Sabrina Carpenter, seen right here at Coachella earlier this yr, is nominated in every of the large 4 classes on the 2025 Grammy Awards: album, track and document of the yr, plus finest new artist.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Photos North America
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Frazer Harrison/Getty Photos North America
The pop music panorama has been awash in celebrity juggernauts (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé), headline-grabbing beefs (Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar, et. al.) and a freshly minted gaggle of hit-makers corresponding to Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Shaboozey. Appropriately sufficient, every of the aforementioned artists — besides Drake, who stopped submitting his music for Grammy consideration some time again — obtained a great deal of nominations when subsequent yr’s Grammy Awards contenders have been introduced Friday.
That isn’t to say that the whole lot performed out precisely as anticipated. And there are many subplots and storylines to unpack as we await the Grammys telecast on Feb. 2, 2025:
1. It’s been an enormous yr for girls in pop. Keep in mind again in 2018, when Neil Portnow, then head of the Nationwide Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, mentioned that girls wanted to “step up” after that yr’s Grammys have been overwhelmingly gained by males? Yeah, he sucked. This yr, girls dominate the main classes: In document of the yr, track of the yr and album of the yr, six of the eight nominees are headlined by girls, although a number of share billing with male counterparts. And, whereas the very best new artist area is break up 50-50, the overwhelming frontrunners (Roan and Carpenter) are each girls.
2. As anticipated, Beyoncé leads the sector. The 2 most closely nominated musicians of all time share a family: Till Friday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have been tied with 88 nominations apiece, whereas Beyoncé holds the all-time document for Grammy wins with 32. Now, Queen Bey has a shocking 99 nominations to her title, as Cowboy Carter and an assortment of its songs have racked up a field-leading 11 nods. It helps that Cowboy Carter sprawls throughout a number of genres and brings in a great deal of collaborators, which made her eligible in additional classes than, say, Chappell Roan, who lacks eligible collaborations and didn’t submit in any genres outdoors pop.
3. Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter be a part of a choose group. The Grammys have 4 common, cross-genre classes, which have collectively come to be often known as The Huge 4: album of the yr, document of the yr, track of the yr and finest new artist. Within the historical past of the awards, solely 13 artists have been nominated in all 4 classes throughout the identical yr — most just lately Olivia Rodrigo three years in the past. (FINNEAS kinda did it that yr, too, however it didn’t rely; he was nominated for finest new artist as a solo act, however his different nominations in that yr’s Huge 4 have been headlined by his sister, Billie Eilish.) Within the newest spherical of nominations, Roan and Carpenter are up for every of The Huge 4; if both occurs to comb, she’ll change into solely the third artist ever to take action, after Christopher Cross in 1981 and Eilish in 2020.
4. Wait, Sabrina Carpenter — whose Quick n’ Candy is her sixth album — is up for finest new artist? Yeah, the class of finest new artist may actually use a rebrand, maybe to one thing like “finest breakthrough artist,” as a result of newness may be very a lot within the eye of the beholder right here. However Carpenter broke by means of in an enormous approach in 2024, so she was eligible. (The foundations are extra byzantine than that, however that’s the gist of it.) Identical goes for her fellow nominee Khruangbin, which has been cranking out albums since 2015, however pretty just lately grew to become fashionable sufficient to fill stadiums.
5. Talking of complicated classes… Grammy viewers have lengthy been baffled by the distinction between document and track of the yr. Because it seems, so are Grammy voters, who heard Shaboozey’s chart-topping “A Bar Track (Tipsy)” and nominated it for track of the yr, however not document of the yr. Track of the yr is an award for composition, whereas document of the yr is an award for the whole package deal: the manufacturing, the efficiency, the vibe. “A Bar Track (Tipsy)” is terrific; it’s nice enjoyable. Nevertheless it’s extra of a “document of the yr” form of track than a “track of the yr” form of track.
6. The document of the yr area does embrace one very outdated track. “A Bar Track (Tipsy)” famously interpolates J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” however the Recording Academy went even additional again for the awards’ premier class. John Lennon wrote and recorded his demo of The Beatles’ “Now and Then” someday round 1977, however the track wasn’t completed or launched till late 2023. Naturally, it got here out with an enormous surge of fanfare, although it’s extra curiosity than traditional; nonetheless, it’s certainly one of eight songs nominated for document of the yr in 2025. If it wins, it’ll be the primary time a Beatles track gained a Grammy since all the way in which again in… February 2024, when a remastered reissue of 1966’s “I’m Solely Sleeping” gained finest music video.
7. The album of the yr area options two excessive darkish horses. Six of the eight nominees for album of the yr have been just about mortal locks: Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Sabrina Carpenter’s Quick n’ Candy, Charli xcx’s Brat, Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Division. These six albums dominated 2024 — not solely based mostly on gross sales and streaming, but in addition when it comes to their general cultural footprint. The subsequent two? Not a lot.
One is Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4, which marks Collier’s first album of the yr nomination because the one he obtained for, um, Djesse Vol. 3. With credit score to NPR Music editor Jacob Ganz, who referred to this nomination as “filling the Jon Batiste jazz-but-with-smiling spot,” the nod to Collier feels unusual coming from such a crowded area of powerhouse contenders. Nonetheless, it’s not as surprising because the nomination for André 3000’s New Blue Solar — which is, bear in mind, an epic-length assortment of flute-forward instrumental odysseys. OutKast was a Grammy staple, positive, and plenty of folks have been interested by André’s first document in 17 years. However… album of the yr? Actually?
8. After all, there have been snubs. Getting ignored of a area of 5, six or eight nominees isn’t technically a “snub” — it’s simply math, actually — however there have been nonetheless surprises amongst this yr’s Grammy omissions. Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism didn’t carry out in addition to its predecessor, and the sector of girls in pop was unusually crowded and powerful this yr, however her lack of nominations feels notable. (See additionally: Ariana Grande, who did decide up three nominations however was shut out of The Huge 4.) Followers is likely to be stunned to see Zach Bryan absent from the sector, given how properly his data carried out in 2024, however he refused to submit any of his music for consideration, so he’s out. The most important shock of all could also be Vampire Weekend, whose Solely God Was Above Us was thought of a lock to be nominated in a number of classes — probably even album of the yr — however obtained ignored of all of them.
9. Talking of which, Ye’s Grammy star could lastly be fading. The artist previously often known as Kanye West has been nominated for 75 Grammys, and gained 24 of them. Even a protracted string of controversies didn’t dampen the Grammys’ enthusiasm for him, on condition that Donda was nominated for album of the yr simply three years in the past. However Ye’s newest album, the Ty Dolla $ign collaboration Vultures 2, yielded only one nomination, for finest rap track (“Carnival”). Ye is both matched or exceeded by a formidable assortment of girls, as this yr’s rap classes embrace nominations for Cardi B, Doechii, GloRilla, Beyoncé (joined by Linda Martell), Latto and Rapsody (with Erykah Badu).
10. By no means, ever overlook Taylor Swift. Wait, did you simply learn 12 paragraphs and solely one of them talked about Taylor Swift? Is that even authorized? Actually, how dare you? Swift picked up six extra nominations this yr, bringing her complete to 58 general, with 24 wins — together with 4 album of the yr gramophones. She’s picked up her seventh nomination for album of the yr (for The Tortured Poets Division), is within the working for track and document of the yr (for “Fortnight”) and… hey, the place are you going?