Grammy Nominations Prove 2024 Was a Wild Year for Music
The Grammy nominations were released on Nov. 8, and the reactions amongst music fans have been mainly positive.
Beyoncé is one of the many artists nominated across multiple categories this Grammys season. Photo by Ronald Woan via Flickr
The nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards were released on Nov. 8, and I’m giving my input for the third year in a row.
There’s been a bevy of differing reactions; be it to the return of many familiar faces, the rise of female pop stars or a few welcomed surprises — the Recording Academy never fails to shake things up from year to year.
Here are some of the major categories:
Record of the Year: “Now and Then” by The Beatles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “360” by Charli XCX, “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan and “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone
As I touched on last year, this is the second year in a row with a major category heavily dominated by women. I’d argue this lineup is better than last year's, as well.
The Recording Academy has a chance to do something special and give either Charli XCX, who’s having a dream year in terms of success, or Chappell Roan, indie-pop’s new darling, their flowers.
Unfortunately, I don’t think they're cool enough to do that, and I think this will go to either Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift’s predecessor in terms of Grammy success, or Sabrina Carpenter, who had a smash hit this year with “Espresso.”
Beyoncé always has a chance, and with all of the UMG legal drama surrounding Drake and Kendrick, I can’t see “Not Like Us” surprising. The Beatles and Swift shouldn’t have even been nominated here.
Album of the Year: “New Blue Sun” by André 3000, “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé, “Short n’ Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Brat” by Charli XCX, “Djesse Vol. 4” by Jacob Collier, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” by Chappell Roan and “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift
This is a very interesting category. On the one hand, there are albums here that should be, see “Brat,” “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” and “Cowboy Carter.”
However, like always, there’s at least one head-scratcher. If Swift releases music in a calendar year, it’s getting nominated in this category, so that makes sense.
But is Jacob Collier blackmailing the Recording Academy? How he continuously gets nominated for mediocre records is beyond me.
I can’t see “Short n’ Sweet” overcoming these other behemoth records, and the “New Blue Sun” surprise nomination is really the win for it.
Song of the Year: “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, “Die With a Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan, “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé
This is a pretty varied lineup. This will probably come down to Eilish and Roan, who both had major songs this year.
Shaboozey could win, although I think the Recording Academy tends to sway a bit too populist in their voting to give it the win. “Die With a Smile” was big, but it didn’t really drum up a lot of discourse.
“Not Like Us” winning would be hilarious, but it is marred in controversy because of the beef. “Please Please Please” also has a chance, but just like Album of the Year, Carpenter is a bit overshadowed by other major songs and artists.
It just might be TSwift who swoops in in the 25th hour and wins for a boring and forgettable track.
Best New Artist: Benson Boone, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Khruangbin, Raye, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey and Teddy Swims
Do we even need to debate this? This should be between Carpenter and Roan, who both had some of the biggest songs, and albums respectively, of the entire year. However, this category often goes in a random direction more so than any other category, like jazz musician Samara Joy winning two years ago over heavy favorite Omar Apollo.
As for this year’s nominees, Benson Boone had a huge hit with “Beautiful Things,” but a lot of people are somewhat down on that song. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was also a smash, but that’s seemingly Shaboozey’s introduction to mainstream popularity.
The other nominees don’t really have the juice to beat out the major players here; Raye is arguably a better songwriter than artist, Doechii is a great rapper but is more of an indie favorite than anything and Teddy Swims is a cool entry, but should be happy for the nomination.
Lastly, dear Recording Academy: Khruangbin is NOT A NEW ARTIST. They’ve been around for 15 years or so. If this is going to be the case every year with at least one nominee in this category, they should start calling this category “Best New Mainstream Artist” or something along those lines.
Best Dance/Electronic Album: “Brat” by Charli XCX, “Three” by Four Tet, “Hyperdrama” by Justice, “Timeless” by Kaytranada and “Telos” by Zedd
Finally, just to touch on a dance/electronic category, given there’s been a resurgence in dance and EDM-focused records, what a great category here.
I think any winner here would be worthy. Obviously, “Brat” should probably take this, given its overall consistency and cultural relevance, but “Three” is an underrated addition to Kieran Hebden’s discography, “Timeless” lives up to its title, having multiple banger tracks and features, and “Telos” is the best Zedd album in over a decade.
I’d like to see “Hyperdrama” win here, given that it’s an incredible EDM album and “Neverender” is one of the best songs of the year, but any winner here would be a great one.
Will the Grammys always have one random and head-scratching nomination? Probably, but for the most part here, they didn’t shy away from what people actually listened to this year.
They took a chance on the artists and albums that can be somewhat “out there” considering mainstream voting bodies, and that’s all anyone who loves music can ask for.