The 2022 Grammy Awards will be held on Monday, January 31; this award show happens to be the most renowned celebrations of music worldwide. Every year, the planet’s top artists, performers, and entertainers gather to celebrate an innovative year of icons and top hits. Let’s take a look at this year’s nominations. 

First, we have to know how the nomination process works and who does the voting. The Recording Academy does all of this. Members of the Recording Academy are experts on all things music, from the writing processes to production eloquence. Music videos, songs, albums, and tours get submitted to the Recording Academy to review and members do an initial nomination process. Then, a more specific, in-depth nomination process takes place in “Special Nominating Committees”. After nominations are released, official voting begins to detail winners. And then, you have an award show to put on!

Now back to the nominations; the categories for the nominations are General Field, Pop, Dance/Electronic Music, Contemporary Instrumental Music, Rock, Alternative, R&B, Rap, Country, and countless more finite music genres. The main nomination categories are Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist which all fall under the General Field category.  

Record of the Year

Nominees for this category are ABBA’s “I Still Have Faith in You”, John Batiste’s “Freedom”, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “I Get A Kick Out Of You”, Justin Beiber’s “Peaches”, Brandi Carlile’s “Right On Time”, Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More”, Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever”, Lil Nas X’s “Montero”, Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license”, and Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open”. That was a mouthful, but there is quite intense competition in this category. I predict that “Peaches”, “Happier Than Ever”, or “drivers license” will win because these have the most traction on the radio. “Happier Than Ever” is a promising bet because ever since her musical popularity at the age of 16, Billie Eilish has absolutely swept all award shows and giving all fellow nominees a run for their money. 

Album of the Year

The nominations for this hyped up category are Jon Batiste’s “We Are”, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “Love for Sale”, Justin Bieber’s “Justice”, Doja Cat’s “Planet Her”, Billie Eilish’s “Happier than Ever”, H.E.R.’s “Back of My Mind”, Lil Nas X’s “Montero”, Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR”, Taylor Swift’s “Evermore”, and Kanye West (otherwise known as Ye)’s “Donda”. My personal favorite of this category is “Evermore” because I am a huge Swiftie although I believe this album will not win the category as it is one of Swift’s lesser-known albums. I predict that it will be a close tie between Eilish and Rodrigo for the title of this category. Both of these artists had many songs on the top charts not only in America, but around the world. 

Song of the Year

Nominations include: Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits”, Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile’s “A Beautiful Noise”, Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license”, H.E.R.’s “Fight for You”, Billie Eilish’s “Happier than Ever”, Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More”, Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open”, Lil Nas X’s “Call Me By Your Name”, Justin Bieber with Daniel Caesar and Giveon’s “Peaches”, and Brandi Carlile’s “Right On Time”. As you can see, Brandi Carlile, focusing on areas with alternative and rock, has two nominations for song of the year. Her recent rise to stardom has helped develop her name as one of alt’s best. Despite this, I predict that “Leave the Door Open” or “Peaches” will win this category as they were definitive feel-good anthems in 2021.

Best New Artist

The final category I will be commentating on is all about rookie artists who have become icons in the past year. The nominations for Best New Artist are Arooj Aftab, Jimmie Allen, Baby Keem, FINNEAS, Glass Animals, Japanese Breakfast, The Kid LAROI, Arlo Parks, Olivia Rodrigo, and Saweetie. I predict that Rodgrigo will win this category with her record breaking songs: drivers license, deja vu, and good 4 u. Some honorable mentions are The Kid LAROI and Saweetie. 

In review, the top artists who were nominated this year are Olivia Rodgrigo, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, and Justin Bieber. Emerging icons, trendy hits, and top genres all describe 2021. Along with a song about date nights at Applebees and many many songs about fruits. Comment below your 2021 Grammy winners and stay tuned to see how things tune up, pun intended.