One of the year’s most stacked categories is record of the year – better understood as “best single”.
Aside from a rogue nomination for The Beatles (see below), the shortlist reflects a stellar year for pop music, with Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso and Charli XCX’s 360 up against Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em and Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather.
But the front-runner is Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us. A furious take-down of his rap nemesis, Drake, it’s as catchy as it is legally contentious. If it wins, it would be only the second hip-hop single to win the category, following Childish Gambino’s This Is America in 2019.
In the parallel song of the year prize – which recognises achievement in songwriting – the smart money is on Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s Die With A Smile.
Both artists are perennial Grammy favourites, and their virtuoso ballad will be catnip to voters.
Their competition includes Shaboozey’s A Bar Song (Tipsy), which was America’s longest-running number one single of 202The big question of the night is whether Beyoncé will finally win album of the year, after four previous losses in the category?
During last year’s ceremony, her husband Jay-Z addressed the oversight, telling the audience: “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
Beyoncé’s latest record, Cowboy Carter, is a wildly ambitious attempt to contextualise and commemorate the black roots of country music. It’s the sort of thing that delights Grammy voters, who traditionally prefer albums that elevate America’s musical history over contemporary, cutting-edge productions.
But the album’s excessive length – including a few weaker tracks in its latter half – could count against it.
Billie Eilish is currently the bookmakers’ favourite with her third album Hit Me Hard and Soft. Mixing passionate power ballads with violent electronic shifts and hip-hop swagger, it marks a new evolution in the star’s songwriting partnership with her brother, Finneas.
Charli XCX’s Brat is a career-defining pop record that became a cultural phenomenon. The best-reviewed album of 2024, it’s probably too abrasive for the Grammys’ more conservative voters, but that’s their loss.
And you’d have to be crazy to ignore Taylor Swift. Her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, was the biggest-seller of last year; a fact that will undoubtedly be taken into account, even if the record is one of her weaker efforts.
If she wins, Swift will collect her fifth album of the year trophy – more than any other artist in Grammy history.
