Okay. Hi. Hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. Grammy season is coming up. The nominations have just been announced for the awards that they are going to hold in 2025.

As we typically do on this channel, I am going to go over all of the nominations and just look at all the major categories, let you know who I'm pulling for, what I'm disappointed by, what I think is likely to happen, maybe some snubs, so on and so forth. You know the deal.

Let's do it. Alright, scrolling down, scrolling down, scrolling down to the general field record.

Record of the Year, the big, big, big category off the bat.

Number one, let's look at the nominations. We have Beatles, "Now and Then", that old repurposed Beatles song that saw the light of day this year that somehow slipped my memory. It's not that great. I don't think it should win, but it's unfortunate that there's a real possibility that it could.

We also have "Texas Hold'em", which was a great single from Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter record.

"Espresso", that was huge.

"360".

"Birds of a Feather", that is a ballad that has really caught a lot of virality from the latest Billie [Eilish] record.

Kendrick Lamar, "Not Like Us." Dang.

"Good Luck, Babe". Chappell Roan.

And "Fortnite", Taylor Swift with Post Malone.

Man, this is a highly competitive field. My favorites, personally, would love to see it go to Chappell. Would love to see it go to Charli. Would love to see it go to Kendrick. Those are my top three. Those are my top three in this very, very, very crowded field. I think there is a high likelihood it could go to Kendrick, though. Not Like Us", damn. Man, if "Not Like Us" gets a Grammy, that's going to be insane. I'm sorry. This is going to be in freaking sane, not only because it's just a big, big, big rap nomination but for Drake, that's truly going to sting. It's truly, truly going to sting. But with that being said, it's probably most likely to go to Beatles, Beyoncé, or Taylor. I think that's probably the real likelihood. I think those are probably the top three most likely to get it, which, again, for me, I'm not seeing a whole lot of overlap. Billie is obviously a threat, too, but that's my hopes and my predictions for record of the year, at least.

We have Album of the Year over here. Next category.

New Blue Sun, the Andre 3000 record, which is a nice nomination, but I don't think it's likely to win.

Cowboy Carter, Short and Sweet, Brat, Djesse Volume 4. Lord, please don't let it be Djesse. It's not that great of a record.

Hit Me Hard and Soft from Billie Eilish.

Chappell Roan's Midwest Princess, even though that's been out a minute, but it did really catch on this past year.

And The Tortured Poets Department from Ms. Taylor Swift.

Look, I gave it a 10 out of 10. Obviously, I want Brat to win. I want Brat to win. Would it be awesome if Billie or Chappe;l or Beyoncé did? I would also be happy with that. I wouldn't even be pissed about Sabrina Carpenter winning it, even though by far she did not make the best record here. But it's a serious likelihood it's going to go to that very niche and very boring Taylor Swift record. And if it does, I'm sorry, the Academy really needs wake the fuck up because it is such a Taylor Swift cult record, and I feel like it's just further been proven to be so as the year has drawn on, and there just hasn't really been a lot of interest behind the album outside of the most hardcore Taylor Swift fans, of which there are millions, obviously, but it's just not that interesting of a record.

And it just feels like a bunch of, aesthetically, a lot of leftovers from her past couple of albums. Nor is the writing all that great, but whatever.

All right.

Song of the Year.

We have that Shaboozey song that's been at number one for weeks and weeks and weeks. So of course, that would get nominated.

"Birds of a Feather". "Die with a Smile", which is also painfully mid. We have "Fortnite", painfully mid. "Good Luck, Babe", "Not Like Us", "Please, Please, Please", which I love that song from the Sabrina, frankly, and "Texas Hold'em".

Okay. Personally, top three out of this bunch, it would probably be like, "Please, Please, Please", it would be "Good Luck, Babe", and it would be "Not Like Us". That would be my top three. But I think it's probably very likely that it could go to Shaboozey, given how many weeks at number one that song has been there. And it would be a really interesting win for him as an artist who's really popped off this year. But let's not count out "Fortnite". Die with a Smile", the star power behind Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga does make that song a supreme threat, and it has been doing very well commercially.

But still, for me personally, I'm feeling like "Not Like Us". "Please, Please, Please". "Good Luck, Babe".

Best new artist.

Benson Boone. Sabrina Carpenter. Okay. Doechii. Cool. Khruangbin. Not new. And Shaboozey, while he has broke this year, arguably he's been around a minute. Teddy Swims, Chappell, Raye. Given just how viral and quality her work has been this year, I'd really love to see it go to Doechii. And secondarily, Sabrina and Chappell, I think, are a big possibility as well, considering how powerful they've each, respectively, been in the pop fields.

Producer of the year, non-classical. Who is it? I do love a good producer.

Alissia, who seemingly has been working with everyone from, let's see, BJ the Chicago Kid, to Jamila Woods. We have D'Mile Emil II – looks like we have Lady Gaga in the mix here. "Lucky Day" - Usher. That's a quite an impressive resume with Victoria Monet in the mix as well.

Ian Fitchuck, Beyoncé. Okay. Kacey Musgraves. Maggie Rogers, Still Woozy, Leon Bridges. Some names in here I'm not super familiar with.

We have Mustard, and Daniel Nigro as well, who obviously put in a lot of work on Chappell record, the Olivia Rodrigo.

I mean, out of all of these nominations, I think Daniel and Mustard have contributed to the most songs that I've been enjoying the most this year. I'll just say Daniel. I think I'm pulling for Daniel, pulling for Mustard, pulling for Daniel. And honestly, they've really been drawing a lot of attention to their work this year, so I wouldn't be surprised if it went to one of them as well.

Songwriter of the Year, Nonclassical.

We have Jessi Alexander, who has been working with Luke Combs, Cody Johnson. Let's see also more Luke Combs. A lot of contributions to the country field.

Amy Allen. Leon Bridges, Sabrina Carpenter. We also have some Olivia and Justin Timberlake in the mix. That "Selfish" single was pretty good, though the production could have been better.

Edgar Barrera, who's been working with Caine Brown, Carol G, Peso Pluma. Okay, so really like running the Latin field.

Jessie Jo Dillon. More Megan Maroney. We have Post Malone, too, who's really been going crazy this year with the country stuff. Keith Urban as well.

And Raye. Okay, all right. Yeah, always nice to have a songwriter who's writing and performing their own songs, I guess you could say, though, contributed to that Beyoncé track, "Riverdance"?vOkay, that's fire. That's fire.

Let's see. Let's say Raye. I'm going to say Raye, honestly, because I've not really been a big fan of a lot of tracks that have been contributed here, maybe outside of the ones that Amy Allen is bringing to the table. I would say Amy Allen or Raye are the two that I'm pulling for in this field.

Pop and electronic dance.

Best solo pop performance

Starting in this category, we have Beyoncé, we have Sabrina Carpenter, we have Charli XCX with "Apple", "Birds of a Feather", again. "Good luck, Babe".

Jeez. I think, even though it was maybe one of my least favorite tracks when I first heard the album, and it's quickly grown into one of my favorites – I'm going to say "Apple". I'm going to say "Apple", though, honestly, I would not be surprised to see it go to either "Birds" or "Espresso", considering just how gigantic "Espresso" has been for the entirety of 2024.

Best pop duo group performance

We have Gracie Abrams with Taylor Swift. Please don't let it be this song. Gracie Abrams is so painfully mid.

Beyoncé with Post Malone, "Levi's Jeans" was one of the least interesting tracks on that Cowboy Carter album, honestly, though not by a far margin.

We have "Guess". Love that. Love that track.

"The Boy is Mine" "Die with a Smile".

Give it to "Guess", please. For the love of God, give it to "Guess". \

Best pop vocal album

We have Short n' Sweet, Sabrina; Hit Me Hard and Soft, Billie; Eternal Sunshine from Ariana; Chappell; and we have The Tortured Poets Department. Best pop vocal album. Best pop vocal album? No Brat? No Brat in the pop vocal album? "For albums containing greater than 75 % playing time of pop vocal recordings." Is that not Brat? Is that not Brat? Okay. Jesus Christ. This is really what we're being limited to?

I mean, if so, I'll say Chappell. I'd say Chappll or Billie. They came out with the two best records in this field. Everything else is no shade to Sabrina and Ariana, talented artists, but their albums were a mixed bag, each of them, in my opinion.

Best Dance Electronic Recording

We have Disclosure, we have Four Tet. Okay, cool. We have Fred Again.. and Baby Keem, Justice and Tame Impala, and we have Kaytranada and Childish Gambino. I don't know. I don't have a super strong opinion on this mix of tracks.

I mean, they're all decent. They're all decent. Nothing in here I'm head over heels for. Would be awesome to see Four Tet get a Grammy, though. Long overdue. I'll say that.

Best Dance Pop Recording

We have Madison Beer. We have "Von Dutch" from Charli XCX. We have Billie Eilish. We have Ariana Grande. We have Troye Sivan - "Got Me Started" of all tracks.

I'm going to say "Von Dutch". That's what I'm pulling for, for obvious reasons. The Billie Eilish extended edit. I'm not even sure I'm that familiar with. I will need to go familiarize myself. But like "Von Dutch," it's a total banger on a 10 out of 10 record. I'm probably with that one, regardless.

All right.

Best Dance and Electronic Album

Okay. So Brat is being more considered less of a straight up pop album and more of a dance and electronic album, which I'm not against the categorization in this respect, but it's also a pop album. I feel like because it's being considered for this field, it makes it a bit of a wash because there are probably loads of electronic, just straight up electronic albums that maybe would have had a better fighting chance, like the Justice record, which is quite good.

I mean, I'm going with Brat, but secondarily, it would be great to see it go to Justice, possibly, because it's really their second best album to Cross.

Best remixed recording

I'm not really a huge fan of that "Von Dutch" remix. It's okay. I would love to see it go to "Alter Ego" because that is such a bop and it would be awesome to see Doechii walk away with a Grammy for that.

All right, we're moving on to the ...

Best rock performance

"Now and Then", The Beatles. It's not that great of a performance.

"Beautiful People" from the Black Keys, "The American Dream is Killing Me" - Green Day, "Gift Horse" - Idles, okay.

Dark Matter - Pearl Jam, and Broken Man - St. Vincent.

God, was that the best rock this past year? I mean, if this is the mix, I'm going to say "Broken Man". It's a great track. It's a fiery track. Really one of the top three tracks from the new St. Vincent album. It's a stellar single, vocals are amazing, guitar riffs sound incredible. Really a fantastic single all around. But with that being said, it's probably going to go to that crummy, revitalized Beatles leftover. And if it does, it's going to be massively disappointing.

Let's see.

Best metal performance

Who is that going to? Let's see. We have Gojira in the mix. Okay, cool. But their track that dropped at the Olympics, which was quite entertaining. We have Judas Priest with "Crown of Horns", Knocked Loose and Poppy on "Suffocate", Metallica, Spiritbox.

Oh, please give it to Knocked Loose and Poppy. Give it to Knocked Loose and Poppy. They deserve it the most. They deserve it the most. Yeah, it should not go to Metallica. Spiritbox, I feel like, are not at their best right now. That Judas Priest record was okay. If it went to Gojira instead, I would also be happy with that, but the Knocked Loose Grammy would be amazing, would be so incredible for the scene.

Best Rock Song

That boring Black Keyes track, "Broken Man", okay. "Dark Matter", "Dilemma", "Gift Horse". Again, I would say either Idles or St. Vincent. That's who I'm pulling for in this category.

Best Rock Album

The Black Crows. Fontaines DC. That record was... Okay. Green Day, Saviors. Tangk, Idles. Dark Matter, Pearl Jam. Hackney Diamonds from the Rolling Stones, and No Name Jack White.

Give it to Jack White. I know there are some snubs in this category, but even if other records, rock records that I enjoyed this year were included, it needs to go to Jack White. That album was incredible. One of his most kick-ass records ever. His most kick-ass solo album, point-blank period. One of the most rocking albums of this year. Songs are stellar, production is amazing, riffs are insane. Just incredible, incredible, incredible high octane rock album, bringing it back, bringing that rough, punky garage rock back with a side of blues in there as well. I'm loving it. It's mind-blowing. Please give it to that goddamn Jack White album.

Best alternative music performance

Cage the Elephant. Nick Cave in the Bad Seeds, "Song of the Lake", which was quite a dramatic one. "Starburster" from Fontaines DC. "Bye Bye", Kim Gordon. And St. Vincent, "Flea".

Oh my God, give it to Kim. Give it to Kim with the industrial trap metal madness and the list of things, please give it to Kim. That is heavily deserved, heavily deserved. Please give it to Kim. Kim Gordon, Grammy nomination. Does Sonic Youth even have a Grammy nomination? Like, what the fuck? I mean, there's probably loads of alternative music that could be in here, but like, damn, Kim Gordon, "Bye Bye". I would give it to Kim. I'd give it to Kim.

Best alternative music album

We have the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds record. Clairo. Okay, okay, Clairo. The Collective. Brittany Howard. All Born Screaming.

My favorites out of these nominations, pound for pound, are the Brittany Howard record, as the production is so vibrant and psychedelic and groovy, and the vocals, given that it's Brittany, are just incredible, obviously. And then The Collective. Those are my two favorite records out of this bunch. The Collective is such an interesting, noisy, abrasive, experimental, one-of-a-kind album. An album that would be career-defining and amazing for any artist, but I think is even more so, given that it's Kim Gordon with the history and music that she has, and still accomplishing big things at this point in her life and career.

With that being said, I would not be sad to see it go to Clairo. Clairo's record was very poppy, very solid, very enjoyable, and people have enjoying it like hell throughout the year. St. Vincent and Nick Cave are not bad nominations either. This is a very tight field, I would say. But my preferences personally are for Kim and Brittany.

All right, moving on to field three, rap, RnB, and spoken word poetry. Let's see...

Best R&B performance

We have Jhene Aiko, we have Chris Brown, we have Coco Jones, we have Muni Long, and SZA. Oh, please give it to SZA. Please give it to SZA. The SZA deserves it. Let her have it. "Saturn". Bop-a-runy.

For the best traditional R&B performance

I don't have any super strong opinions, honestly.

Best R&B song

I think I would probably have to go with, again, "Saturn". Pulling for "Saturn", still. Still pulling for "Saturn".

And then Progressive RnB album

Oh, the NxWorries record, for sure. Definitely the NxWorries record. I mean, the Kehlani record was fine. The Childish Gambino album encompasses a lot of different things, not just R&B. But yeah, the NxWorries record, that very multifaceted, well-produced personal divorce album from Knxwledge and Anderson .Paak. It was really great. It was a really well-put-together album, and I wholeheartedly endorse that one to win, though I wouldn't be surprised if it went to Childish Gambino or Kehlani.

Best R&B album

Let's see. I actually don't have a strong opinion on the best R&B album. What I just find to be surprising is, despite It's a very quality record that Kali Uchis dropped this year, Ravyn Lenae also had a decent one, and there was so much noise made by Tinashe throughout the year as well, and none of that is being shown in these nominations at all, which, again, I just find to be quite odd. But I don't know. Maybe the Grammys know something I don't, I suppose.

Moving on to the best rap performance.

We have Cardi B, "Enough (Miami)". We have Common & Pete Rock. Okay, cool that they got nominated. We have Doechii with "Nissan Altma". Eminem, "Houdini" – No, that song is terrible. Please don't. Future/Metro Boomin, "Like That". And we have Glorilla, "Yeah Glo!", which is a very fun track. And "Not Like Us", Kendrick Lamar.

Jeez. I mean, as cool as it would be to see it go to Doechii in this one. I mean, "Not Like Us", come on. Come on, come on, give it, come on, "Not Like Us". Come on. Also, Kendrick is in here pretty much twice, because "Like That" is obviously also a track that features Kendrick. So he's pretty much like maximizing his chances to get a Grammy in this field, it's most likely going to be Kendrick. If not Kendrick, who's it going to be? Eminem with "Houdini"? That's such an annoying song. I have a hard time imagining everybody voting for that track, given that it's like... I don't know. I feel like it's mostly like, and the new album is mostly like fan service for Eminem hardcore fans at this point. It's not super widely appealing outside of his fan base. Whereas "Not Like Us", come on. It's a universal bop.

Best melodic rap performance

We have "Kehlani". We have "Spaghettii". We have "We Still Don't Trust You". We have "Big Mama" from Latto. And we have "3", Rapsody featuring Erykah Badu, which is a pretty good track. Why not three? Let's give it to Erika Badu and Rapsody. That's who I'm pulling for, honestly. If not that, I mean, I suppose it would be cool to see it go to a Latto or Metro & Future, but "3". I'm going with "3". That's where I'm going.

Best rap song

Let's see who we got. We have Rapsody with Hit-boy on "Asteroids", which was a decent track from her new project. Cool to see some Rapsody nominations. We also have "Carnival", which is annoying and terrible, and is just obnoxious as hell. And I'm really glad that people are not really playing it much anymore because it's just that terrible of a song. "Like That","Not Like Us", and "Yeah Glo!".

Okay, come on. We got to give it to Kendrick again. "Not Like Us". As fun as "Yeah Glo!" is, it's probably going to go to Kendrick here.

Best rap album

J. Cole, Might Delete Later. No, Please, For the Love of God, no. He literally deleted a track off of it. The Kendrick Lamar diss. How does that make for a great album? He's literally ashamed of the most listened to track off the project.

Common and Pete Rock, Doechii, Eminem, Future & Metro Boomin.

Okay, look, I mean, among this field, I would give it to Doechii. The Future / Metro Boomin project, I did like it, but part of the reason that project is so good is because of the Kendrick track.

The Kendrick track brought a lot of attention to that project that it might not have had otherwise. Not to act like Future & Metro are obscure, that they can't hold their own, but the first of the two projects they put out this year was way better than the goddamn second. And that was for a lot of reasons, Kendrick being one of them. I think I would like to see it go to Doechii here.

But with that being said, Schoolboy Q is a snub, as Blue Lips was a very good project. Vince Staples is a snub because his project I thought was even better than the Schoolboy Project, not to overtly compare, but they're both very good. And the Denzel project was really good as well. These are three big, fat, gigantic snuberinos. This has by no means been like... if this were a shit year for hip hop, I'd be like, okay, I guess this is the best of what we got. But it really has not been. There's been some pretty decent rap records coming out throughout the year, and those three are three of the best, and none of them are here. It's got to be disappointing.

The J. Cole Project there, taking up a space that could be there for another album that's, one, actually good, and two, that, I don't know, the artist was actually proud of from front to back, and didn't delete a track off of it? Give me a break.

Okay, skipping forward, we have the best alternative jazz album field in which, yes, you do have Robert Glasper as well as Andre 3000, but I personally really loved that Arooj Aftab record, so I'm going to pull for that, even if I don't necessarily think it's the most likely to win per se. I did review that album, Night Reign, earlier this year, really enjoyed it, and would like to just pull for that record a little bit.

All right, we're going to move into the country section because it would seem that we have some pretty good nominations.

Best solo country performance

"16 Carriages", from Beyonce. God damn, Hell, yeah.

"I Am Not Okay", from Jelly Roll, "The Architect", Kacey Musgraves. "Bar Song (Tipsy)", "It Takes A Woman".

Look, it could be worse, honestly. "16 Carriages" rules. I would love to see it go to "16 Carriages". That track is fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go to Jolly Roll or Shaboozey, though. They've been on fire this year. I mean, while Beyoncé did really well, it's been a great year for a country in terms of just very strong, powerful, sustained commercial success. Shaboozey is one of those examples. Jelly Roll is one of those examples. Even people have been continuing to talk about the Kacey Musgraves album. And the Chris Stapleton record, unfortunately, was just not that great, but still got a nomination, I suppose.

Best Country Duo and Group Performance

We got one with Noah Kahan and Kelsea Balerini. We got "II Most Wanted", Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus. That track was quite fun.

Brothers Osborne, Dan + Shay, Post Malone & Morgan Wallen, "I Had Some Help".

Please give it to Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus. That track is just fun. Though I would not be surprised to see it go to "I Had Some Help".

Best Country Song

"The Architect"
"A Bar Song"
"I'm Not Okay"
"I Had Some Help"
"Texas Hold'em"

I would love to see it go to "Texas Hold'em". Beyoncé getting some country Grammys is going to be exciting, if in fact it does happen. Again, fingers crossed, though, again, would not be surprised to see it go to "A Bar Song", given just how huge that track has been.

Best Country Album

I want it to be Cowboy [Fricken] Carter all day. That is my favorite out of the bunch. The Post Malone record, though, probably is the most commercially successful out of the bunch. That does not mean it's the best one, though. And I do love Chris Stapleton's voice, and typically his writing is very good, but that was not his strongest project.

Moving further down to Best American Roots song

That Iron and Wine track with Fiona Apple was actually quite good, even if I wasn't crazy about the Iron and Wine record it came off of. That was easily a standout from the album, and just a really great tune all around. Really an awesome mix of both their vocals.

Best Americana album

While I didn't end up reviewing it because I thought it was maybe a little one-dimensional, I did enjoy that Charley Crockett album quite a bit. And I will say it's very refreshing and exciting to see a Wxahatchee nomination on here for Tigers Blood. Seeing either of them walk away with it would be very, very awesome.

I'm going to go ahead and say I'm going to pull for Mr. Billy Strings on the best bluegrass album category.

And also, Adrianne Lenker with Bright Future on Best Folk album. Heck, yeah. Even though it's also cool to see Madi Diaz in the mix, too. But that Bright Future record is a severely heart-crushing, heart-wrenching listen.

Moving down, we have the best Latin pop album

I guess this is where Kali Uchis ended up landing, even though there are some elements of this record that are obviously very, very R&B-adjacent. Latin pop also makes sense for what Kali Uchis does. And ORQUÍDEAS, I most definitely will be pulling for in this category to say the least.

Seeing Arooj Aftab get it for a "Raat ki rani" on the best global music performance would also be fire.

I'm going to be pulling for Tems on Best African Music Performance as well as Best Global Music Album.

And going further down, we have the Best Music Video Nominations, which I was pretty excited to check out because I know that "Tailor Swif" from A$AP Rocky got nominated. And look, I love the Charli XCX "360" video. It's very fun. It's very over the top. But that A$AP Rocky video is fucking insane. Absolutely insane. It deserves it, even though I do think, aesthetically, the Charli XCX video, and "Not Like Us", are mega, mega, mega creative.

God, "Fortnite" from Taylor Swift, the black and white dramatic noir of it all. It's so subpar. I'm sorry. It just is.

I'm not even going to get into the "Houdini" thing with Eminem.

But it should go to "Tailor Swif" from A$AP Rocky. It's just such a creative mind-bending video.

Best recording package package

It looks like Brat is in the mix, which I can attest to that. I have a copy of it myself, and it's freaking awesome.

And best engineered album, non-classical

Short n' Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter? I mean, the engineering sounded okay. Empathogen is a really well-produced album. I will give it that. Kacey Musgraves, really? Best engineered? With as many tracks on that, sounding as dry and boring as they do? Yeah, this is an interesting series of nominations here. I'd give it to Empathogen out of this bunch, though, even though I do think there are probably a lot of very competitive, well-engineered albums that could have been in there as well.

Okay, and that's essentially going to be it for this video.

Those are the major nominations that I wanted to go over, the ones where I have projects and artists and songs that I personally am pulling for.

Anthony Fantano, 66th Grammys. Forever.