Who should win the big four categories in the 2025 Grammys?
- Louise Geri
- Feb 2, 2025
- 5 min read
Happy Grammy Day! I’m particularly excited this year because the nominees are convenient for running a blog about women in music – six out of eight nominees for Record and Album of the Year are women.
Here’s who I think should win each of the big four awards!
Starting with the biggest – Album of the Year. The nominees are listed alphabetically:
1. “New Blue Sun” - André 3000
2. “Cowboy Carter” - Beyoncé
3. “Short n’ Sweet” – Sabrina Carpenter
4. “Brat” – Charli XCX
5. “Djesse Vol. 4” - Jacob Collier
6. “Hit Me Hard and Soft” - Billie Eilish
7. “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” - Chappell Roan
8. “The Tortured Poets Department” - Taylor Swift
The Grammys have been good at honoring André 3000 (previously part of OutKast) and Jacob Collier. Still, neither artist had a particularly monumental album, so it’s unlikely that either of them will win.
Cowboy Carter and The Tortured Poets Department are both excellent, but too long. This doesn’t tend to be a highly awarded characteristic. Besides, Swift won Album of the Year last year for Midnights (2022). This follow-up was great, but not enough to warrant her winning twice in a row.
Short n’ Sweet had marvelous songs but didn’t make for an extremely cohesive album. The track listing and story were off. Brat has the reverse problem; “Brat Summer” was a huge 2024 trend, but that was about the energy, not necessarily the album itself. The album is good as a whole, but none of the individual songs were particularly noteworthy.
Hit Me Hard and Soft and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023) are the two front-runners. I think the former should win. The production is phenomenal, seamless, and perfect. There were several hits in “Lunch”, “Birds of A Feather”, and “Wildflower”. Meanwhile, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was huge this year as Chappell Roan blew up. The album is mostly jam-packed with hits. However, I often see posts online about every song on Eilish’s album, but there are a couple of tracks on Roan’s album that no one talks about. That’s the case with most successful albums, there’s just something else that tops it.
Next, Song of the Year honors the writing of a song – my favorite part of music.
The nominees include:
1. “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey)
“Birds of a Feather” Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
3. “Die With a Smile” Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars)
4. “Fortnight” Jack Antonoff, Austin Post & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone)
5. “Good Luck, Babe!” Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro & Justin Tranter, songwriters (Chappell Roan)
6. “Not Like Us” Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar)
7. “Please Please Please” Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter)
8. "Texas Hold ‘Em” Brian Bates, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyoncé)
This is a tougher one.
As a country fan, I’m sick of hearing country songs about drinking, so I eliminate “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”. “Die With a Smile” doesn’t stand out to me. “Not Like Us”, however, would be a good choice for a winner.
I don’t think “Texas Hold ‘Em” or “Please Please Please” should win. Both were on my playlists last year, but “Texas Hold ‘Em” isn’t super special. “Please Please Please” has amazing instrumental work but isn’t as lyrically eloquent.
Between “Birds of a Feather”, “Fortnight” and “Good, Luck, Babe!”, all would be good choices. Eilish makes death a big theme throughout the love song and still nearly completely drowns it out by how enamored she is. It’s only when you focus on the lyrics that you become mildly concerned. I like that about it, but the song still sounds a little too much like it was written to go viral, even though I doubt that was the intention. “Fortnight” is the most eloquent of them all. It’s full of incredible one-liners, but it took me a couple of listens to understand the song’s meaning wholly. I think this award should go to a song with better balance.
That balance is executed in “Good Luck, Babe!” The lyrics are eloquently blunt, but there’s still great depth to them. The difference is you don’t need to dig through the lyrics to see the complex big picture immediately. It starts that way and only gets more interesting as you loop and obsess over it.
Attacking the sound side of songwriting, “Birds of a Feather” has a wonderful melody, but there’s nothing super special about it. “Fortnight” has the same situation but is also more repetitive. “Good Luck, Babe!”, meanwhile, shifts throughout Roan’s vocal range and between tempos and keys near the end. It’s an impressively written song in all senses.
Which is why I think it should win Record of the Year, too. Here are the nominees:
1. “Now and Then” The Beatles
2. “Texas Hold ‘Em” Beyoncé
3. “Espresso” Sabrina Carpenter
4. “360” Charli XCX
5. “Birds of a Feather” Billie Eilish
6. “Not Like Us” Kendrick Lamar
7. “Good Luck, Babe!” Chappell Roan
8. “Fortnight” Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone
“Not Like Us” is great. “Now and Then” was irrelevant this year, which makes it less likely. It has great production, but not in a stand-out way.
“Texas Hold ‘Em” is, again, nothing special. “Espresso” has a chance, but “Good Luck, Babe!” does it better. “360” has consistent and good production, but I don’t know why it would win over songs with more variation. I’m sick of hearing Jack Antonoff’s synths, so I don’t think “Fortnight” should win. The bridge is impeccably produced, but it builds up so smoothly that it doesn’t feel as explosive and surprising. Ironically, I don’t think the smooth buildup works in the song’s favor here.
“Birds of a Feather” has a good chance – it’s varying and encapsulating. “Good Luck, Babe!” just, once again, does it better. There are key changes, tempo changes, Roan singing incredibly high (which good production is necessary to pull off), and a perfect throwback sound. Dan Nigro (the producer) does it all.
It will not come as a surprise to you that I also think Roan should win Best New Artist. The nominees are:
1. Benson Boone
2. Sabrina Carpenter
3. Doechii
4. Khruangbin
5. Raye
6. Chappell Roan
7. Shaboozey
8. Teddy Swims
These are good options, but it’s really between Carpenter, Doechii, Raye, and Roan. Everyone else either had only one massive hit or hasn’t had an especially promising rise.
Doechii collaborated with Katy Perry in 2024 for the second biggest track on 143. Her new album Alligator Bites Never Heal (2024) also did well. She’s shown promise to make it big.
Meanwhile, Raye had the huge “Escapism.”, but that was released in 2022 and has been all over the Internet since. She also had a hit in "Prada", released in 2023 before this Grammy cycle started. The longevity in "Escapism." deserves recognition, but the nomination is weirdly timed.
That’s nothing compared to Carpenter’s nomination. It would be one thing if Carpenter had released her first album after splitting with Hollywood Records in this Grammy cycle, but that album, emails i can’t send, was released in 2022. It was very successful, even if it wasn’t as huge as Short n’ Sweet (2024). I don’t know why they’re busting out with this nomination after so much time has passed, especially considering that Carpenter was known even when she released her actual debut, Eyes Wide Open, in 2015. Nonetheless, she’s had a great year and her streak is not ending anytime soon.
Roan, however, has had a massive year. There’s no other way to put it. She released her debut album in this Grammy cycle, blew up extremely quickly, and is now teasing some insanely good unreleased music. I’m rooting for her.
Chappell Roan performing at Governors Ball 2024
With that, we’ll see who wins tonight!
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