The 67th annual Grammy Awards are slated to take place in Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 2, 2025 and nominations were released this past Friday, Nov. 8. A-list musicians from Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter to newer up-and-coming artists such as Benson Boone and RAYE landed nominations. Leading the pack with 11 total nominations, is Beyoncé.
Beyoncé, with her 11 total nominations, brings her total tally up to 99 Grammy nominations- the most of any artist. This year, her blockbuster album “COWBOY CARTER” is what makes her a front-runner in categories such as Album, Record and Song of the Year.
Her album exploring the country music genre which dabbles in pop, and R&B is one of her most critically acclaimed works and it’ll be hard to ignore this year- especially given that the superstar has never taken home the coveted award for Album of the Year.
Speaking of Album of the Year, arguably the most prestigious award given out in the music industry, it has its most congested race yet. Fans and industry insiders could argue that the award could go to anyone in this category, the hardest year for the award the Grammy’s have seen since Adele’s “25” battled Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” back in 2017.
Work from Swift, who is by no means a Grammy “darling,” but has taken home the award more than any other artist in history has. If she wins for “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” an album that broke all sorts of records when it was released, it would bring her tally to a whopping 5 wins.
Billie Eilish is nominated for her album “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,” which the academy is sure to acknowledge. But going up against the latter two and Charli XCX’s “Brat” album will be no easy feat.
Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan are also nominated for their massive releases, but don’t seem to be in the running for Album of the Year — those two will be fighting for the title of “Best New Artist,” an award that is sure to go to one of the two.
Arguably the biggest snub this year is Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” off of her album “eternal sunshine.” While it doesn’t come as a surprise that her album didn’t land an Album of the Year nod, it did land a nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Her hit single “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” is the biggest shock as it seemed to be a front-runner for the Song and Record of the Year categories. Not only did people think she would earn a nomination there, but assumed she could sweep both categories respectively.
Instead, The Beatles — yes, The Beatles —were nominated for their final song “Now and Then.” The track seems like an odd ball to win, but would it be surprising if the Recording Academy wanted to award the group one last time? It seems possible, given its only major competitors are Sabrina Carpenter’s smash hit “Espresso” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” All I’m saying is do not rule it out.
It’ll be interesting to see if Swift makes history, again, this year — or if Charli XCX’s cultural phenomenon “Brat” steals the show. No matter what, the 2025 Grammys will award, acknowledge and celebrate what a phenomenal year it has been for music.
Josh Pawlik is an assistant arts editor and can be reached at josh.pawlik@ubspectrum.com
Josh Pawlik is an assistant arts editor for The Spectrum. His hobbies include playing guitar, working out and reading. He can be found on Instagram @joshpawlik
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
