Taylor Swift, SZA, and Ice Spice are expected to be big-ticket nominees.
As the year comes to a close, music’s biggest night slowly approaches on Feb.4. Every year, the Grammy Awards send fans into an online frenzy over which songs, artists, and albums should and shouldn’t have received the prestigious gramophone. Yet, this same chaos occurs when the nominees themselves are revealed. Before the list is revealed on Nov. 10, The Concordian has you covered: here are the artists and releases we expect among the nominations for the 2024 ceremony.
The General Field: Album, Song, and Record of the Year
Regarding the night’s biggest awards—Album, Song, and Record of the Year—there are three standout contenders: Taylor Swift, SZA, and Olivia Rodrigo.
Swift and SZA closed out 2022 with a bang, dropping their respective albums Midnights and SOS in the fourth quarter of the year. They also spawned massive singles (“Anti-Hero” and “Kill Bill”), which are locks for the other two categories as well.
Olivia Rodrigo received three Grammys in 2021 with her debut SOUR and is likely to receive the same love for her sophomore album GUTS and its lead single “Vampire.”
Miley Cyrus and Morgan Wallen earned two of the year’s longest chart-topping songs with “Flowers” and “Last Night,” respectively. Both tracks are obvious choices for Song and Record of the Year nominations, with their respective albums Endless Summer Vacation and One Thing at a Time potentially being recognized for AOTY.
Billie Eilish has always been a Recording Academy favourite, and her soft performance on the Barbie soundtrack “What Was I Made For?” will surely appear in Song and Record of the Year.
Lana Del Rey may equally grace these categories with Did you know there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. The album was greatly received by fans and critics alike, along with its introspective, compositionally impressive single “A&W.” She was previously nominated for Album of the Year for her 2019 effort Norman F***ing Rockwell!
Ice Spice leads 2024’s best new artists
Following a breakout year that saw her land three singles in the top three of the Billboard Hot 100, viral Bronx rapper Ice Spice is guaranteed to appear in the Best New Artist category—maybe the most likely to take home the award in February. Her bright and bubbly hit “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” with PinkPantheress could also position them in several categories such as Best Pop Duo/Group Collaboration, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Tracks from her EP “Like..?” could also garner nods in the rap categories (“In Ha Mood” was submitted).
Breakout Mexican singer Peso Pluma is another strong contender who saw a rapid ascension to fame. PinkPantheress is one of several indie pop acts in contention along with RAYE, Gracie Abrams, and Madison Beer. Prolific producer-DJ Fred again.. has been taking the EDM world by storm over the last few years, which equally puts him in the running. Coco Jones is another possible challenger, representing the R&B genre.
The Rap Categories
Travis Scott’s UTOPIA and Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains are no-brainers for Best Rap Album. Other potential candidates include Her Loss by Drake and 21 Savage and Jackman. by Jack Harlow who was also nominated for the category last year. Nas’ King’s Disease III could be the album series’ third Grammy-nominated entry, with the initial installment winning in 2021.
Scott could also land a few more spots in the song categories: the ambient, transcending “TELEKINESIS” with Future and SZA is a standout from this year that could win Best Melodic Rap Performance. For Boomin, Heroes spawned several big hits: “Too Many Nights” with Don Toliver is a slick, glamorous, nocturnal track that could compete in Best Melodic Rap Performance. The ominous trap offering “Superhero” with Future could instead appear in Best Rap Song or Performance, being one of the year’s biggest bangers. Gunna’s “fukumean” was an inescapable earworm hit through the summer, for which it may earn an appearance in Best Rap Song and Performance. Coi Leray’s “Players” is another top-ten hit that could likely compete.
Tune in to the GRAMMY YouTube channel on Nov. 10 for the official reveal of the 2024 nominees.
