The Grammys is a yearly award show event founded by The Recording Academy that celebrates a year of music by giving out awards called “Grammys”. This event is watched by millions of fans with over 12.55 million viewers at the 2023 ceremony.
I am a music fiend and the Grammys is an event that I always look forward to. I love reviewing the nominations and making predictions about who I think deserves to win. 6 major categories are the stars of the show and usually cause the most controversy over who wins and who doesn’t. I have had my fair share of confusion and happiness over the winners of these categories. Those include Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best New Artist. This year the Grammys take place on February 4th.
REMINDER: These are MY opinions and are in no way undermining these artists’ work.
Song of the Year
Nominations:
-A&W – Lana Del Rey
-Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift
-Butterfly – Jon Batiste
-Dance The Night (From Barbie The Album) – Dua Lipa
-Flowers – Miley Cyrus
-Vampire – Olivia Rodrigo
-Kill Bill – SZA
-What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish
This year was interesting for music, with two of the nominations being from the soundtrack of the movie “Barbie”. Some of these artists have had better lead singles in the past and their recent ones just didn’t do it for me such as “Flowers” and “Anti-Hero”. The song of the year needs to be the song that impacted pop culture the most, the song that everyone was talking about, and the song that may have even caused some controversy. I think that song is “Kill Bill” by SZA. “Kill Bill” is the second track off SZA’s 3rd studio album “SOS”. The song peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and is currently her 2nd most streamed song with over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.
The song is a play on Quentin Tarantino’s film “Kill Bill” and is a harmonious ballad that surrounds the act of murdering her ex, along with his new partner. The song reveals her fear of being alone and the extremes she would go through, to not be alone. She also shows irony by saying,” I’m so mature, I got me a therapist to tell me there’s other men,” and then proceeding to say, “If I can’t have you no one should.” This song was the craze of December even with all of the Christmas songs ruling the charts and therefore, I believe it deserves to be titled as the Song of the Year
Record of the Year
Nominations:
-Worship – Jon Batiste
-Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift
-What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish
-On My Mama – Victoria Monét
-Vampire – Olivia Rodrigo
-Not Strong Enough – boygenius
-Flowers – Miley Cyrus
-Kill Bill – SZA
Contrary to popular belief, Record of the Year is not the same thing as Song of the Year. While similar, Record of the Year focuses more on the song’s composition and recognizes producers, songwriters, and engineers who helped in the record’s production. With that being said, this category isn’t decided on the popularity of the song, but the amount of effort put into it and the quality of the song. While all artists put amazing effort into their work, I think there is one that everyone can relate to somehow, and that song is “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. The song was written and produced by Eilish and her brother/producer Phinneas for the soundtrack of the movie “Barbie”, who have been showing their talent and dedication to music since 2019. This song beautifully represents the feeling of nostalgia and the fear of growing up and becoming a different person. The melancholy of the piano, her soft falsetto, and the production were perfectly crafted to fit the theme of the record. Fun fact, this song is also nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. This timeless song is one of Billie’s best pieces, and for that, I think it deserves to be the Record of the Year.
Best Pop Solo Performance
Nominations:
-Anti-Hero – Taylor Swift
-What Was I Made For? – Billie Eilish
-Paint The Town Red – Doja Cat
-Vampire – Olivia Rodrigo
-Flowers – Miley Cyrus
For Best Pop Solo Performance, there are many options and I believe they are all worthy of this award. Doja Cat, however, stood out to me with “Paint The Town Red”. The single was dropped on August 4th, 2023, and was the lead single off her most recent album “Scarlet”. During this time, Doja Cat was experiencing a lot of hate on social media because of her haircut and something she had said about her fans on social media. Even with all of this hate, she still managed to pull off an amazing performance that peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. She references the shallow people who hated her because of her change in appearance. She uses the term “Paint the Town Red” to symbolize the “outrage” that people have claimed she has been on and sort of goes with the narrative of being the bad guy. This iconic song showed that Doja Cat is a timeless artist whose success is not determined by the haters, and for that, it deserves this award.
Best New Artist
Nominations:
-Coco Jones
-The War and Treaty
-Noah Kahan
-Fred Again
-Gracie Abrams
-Victoria Monet
-Ice Spice
-Jelly Roll
This award is given to any newly emerged artist who received the most genuine commercial recognition and success in the past year. Some of these artists have been around for years but have only recently gained success. I am quite disappointed that PinkPantheress is not found in this category. It upsets me because people seem to leave her in Ice Spice’s shadow after their collab and fail to see her talent that deserves at least a nomination. Another snub for this category would be Peso Pluma. Doble P (double P) gained massive success in 2023 and challenged artists for spots on the Billboard charts even while singing mostly in Spanish. With that being said, I believe that Ice Spice will get this award. If you’re even slightly aware of pop culture news, you would know that Ice Spice was everywhere in 2023. In the past year, she worked with both Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, both acclaimed artists. She even accompanied Taylor on her Eras stadium tour to perform Taylor’s Karma remix featuring the rapper. Ice Spice has had many hits in 2023 including Princess Diana featuring Nicki Minaj, Deli, In Ha Mood, and Boy’s a liar Pt.2 (with PinkPantheress). She has had major success so early in her career and has proven herself to be a talented and brilliant rapper who has much more to bring.
Best Pop Vocal Album
Nominations:
-Chemistry – Kelly Clarkson
-Endless Summer Vacation – Miley Cyrus
-GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo
-”-” (Subtract) – Ed Sheeran
-Midnights – Taylor Swift
This category is often misunderstood, any album nominated for this category has some sort of pop elements and should have 51% or more playing time for vocals. Considering the criteria, I believe that “Midnights” by Taylor Swift will get the title. After singing folk music about lakes and drears, the last thing anyone expected was a pop album from Swift. Taylor has failed to disappoint with her 10th album and considering that she is already a 12th-time Grammy winner, it won’t be a surprise if she goes home with an award. The album depicts Taylor’s thoughts during her “13 sleepless nights”, referencing the 13 tracks on the standard version of the album. It also covers rumors about Taylor’s love life with songs like “Lavender Haze”, “Karma”, and “Midnight Rain”. The album is abundant in references to her past work and supports the “cryptic and machiavellian” clues that she leaves in her work.
Album of the Year
Nominations:
-Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – Lana Del Rey
-GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo
-The Record – Phoebe Bridgers
-Word Music Radio – Jon Batiste
-The Age of Pleasure – Janelle Monae
-Endless Summer Vacation – Miley Cyrus
-Midnights – Taylor Swift
-SOS – SZA
The Album of the Year award goes to the album with the best feedback and impact on the music industry. It is by far the most anticipated and controversial category that causes fan wars and disagreements all over the internet. I listen to many of these featured albums and artists like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, and Olivia Rodrigo, but to me, they aren’t Album of the Year material, they have produced better work in the past. They’re amazing albums but this particular album stood out to me and convinced me that it deserves to be the Album of the Year. “SOS” by SZA was in two words, life-changing. This album was highly anticipated and was released on December 9th, 2023. The R&B/Pop feel of the album had me crying and popping my hips at the same time. SZA beautifully showcases her vulnerability and insecurities with songs like “Ghost in the Machine” featuring Pheobe Bridgers, “Special”, and “Blind”, while at the same time showing her sexy and toxic side with “Low”, “Seek & Destroy”, and “Kill Bill”. SZA never fails to impress considering everything she releases is a masterpiece. While there are other albums with greater commercial success such as “Midnights” by Miss Swift, it is not possible to discredit SZA’s hard work to produce this beautiful album.
