Lights Camera Action!

Music’s biggest night of the year is almost upon us! The Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards are airing on Sunday, February 2nd, 2025. This year’s awards are STAR STUDDED with musical prowess from the last year! However, with the excitement that comes from this night also comes nervousness as fans across the globe gather to see who will win the biggest award of the night: Album of the Year. This year has 8 nominees who have rocked our worlds in 2024. Check out the following list to see who I think WILL win versus who I think SHOULD win this amazing title on the main stage!

André 3000’s album, New Blue Sun, is his first solo album. Known for being one half of the notorious duo Outkast, André 3000 shocked the world when he released this album. He strayed away from his Hip-Hop roots to release an ambient flute album. This album contains not a SINGLE lyric and instead is compiled of wooden flute excerpts. He used his first title track to explain to his fans that he knew this album would not please the public, calling it ‘I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album, But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.’ Personally, I don’t see a reality in which this album wins Album of the Year. Although André is known as one of the best lyricists of all time, this album is not representative of his best work. Not only that, but this album did not have as much cultural impact as some of the other titles on this list.

The Queen of the Grammy’s has returned with her 5th nominated album entitled ‘COWBOY CARTER‘. This album is the second act in her ‘Renaissance’ trilogy, a three-album release where each album contains a new genre as its theme. This time the genre is Country. Fans were perplexed and surprised that this album had caught the attention of the Recording Academy. Kind of following the André 3000 route, Beyoncé’s album is not her typical style. Although she is the most nominated artist in HISTORY at the Grammys, she has never been nominated for a country album. However, I am not too surprised. When her debut single, Texas Hold Em’ came out, it topped the charts for weeks on end. I couldn’t go a day without hearing that song. When diving deeper into this album I found more secret treasures with tracks like ‘16 CARRIAGES, II MOST WANTED, and YA YA’. Although this album is not sonically close to her other work, nor do I think it is her best work, I think it still holds a pretty good chance against her other nominees.

After not being nominated for her last LP, Billie Eilish is back with a vengeance with her third studio album, ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT‘. This 10-track project has ruled the pop world and pop culture over the last year. Billie first alluded to this album by leaking snippets of her second track, ‘LUNCH‘, which many believed to be the breakout single. However, her 4th track BIRDS OF A FEATHER steamrolled the streaming world, currently sitting at almost 2 Billion streams! I think that this is Billie’s best work so far. Her previous work has felt very conceptual, but this project shows Billie’s maturity in both production and lyricism. I think the short tracklisting allows time for each track to be digested and appreciated thoroughly. I would be surprised if this album does not win at least 1 award on the big night.

Chappell’s 2023 debut album was “H–O–T” this past year. Starting in the small town of Willard, Missouri to taking the pop music genre by STORM in the span of only a few months. Chappell’s album skyrocketed her career, allowing her to accomplish the unthinkable. In 2024, she had the biggest crowd at Lollapalooza ever reported. One thing I find interesting about this project is that I can necessarily pinpoint the lead single. All of the hits from this album are pretty fairly streamed. Some of these tracks include ‘HOT TO GO’, Red Wine Supernova, and Pink Pony Club’. Chappell’s high fashion and inclusive themes have created a new cult following this past summer. She was even considered a third of the pop “Powerpuff Girls” (the other members will be listed later..). In my opinion, this album is way too green for it to win Album of the Year. I think the track definitely made a mark in the music industry this past year. However, as a project, it doesn’t hold as much cultural impact as some of the other artists in this list. I do believe however that she should win a grammy this year for being able to hold her weight against some of the greats in such a short amount of time!

The moment, the icon, the legend, THE Charli XCX released her sixth studio album ‘BRAT‘, and turned the globe into a dance machine! This album didn’t only introduce a new sound from Charli, but it also introduced a new season in the pop culture community: Brat Summer. This second member of the pop culture “Powerpuff Girls” had everyone power walking and Apple dancing at every waking moment. This album allowed everyone to step aside from themselves and embody… brattiness. Tracks like ‘360, Sympathy is a Knife, and Von Dutch’ was the backing track to a lot of people’s daily commutes. Out of all of the albums in this category, this is by far my most streamed project. The aggressive electronic beats and selfish lyricism make me feel my main character energy. In my opinion, this project reinvented the music community. The way that culture moved with the release of this project should be reason enough for this to be a top contender in the category.

Jacob Collier is an interesting nominee for me. Not that I don’t think he’s a talented artist, but he just seems like a Recording Academy plant to me. Jacob Collier is known for his expertise in creating harmony-bending, perfect-pitch symphonies with the help of music juggernauts. One track to note from this LP is his rendition of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ (originally sung by Paul Simon). The different runs and scales in this cover are some things I have never heard before. His choices made on this project are so unique. However, I don’t think this album will nor should win Album of the Year. Commercially, no one knows of this album. In society, other albums are more well-acclaimed. Also, most of the tracks on this album contain vocals that don’t belong to him. However, there have been previous years where there was a clear winner and a underdog has snagged the win, so there is always a chance. (i.e. ‘WE ARE‘ by Job Batiste)

Everyone was sipping that “Me Espresso” after Sabrina Carpenter released her sixth studio album, ‘Short ‘n Sweet’. Channeling a vintage style to her artistry, this final member of the pop culture Powerpuff Girls proved her worth during the summer season. Knowing her from the Disney Channel, fans have appreciated Sabrina’s newfound adulthood in her music. She has matured in her subject matter and her overall personal branding which has caused her to be in the forefront of pop culture. In regards to her album, Sabrina creates a relatable atmosphere for her target audience, illustrating the peaks and valleys of being with a man. Taking tracks like ‘Bed Chem’ and ‘Juno’ to express liberation towards her love interest. Then, flipping the coin on tracks like ‘Slim Pickins’ and ‘Please, Please, Please’ to show her lackluster opinion of some of the men she has dealt with. To me, this album was a fun project. However, the notorious title of Album of the Year shouldn’t belong to something that was a cool summer vibe. It should be a timeless, momentous occasion. Although, I do believe some tracks have the power to bring this project to critical acclaim, I don’t think it can bare the weight of its competitors…

Last but not least is Taylor Swift’s ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’. Taylor Swift is a juggernaut in this category, previously winning this award 4 times! Taylor returns this year in hopes to further her lead in the category. After her success with the acclaimed “The Eras Tour”, I can see as to how she can win this year. However, if you ask the general public (and even some Swifties), they will agree and say that this is not Swift’s best work at all. Swift has seen major success from her lead single ‘Fortnite’ which features Post Malone. However, as a cumulative project, a lot of people don’t have as much support for this as her previous wins. As someone who has had fluctuating opinions on Taylor Swift’s musical quality, I’d have to agree with the general public. This is not her best work. In my opinion, the only reason this album is nominated with the other albums is because the Recording Academy sees her impact on pop culture instead of focusing on the project at hand. I do think she has some catchy tunes on this LP, but I also think she rarely brings anything new or exciting with this record. BUT, I see her cultural impact taking her to another win.

There are a lot of great nominees this year. I honestly can’t remember a time when there were THIS many artists that had an impact on the music industry in a single year. Now, when it comes to who I think WILL win the Album of the Year award, I think it will finally be Beyoncé’s victory with ‘COWBOY CARTER’. The Grammy has had a history in this category where too many of the nominees have had the same impact, therefore, those nominees have their votes split, leaving someone else to claim the top spot. I think Billie, Charli, Chappell, and Sabrina all had the same effect (in their way) on music this past year, so their votes will be spread thin. The only other project I could see coming close to Beyoncé is Taylor Swift’s ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’. However, Beyoncé has never won this album, and I can see that being a big factor in her finally winning with something she has never created before…

Now, as to who I think SHOULD win, the answer is clear. Charli XCX’s ‘BRAT’ made waves that I have never seen before with a project. The electronic sounds of the album take old references and bring them into a new inventive light. However, I don’t think she will win the award because the Recording Academy doesn’t find too much value in cultural impact. They view commercial success as the biggest factor in their decision-making.

Tune in this Sunday, February 2nd at 7 PM CST on CBS to see who will take home the Album of the Year crown!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the media linked in the Article presented. All of the media is owned by the respective artists and their teams. This article is strictly used for entertainment and education purposes.