It’s music’s biggest night! Or it will be this Sunday when the 67th Annual Grammy Awards are held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
You can check out the full lists of nominees and performers, but ahead of the ceremony, we’ve also offered predictions for The Big Four — Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best New Artist — as well as a few other major categories. Will Beyoncé finally win Album Of The Year? Could Chappell Roan make some history? Is Drake about to have two bad weekends in a row? Let’s find out!
Best Rap Album
Common & Pete Rock — The Auditorium Vol. 1
Doechii — Alligator Bites Never Heal
Eminem — The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)
Future & Metro Boomin — We Don’t Trust You
J. Cole — Might Delete Later
Will Win: Alligator Bites Never Heal
Should Win: Alligator Bites Never Heal
The eligibility period for the 2025 Grammys was from September 16, 2023, to August 30, 2024. If the timeline had extended to November 22, Kendrick Lamar’s GNX would have been an easy pick here. Instead, this is a tricky one: the hyper-talented and charismatic Doechii had a standout year, and it’s been too long since this category went to a female rapper (Cardi B’s Invasion Of Privacy back in 2019). But you can’t rule out The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) since Eminem has won Best Rap Album a staggering six times, or The Auditorium, Vol. 1. Remember, last year’s Best Rap Album went to Killer Mike, an industry-favorite veteran just like Common and Pete Rock. Still, Alligator Bites Never Heal deserves the win (even if it’s not technically an album).
Best Alternative Music Album
Brittany Howard — What Now
Clairo — Charm
Kim Gordon — The Collective
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Wild God
St. Vincent — All Born Screaming
Will Win: All Born Screaming
Should Win: Wild God
Best Alternative Music Album has been around since 1991 (the first trophy went to Sinéad O’Connor’s Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got). In the following decades, Beck, Radiohead, and The White Stripes are the only three-time champs in the category. St. Vincent would tie them with a win for All Born Screaming, a very good, very evocative album (especially compared to the emotionally distant Daddy’s Home). But the grief-struck Wild God is mesmerizing. The aged creak in Nick Cave’s voice makes his lyrics hit even harder. Or Cave himself put it, “There’s no f*cking around with this record.”
Best Rock Album
The Black Crowes — Happiness Bastards
Fontaines DC — Romance
Green Day — Saviors
Idles — Tangk
Jack White — No Name
Pearl Jam — Dark Matter
The Rolling Stones — Hackney Diamonds
Will Win: No Name
Should Win: No Name
Of the five nominated bands for Best Rock Album, only two (Idles and Fontaines DC) have formed since 1990. This category could use an infusion of youth — but a blistering album from Jack White (the only solo artist) will do, too. No Name is his most White Stripes-sounding album since he and Meg went their separate ways. It’s heavy; full of raw, ripping guitar solos; and sounds like it was bashed out during a single recording session (complimentary). Fontaines DC will get their Grammy some day, but not yet.
Best Pop Vocal Album
Ariana Grande — Eternal Sunshine
Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard And Soft
Chappell Roan — The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
Sabrina Carpenter — Short N’ Sweet
Taylor Swift — The Tortured Poets Department
Will Win: Short N’ Sweet
Should Win: The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
In the National Football League, the Offensive Player Of The Year Award rarely goes to the NFL MVP, even though the NFL MVP is almost always an offensive player. Make sense? Great. I bring this up to point out that Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album occasionally overlap, like the past two years with Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, but not always.
For instance, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia won Pop Vocal Album in 2021, but it lost Album Of The Year to Swift’s Folklore… which was also nominated in the pop category.
With such a stacked category of heavy hitters, Short N’ Sweet seems like the Offensive Player Of The Year since I fear too many voters only know “Espresso” (and are therefore depriving themselves of the irresistible “Juno”) — could The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess be the MVP?
Best New Artist
Benson Boone
Chappell Roan
Doechii
Khruangbin
Raye
Sabrina Carpenter
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims
Will Win: Chappell Roan
Should Win: Chappell Roan
Let’s get this out of the way now: yes, it’s very funny that Sabrina Carpenter and Khruangbin, who both released their debut albums in 2015, are considered “new” artists. Let’s also acknowledge that winning Best New Artist isn’t the curse many people consider it to be (see: Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, etc.). So, Chappell Roan, one of this year’s newest “new artists” following her remarkable rise, has nothing to worry about.
Song Of The Year
Beyoncé — “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Billie Eilish — “Birds Of A Feather”
Chappell Roan — “Good Luck, Babe!”
Kendrick Lamar — “Not Like Us”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars — “Die With A Smile”
Sabrina Carpenter — “Please Please Please”
Shaboozey — “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”
Taylor Swift Feat. Post Malone — “Fortnight”
Will Win: “Birds Of A Feather”
Should Win: “Good Luck, Babe!”
Only once in the past 20 years has Song Of The Year gone to a song with more than four songwriters (Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” in 2018). That scratches out “Die With A Smile” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” from the jump. Taylor Swift (with help from Post Malone and Jack Antonoff) is probably out, too. She’s never won in this category despite eight nominations and her Album Of The Year domination, and it would be curious if “Fortnight” was the one to break through. “Please Please Please” is sneaky good, but it’s not “Espresso.” “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” would have a stronger chance in Record Of The Year.
That leaves Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, and Kendrick Lamar. “Birds Of A Feather” is tempting since Billie and Finneas are two-time winners, including last year, but only one songwriter in the long history of the Grammys has taken Song Of The Year twice in a row (D’Mile for “I Can’t Breathe” in 2021 and “Leave the Door Open” in 2022). Instead, this is where I think Roan should take it with the only song she officially released during her breakout year.
Record Of The Year
The Beatles — “Now And Then”
Beyoncé — “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Billie Eilish — “Birds Of A Feather”
Chappell Roan — “Good Luck, Babe!”
Charli XCX — “360”
Kendrick Lamar — “Not Like Us”
Sabrina Carpenter — “Espresso”
Taylor Swift Feat. Post Malone — “Fortnight”
Will Win: “Espresso”
Should Win: “Not Like Us”
“Not Like Us” wasn’t technically the biggest song of 2024 (by Spotify streaming numbers, it was “Birds Of A Feather”), but it felt like it. Kendrick Lamar’s diss track unified generations against a Degrassi: The Next Generation star; if he played it five times in a row during his Super Bowl halftime show, would anyone complain? (Well, one person might.)
All that being said, “Not Like Us” might be too incendiary — too daring — for the Grammys, especially with all the lawsuits swirling around the song. The correct “safe” pick is Sabrina Carpenter’s exquisitely crafted “Espresso.” In recent years, this category has frequently gone to songs (er, records) that have a retro quality to them — think: Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Silk Sonic’s “Leave The Door Open,” Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic,” Adele’s “Hello,” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” 2024’s retro-pop Song Of The Summer certainly applies here.
But there’s one thing to remember: Record Of The Year is given to the overall recording, including the work of the producers, recording engineers, etc. Would anyone be surprised if the award went to the stitched-together “final” Beatles song?
Album Of The Year
André 3000 — New Blue Sun
Beyoncé — Cowboy Carter
Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard And Soft
Chappell Roan — The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
Charli XCX — Brat
Jacob Collier — Djesse Vol. 4
Sabrina Carpenter — Short N’ Sweet
Taylor Swift — The Tortured Poets Department
Will Win: Cowboy Carter
Should Win: Brat
They can’t keep getting away with it, “they” meaning Grammy voters and “it” being not giving Album Of The Year to Beyoncé. It should have already happened in 2017 for Lemonade, which lost to Adele’s enormously popular 25 — is this the year for Cowboy Carter?
Don’t overlook Brat. The album finished No. 1 in our critics poll, and it made Charli XCX “even my boomer mom has heard of her” famous. There’s also Grammy favorites Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish (Swift has won this category a record four times), but this doesn’t feel like their year. Jacob Collier and André 3000 are the surprise “it’s nice to just be nominated” selections, while pop titans Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan risk canceling each other’s votes.
If it comes down to Cowboy Carter or Brat, Beyoncé will get her “AOTY.”
The 2025 Grammys air on CBS and Paramount Plus on February 2 at 8 p.m. ET.
