The Contenders for The 67th Grammy Awards Unveiled -

By Tim McGuire

2024 has been one of the biggest years for music in recent times so this year’s Grammy awards were bound to be highly contested. On Friday, November 8th, the Recording Academy revealed who’s in the running for their commendable awards with their usual obvious picks and left-field picks. This article will only cover the big four awards: Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, and, of course, Album of the Year. If you would like to see the full list of nominees, you can find the full reveal on the Grammys YouTube channel.

Song of the Year has one of the strongest groups of hit songs ever seen in the category. There are smash hits like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile,” alongside some big pop culture moments like Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and rising stars with Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” However, the most interesting of all the nominations is “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar’s infamously catchy Drake diss anthem. Also nominated for 4 other awards besides Song of the Year, it came as a surprise to many that a diss track was nominated for a huge award, as award shows like the Grammys tend to remain neutral. However, “Not Like Us” is far from the only diss track to ever be nominated. In fact, Drake’s own diss track “Back to Back” aimed at Meek Mill was nominated at the 58th Grammys. Some people believe that the Grammys wouldn’t dare to sacrifice neutrality to give Kendrick a Grammy, but nothing is out of the question when discussing the Grammys.

Record of the Year, which is essentially just Song of the Year but recognizing the producers, artists, and engineers who were behind the song instead of the songwriters, has a relatively similar list to its counterpart. The two additions to Record of the Year are The Beatles’ “Now and Then” and Charli XCX’s “360.” Both are interesting nominations in their own ways. The Beatles song infamously used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to finish the three decade old song, and a win could further discussion about A.I.’s role in art. Charli XCX had an undeniably huge summer with her album Brat, and critics rejoiced as it seemed the Grammys finally agreed with them.

Best New Artist has become a more exciting category in recent years as the dominance of social media over popular music can skyrocket anyone to the top of the charts. Some artists nominated in this category have been catching weird glances from fans as many of them aren’t necessarily “new.” Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Shaboozey, Chappell Roan, Khurangbin, RAYE, and Teddy Swims all have something in their Spotify discography that dates from before the 2020s, leaving Benson Boone as the odd one out. The discussion about what qualifies an artist as new has been ongoing and strong every year, and this year is no different. Besides that, many people think the race to win Best New Artist is too obviously led by the two biggest names: Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, who both had smash hit albums. But then again, restating from earlier: nothing is out of the question for the Grammys.

At last, the most prestigious final category, Album of the Year… but also the most controversial award for the last three years. The recent recipients of the highest honor have been heavily scrutinized by many, with We Are by Jon Batiste upsetting many fan favorites to win at the 64th awards, Harry’s House by Harry Styles following in We Are’s underdog footsteps, and Midnights by Taylor Swift being perceived as win for who Taylor was rather than the musical content itself. Although, this year, it may be harder to make a controversial decision with how stacked the list is. Half of the albums nominated were a huge part of pop culture this year, namely Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Charli XCX’s Brat, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. Most people are looking at Beyoncé’s newest country genre-bending effort as a clear contender to win as she becomes the most nominated and awarded Grammy artist in history, alongside Jay-Z’s infamous speech about how she deserves a Grammy for Album of the Year. Even right when the album came out in April, multiple people suspected that she may finally bag her first Album of the Year win. But now that we have the whole scope of the crazy year for music that was 2024, it truly is anyone’s game.

The Grammys will give out their awards on February 2nd, 2025.