On Friday, Nov. 10, the nominees for the 2024 GRAMMY Awards were released. With 12 fields and 94 categories, the GRAMMYs are regarded as the most prestigious music awards. Today, I will recap the nominations in the four general categories and give my predictions based
on my gut feeling. If you’re interested in the complete list of nominees, they can be found on grammy.com.
First up is Record of The Year (ROTY) is presented to “honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency, and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to sales or chart position,” according to the GRAMMY official website. Often confused with Song of The Year, ROTY is awarded for a single or one track from an album, and the award goes to the performing artist, the producer, the recording engineer, and the mixer for that song. For reference, Lizzo currently holds ROTY for her song “About Damn Time.”
This year, there are eight nominees for ROTY: “Worship” by Jon Batiste, “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture “Barbie”]” by Billie Eilish, “On My Mama” by Victoria Monét, “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift and “Kill Bill” by SZA.
I think the award will go to SZA, Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, and their team for “Kill Bill.” This is one of my favorite songs from SZA’s album, and it was incredibly well-received and streamed. It has a lot of competition, but still a good chance of taking home the ROTY!
Second up is Album Of The Year (AOTY), often considered the biggest and most prestigious award given by the GRAMMYs. AOTY is awarded to “artists and to featured artists, songwriters of new material, producers, recording engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers credited with 20% or more playing time of the album,” according to the GRAMMY’s official website. Harry Styles won the award last year for “Harry’s House.”
This year, “World Music Radio” by Jon Batiste, “the record” by boygenius, “Endless Summer Vacation” by Miley Cyrus, “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” by Lana Del Rey, “The Age of Pleasure” by Janelle Monáe, “GUTS” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Midnights” by Taylor Swift and “SOS” by SZA are the nominees.
I’m rooting for Taylor Swift to take home the AOTY for “Midnights,” mainly because Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Taylor Swift have won the Album of the Year award three times. If she won for “Midnights,” she would be the only male or female artist to win the award four times.
Next is Song Of The Year (SOTY), which “is awarded for a single or one track from an album. This award goes to the songwriter who wrote the lyrics and melodies to the song.” So, in essence, it is a songwriter award. Bonnie Raitt won SOTY last year for her song “Just Like That.” This year, there are some great nominees.
The eight nominees are: “A&W” by Lana Del Rey, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift, “Butterfly” by Jon Batiste, “Dance The Night (From Barbie The Album)” by Dua Lipa, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, “Kill Bill” by SZA, “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo and “What Was I Made For? [From The Motion Picture “Barbie”]” by Billie Eilish.
Based on what is usually chosen for SOTY, I think Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS will take home SOTY for “What Was I Made For?” featured in Greta Gerwig’s movie “Barbie” this summer.
Finally, Best New Artist “recognizes an artist whose eligibility-year release(s) achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and notably impacted the musical landscape.” Last year, Jazz singer Samara Joy won Best New Artist.
This year, the nominees are Gracie Abrams, Fred again.., Ice Spice, Jelly Roll, Coco Jones, Noah Kahan, Victoria Monét, and The War And Treaty.
Although I don’t listen to her, I think Ice Spice will take home Best New Artist this year. She has collaborated with PinkPantheress, Nicki Minaj, Lil Tjay, Aqua and Taylor Swift all in one year. I prefer the music of Gracie Abrams and Noah Kahan, but Ice Spice definitely deserves this award.
The GRAMMYs will be held on Sunday, Feb. 4th, 2024, where you can tune in and see who wins these categories and the dozens of others I didn’t cover!
