Grammy predictions: who will - and should - be nominated?
Photo Courtesy: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
It’s that time of year again: awards season is almost upon us. Among the most anticipated are the Grammys, presented by the Recording Academy to the biggest names in music. The biggest awards of the night are Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. The Academy will announce the nominations in a few weeks on November 10th, while the ceremony is slated to take place on February 4th, 2024.
The ceremony’s most coveted award is Album of the Year. This year was dominated by female artists, so it’s not surprising that some of our favorites should make the list. Taylor Swift’s landmark 10th album Midnights shattered streaming records when it was released in October 2022, and with the help of her massive Eras Tour, it has occupied public consciousness for the past year. This would be Swift’s sixth nomination in the category, tied for the most nominations for a female artist with Barbra Streisand.
Another favorite is SZA’s SOS. Her first album in 5 years, SOS cranked out several hits like “Kill Bill”, “Snooze” and “Good Days”. SZA was first nominated for Best New Artist in 2018 and her debut album Ctrl was nominated in smaller categories, but she has only won one Grammy for “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat in 2022. The 2024 Grammys will surely be big for SZA as a solo artist.
Other albums expected to be nominated are Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS, Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time. Some albums like Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss and the record by Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker’s project boygenius have slimmer chances of winning, but should be nominated as well.
Record of the Year awards the producers and engineers along with the artist. Swift should earn her fifth nomination here for “Anti-Hero”. SZA should earn her first solo nod with “Kill Bill”, after being nominated for “All the Stars” with Kendrick Lamar and “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat. Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”, one of the biggest hits this year, should definitely be nominated as well. Other songs that are likely to get recognition are Rodrigo’s “vampire”, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” and Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red”.
Song of the Year, on the other hand, awards the songwriters. “Anti-Hero” is a shoe-in for another nomination, which would make Swift the first artist in history to earn seven nominations in this category. Other potential Record of the Year nominees like “vampire” and “Flowers” are also expected to appear here. There have always been overlaps between Record and Song of the year, as the line between a song’s production and writing are not always clear-cut.
The haunting “A&W”, one of the best songs in Lana Del Rey’s discography, should also make the cut. She and collaborator Jack Antonoff were last nominated together in 2019 for “Norman F***ing Rockwell”. Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie also has a chance of being nominated, as Eilish has been a historical favorite of the Academy. As country music has been gaining attention in the charts this year, Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves or “Dawns” with Maggie Rogers would be great additions for this category as exceptional examples of country songwriting.
The last big category is Best New Artist. An obvious nominee choice is Ice Spice, who shot to fame this year with her collaborations with PinkPantheress and Nicki Minaj. Budding singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams should also be nominated - although she has been releasing music since 2019, she only released her debut album Good Riddance in 2023. London-based singer-songwriter Raye also released her critically acclaimed debut album My 21st Century Blues earlier this year, so it would make sense to nominate her for some R&B representation. Icelandic-Chinese jazz musician Laufey has been slowly growing her fanbase in recent years, and released her second album Bewitched in 2023, so it would be great to see her music be recognised by the Academy.
The Grammys are subjected to intense online debates each year, more so than other award shows. But even though they aren’t exactly known for being crowd pleasers, it’s still fun to look back on music this year and make predictions on who will be nominated.