the most impressive of the nominees, making Shaboozey my pick for winner in this category.
However, Sabrina Carpenter’s narrative on “Please Please Please” is well-developed and entertaining. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish is a light-hearted love song that brings me joy every time I hear it, and Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” is a complicated tale of twisted love that never fails to get me dancing. Any of these women would deserve the win.
Album of the Year could also go several ways. Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” catapulted her to fame, young women became “BRAT” after Charli XCX’s bright green album dropped and Eilish and Carpenter both built even more connections with fans after “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” and “Short n’ Sweet.”
The Grammys could conceivably give Swift an undeserving win for “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT,” although the album fell short of entertaining. SZA and Olivia Rodrigo got robbed by Swift last year, so I would be disappointed but not surprised if the Grammys did it again.
I doubt the Grammys are going to give Beyonce a win in any other major category, so I think “COWBOY CARTER” will take home the trophy for Album of the Year. I firmly believe the Recording Academy makes some political decisions when it comes to wins, and this will be one of them. They can’t nominate Beyonce for 11 awards and not reward her in the big three categories, so Album of the Year it is.
I especially believe Album of the Year will be the place for “COWBOY CARTER” to win because it won’t compete in other categories. Since the album genre bends so much, it doesn’t fit the mold of a “best of genre” album.
Malone’s “F-1 Trillion” is the most deserving country album. He packed every song with country stars, marrying his folksy sound with experienced country flavor.
Best New Artist is the most confusing category at the Grammys. I’ve been listening to Shaboozey for seven years, and he’s only now being nominated for Best New Artist. Similarly, Doechii’s breakout song “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” came out in 2020, and Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” dropped in 2023.
Considering that some of the best artists in this category aren’t actually new, I have a hard time saying who deserves the win. Perhaps Carpenter will shine here, although she has also been producing music since 2014 when she was in the cast of “Girl Meets World” on Disney Channel.
Mustard needs to take home Producer of the Year for “Not Like Us.” Metro Boomin should have been nominated and won the category for his two collaborative albums with Future and his production work on 21 Savage’s “American Dream,” but the Grammys hate Metro Boomin. I can’t say I’m surprised he got snubbed considering his wrongful loss last year.
I think the hip hop category is a flop once again. The Academy wouldn’t know good rap if it hit them in the face. Every win in the hip hop and rap categories last year was dead wrong.
Best Rap Album is a particularly unsettling category. Schoolboy Q’s “Blue Lips” was the best rap album this year and received no nominations. Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign were not nominated for “Vultures,” 21 Savage’s “American Dream” was snubbed, Gunna’s “One of Wun” wasn’t nominated, Don Toliver’s “Hardstone Psycho,” Glorilla’s “Glorious”… snub, snub, snub.
And somehow J. Cole’s waste of time “Might Delete Later” was nominated. I am in disbelief. I predict The Academy will give Lamar more praise for “Not Like Us,” and throw some awards at Eminem for “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).” That would be the most on-brand for them.
Graphic by Livi Davis.