{"id":286284,"date":"2025-11-12T00:12:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/286284\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T00:12:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:12:05","slug":"what-do-we-think-they-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/286284\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do We Think They Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe nominations for the upcoming 68th Annual Grammy Awards<\/a> were announced on Friday (Nov. 7) \u2014 giving us three months before the Feb. 1 awards to debate who will win, who will get shut out, and who was unduly snubbed altogether. <\/p>\n

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\n\tThe most frequently called name for the nominations unsurprisingly belonged to Kendrick Lamar<\/a>, who was already a big winner at the 2025 awards for his \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d and has nine nominations for 2026, most for his massively successful GNX album and its singles \u201cLuther\u201d and \u201cTV Off.\u201d Artists right behind Lamar include Lady Gaga, with seven nominations, and Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter with six nominations \u2014 with all four artists competing in each of the album, record and song of the year categories. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow\u2019d the Recording Academy do with capturing the year that was in this crop of nominees? And in what areas does it still need work? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below. <\/p>\n

\n\t1. On a scale of 1-10, how well would you say the 2026 Grammy nominations did at capturing the best and brightest from the past year in music? <\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Atkinson:\u00a08. Honestly, it feels like there is far less to debate than in previous years. The conversations I\u2019ve been having following the nominations have been more nitpicky than anything else \u2014 like, why \u201cGolden\u201d for song of the year but not record? And why \u201cThe Subway\u201d for record but not song? (The reality is, both deserve recognition, wherever they\u2019re placed.) There also aren\u2019t really any eyebrow-raising inclusions in the big four like previous years. It\u2019s pretty refreshing overall!<\/p>\n

\n\tEric Renner Brown: 8. Do I wish that MJ Lenderman, last year\u2019s biggest indie-rock breakout, had scored a nomination (or several) with his September 2024 album Manning Fireworks? Of course. But generally \u2013\u00a0and realistically \u2013 speaking, the Grammys<\/a> delivered a respectable slate of nominees for the 2026 awards. The major categories recognize a wide swath of acclaimed mainstream artists, and the genre categories are solid surveys of their respective types of music (even if I can\u2019t help but laugh at Haim vying against four hard-rock groups for best rock album). Also refreshing: for a third straight year, the Grammys didn\u2019t nominate a deluxe edition of an album for album of the year, which it did several times from 2020 to 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Denis: Honestly, a solid 8. Virtually every star who had a true breakthrough over the past year appears on the final nominations list \u2014 but a complete shutout for Ravyn Lenae and \u201cLove Me Not\u201d is absolutely inexcusable. It\u2019s also a shame that BigXThaPlug didn\u2019t get any looks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Grein:\u00a0I give them an 8.5. The nominations hit just about all the right notes, expect for overlooking one key genre yet again. We\u2019ll get to that.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Unterberger: At the risk of being boring, an 8 sounds about right. This was the first year in recent memory where none of the nominees in the big four categories set off a hearty round of guffaws across my various chats and social media feeds. Even the nominations I strongly disagree with I can\u2019t say I was terribly surprised by. Really, the biggest complaint you could have about these nominees is that they were perhaps a bit too predictable. <\/p>\n

\n\t2. Which artist or work\u2019s omission from one or all of the big four categories did you find the most surprising?<\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Atkinson:\u00a0Surprising but not unwelcome: I definitely expected Alex Warren\u2019s \u201cOrdinary\u201d to be up for song or record of the year. While Warren did score a best new artist nod, his 10-week Hot 100 No. 1 breakthrough smash left empty-handed in the big four and beyond. Aside from \u201cOrdinary,\u201d I also felt confident that Ravyn Lenae would be in the best new artist field. While her breakthrough single \u201cLove Me Not\u201d was ineligible because it was released in summer 2024, the timing of her big hit seemed like it would send her sailing into that category.<\/p>\n

\n\tEric Renner Brown: The Grammys whiffed by completely snubbing Lorde for an album that\u2019s one of the year\u2019s better pop records \u2013 and her best record in more than a decade (Lorde fans, sorry, Virgin is better than Melodrama!). But while I don\u2019t think it\u00a0should\u00a0have been nominated, what I found most surprisingly was the general field omission of Elton John and Brandi Carlile\u2019s collaborative Who Believes In Angels?, which had Grammy contender written all over it.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Denis: Outside of Ravyn Lenae and BigXThaPlug in best new artist and \u201cLove Me Not\u201d in record and song of the year, I was also surprised (but not disappointed) to see Alex Warren\u2019s \u201cOrdinary\u201d left out of the genreal field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Grein:\u00a0Alex Warren\u2019s \u201cOrdinary\u201d is the kind of stately power ballad that in years past would have been a surefire record and song of the year nominee. It topped the Hot 100 for 10 weeks. Warren even won best new artist at the VMAs, even though fellow nominee Sombr seemed a more MTV-ish choice.\u00a0My runner-up surprise is that HUNTR\/X\u2019s \u201cGolden\u201d was nominated for song of the year but not record of the year. I would have figured it would be the other way around.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Unterberger: Just because of the context around The Weeknd\u2019s Grammy history \u2014\u00a0with him essentially swearing off the Recording Academy after being totally shut out from the nominations in 2021, and then making his big conciliatory return to the stage at last year\u2019s awards \u2014 it was pretty surprising to not see his Hurry Up Tomorrow or \u201cTimeless\u201d recognized in the big four, or anywhere else. Although considering the snub only received a fraction of the outcry that his After Hours-era bagel did four years earlier, perhaps that\u2019s telling of the relative esteem that the public holds Tomorrow in. <\/p>\n

\n\t3. Outside of the Big Four, which of the genre categories do you find the most interesting? <\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Atkinson:\u00a0I\u2019ve got to go for best audio book, narration, and storytelling recording for the sheer variety of nominees. There\u2019s\u00a0five-time Grammy host Trevor Noah (Into the Uncut Grass), 1960s child star Kathy Garver (Elvis, Rocky & Me: The Carol Connors Story), Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (Lovely One: A Memoir),\u00a0the\u00a0Dalai Lama (Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness The Dalai Lama), and finally Fab Morvan\u2019s return to the Grammys after his best new artist statue was revoked following Milli Vanilli\u2019s lip-sync scandal (You Know It\u2019s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli). It doesn\u2019t get more all over the map than that.<\/p>\n

\n\tEric Renner Brown: The country, Americana, and folk categories. These genres were conspicuously overlooked in the general field, and reading through these genre category nominations shows how mistaken that was. From new-school talents like Tyler Childers, Billy Strings and Zach Top to chart-toppers like Jelly Roll and Eric Church to legends like Willie Nelson and Mavis Staples, this music had a strong year that deserved greater general field recognition. But seeing who prevails in these stacked genre categories will still be entertaining.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Denis: Interestingly, I think best dance pop recording is one of the most competitive categories at the 2026 ceremony. I\u2019d be happy if any of those songs won, but I\u2019m definitely rooting for Zara Larsson (\u201cMidnight Sun\u201d) and Pinkpantheress (\u201cIllegal\u201d). I also think best progressive R&B album is a highlight between the girl group (FLO) and Black queer (Durand Bernarr and Destin Conrad) representation. It was also dope to see that the best album cover category didn\u2019t solely prioritize A-listers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Grein:\u00a0The nominees for best music film include everyone from new-wave greats Devo (Devo), reeling in their first Grammy nomination in 41 years, to genre-blending Brit singer-songwriter RAYE (Live at the Royal Albert Hall), who is a Grammy nominee for the second year in a row. Two of the nominated films \u2013\u00a0Music by John Williams\u00a0and Pharrell Williams\u2019\u00a0Piece by Piece \u2013\u00a0 were on the longlist for Oscar nominations for documentary feature film last year. The fifth nominee is\u00a0Relentless, an aptly titled documentary of songwriter Diane Warren, who has amassed 16 Oscar nominations but still has the hunger of a twenty-something newbie looking for her first nod.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Unterberger: The rock nominations this year are wild. Amyl and the Sniffers for best rock performance? Tyler, the Creator for best alternative music album \u2014 with his dance album, no less? Turnstile in the rock, alternative and metal categories? Lotta surprises \u2014 and some questions to be had for sure \u2014 but it\u2019s much more entertaining than the usual march of legacy acts we see in the rock categories, anyway. <\/p>\n

\n\t4. The Recording Academy has taken great efforts to update and diversify its membership recently. Do you think these Grammy nominations show that the Recording Academy is still missing proper representation in any particular genre\/demographic\/area? If so, where?<\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Atkinson:\u00a0The album of the year field seems to reflect those efforts, with three rap albums, a Spanish-language album and an R&B album taking up more than half the field. The real test will be who comes out on top in that category, considering each of those\u00a0five\u00a0nominees would be a first-time winner in the category.<\/p>\n

\n\tEric Renner Brown: Even a few years ago, this album of the year slate would\u2019ve been unimaginable: a majority of nominees are people of color, and three rap albums got nods. The general field feels more representative of mainstream music than ever, even if the limited number of available nominations means that something will always feel excluded. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat said, in the general field, the lack of country music is disappointing \u2013 as is the lack of dance\/electronic, beyond Lady Gaga\u2019s heavily dance-influenced album Mayhem and its lead single \u201cAbracadabra.\u201d For well over a decade dance music has helped to define the musical mainstream, and artists nominated in the dance\/electronic categories this year \u2013 including Disclosure, Fred Again.., Skrillex and FKA twigs \u2013 are bona fide stars who deserve more visible recognition.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Denis: The Academy still has work to do with bolstering their Caribbean representation. In a year that spun out genuine crossover Caribbean hits like Moliy, Silent Addy & Disco Neil\u2019s \u201cShake It to the Max\u201d and Full Blown & Yung Bredda\u2019s \u201cThe Greatest Bend Over,\u201d a complete shut out for Caribbean music (outside of best reggae album) is indefensible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Grein: Country is under-represented year after year. The Academy needs to make building up its country membership a priority. To their credit, it is transparent in releasing statistics on its voting membership. Unfortunately, that just confirms the problem: Just 7% of the total voting membership aligns with country, a percentage topped by 11 other genres, including such more specialized forms as jazz (16% of Grammy voters align with that genre) and classical (10% alignment). (Voters can check off more than one genre.) <\/p>\n

\n\tOn the day the nominations were announced, Melinda Newman wrote a must-read essay<\/a> for Billboard.com, \u201cCountry Continues to Be the Grammys\u2019 Poor\u00a0Relation.\u201d I hope the academy reads it and takes it to heart. They can and need to do better here.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Unterberger: It\u2019s country. It just goes to show you that for as many incredible strides as the genre has made as a crossover genre on streaming \u2014 and even occasionally on radio \u2014\u00a0it still is often ignored altogether in a lot of pop spaces. Sure, maybe country\u2019s shutout in best new artist was due in part to overcrowding between Ella Langley, Zach Top and Megan Moroney, with no one of those country candidates obviously outshining the other two. But that didn\u2019t seem to affect Lola Young, Sombr or The Marias, three alt-rock-leaning acts who have had remarkably less trouble finding pop-world embrace, each of whom received BNA nominations. The contrast is stark. <\/p>\n

\n\t5. Without getting into too many category specifics, which artist do you think is likely going to end up being the big winner on Grammy night in February?<\/p>\n

\n\tKatie Atkinson:\u00a0The obvious answer is Kendrick Lamar, who enters with nine nods and won\u00a0five\u00a0earlier this year. But another strong contender could be Leon Thomas. Even though I don\u2019t see him walking away with album of the year come Feb. 1, I think there\u2019s a clear path for him to win in his other\u00a0five\u00a0categories \u2013 which could set him up to be the next contender for one of those famous Grammy juggling photos, a la Norah Jones, Lauryn Hill or Adele.<\/p>\n

\n\tEric Renner Brown: Coming off a seismic, lauded 2025 \u2013 and with a Super Bowl halftime show booked for February \u2013 this feels like Bad Bunny\u2019s year to make a run, especially in the album of the year category, where Deb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos is arguably the strongest nominee. At the same time, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see Kendrick Lamar\u2019s arms loaded up with trophies: His \u201cNot Like Us\u201d record and song of the year wins earlier this year proved he can triumph in general field categories, his cultural and commercial stock is as high as it\u2019s ever been thanks to his own Super Bowl appearance and the 13-week Hot 100 No. 1 \u201cLuther,\u201d and the Pulitzer-winner has never won album of the year \u2013 nor has any hip-hop artist in over two decades.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Denis: This is a fight to the bitter end between Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny \u2014 and, right now, I think Benito has the edge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Grein: I predict that Kendrick Lamar is headed for a seven-Grammy sweep, which would be just one shy of the record of eight Grammys in one night shared by Michael Jackson and Santana. That would hoist Lamar\u2019s career Grammy total to 29 awards, more than any other rapper in history. (That title is currently held by Jay-Z with 25 wins.) Leon Thomas is probably headed for a five-Grammy night. He seems like the front-runner to win best new artist and to clean up in the R&B categories.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrew Unterberger: I could find arguments to make for Lady Gaga or Bad Bunny \u2014\u00a0and who knows, maybe they\u2019ll convince me over the course of the next three months. But for right now, my gut still says Kendrick Lamar is the guy everyone likes, and who everyone wants to see win. And I think he\u2019ll do a whole lot of that on February 1. <\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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